Loud Boycott At The World Cup: Ukraine Refused To Play With Russia

• 13.04.2026, 16:36

The national team made a principled decision despite the risk of sanctions.

The Ukrainian national water polo team has refused to play against the Russian team. This was reported to the "Champion" by a representative of the Ukrainian Water Polo Federation Alexandr Dyadyura. He said that the international federation refused the Ukrainian athletes who objected to the match in the World Cup of water polo in Malta.

The national team is now waiting for sanctions, as the regulations of the competition do not provide for the possibility of the team's failure to attend the match. According to Dyadyura, it could mean disqualification of the Ukrainian team or the national federation for a year or two.

"Now we are fighting with the international federation, so that we are not disqualified from future competitions, including youth competitions, so that children can go," he said.

Telegram channel "Sports", however, writes that for failure to appear at the match Ukrainians should be counted as a technical defeat with a score of 0:5.