Estimated read time: Less than a minute
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
ZURICH — FIFA has apologized to the Ukrainian soccer federation for displaying a map during its World Cup qualifying draw that excluded Russia-occupied Crimea from the country's territory. FIFA official Elkhan Mammadov wrote to the Ukrainian soccer body saying "we fully understand the delicate sensitivity of this matter and while the incident was unintentional, we sincerely regret any concern it may have cause." Ukraine was one of 54 national teams included in the draw Friday at Zurich, while Russia has been banned from FIFA competitions because of the military invasion. Russia has occupied Crimea in breach of international law since 2014.
