The World Cup playoff match between Scotland and Ukraine has been postponed, it was announced on Tuesday.
The two nations were set to meet for the semifinal on March 24 but last week the Ukrainian Association of Football (UAF) lodged a formal request to FIFA for the tie to be pushed back following Russia's invasion of the country.
FIFA said it will now organize the Scotland-Ukraine game in June during the next fixture dates protected for national teams. The winners of the game at Hampden Park in Glasgow will take on Austria or Wales, whose playoff will still go ahead this month, for a place in November's World Cup finals in Qatar.
The draw for the World Cup finals is scheduled for Friday, April 1, but the postponement of the Scotland-Ukraine match may now delay it as two other finalists, via the intercontinental playoffs, will also not be known until June.
The delay became likely when the Ukraine Premier League shut down after the Russian military invasion on Feb. 24.
Ukraine cited "the impossibility of organizing both the travel and training of a team under the current circumstances," FIFA said in a statement.
The World Cup takes place in Qatar from November 21 to December 18.
Fifteen members of the 23-man squad that played in Ukraine's most recent game -- a World Cup qualifier against Bosnia this past November -- play their club football in Ukraine, and ESPN has been told by sources that almost all Ukrainian players have stayed in the country since the domestic league was suspended last month.
Meanwhile, FIFA also awarded Poland a bye through its playoff semifinal against Russia that was also scheduled on March 24. That decision will be tested by an urgent Russian appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport against a FIFA ban on its national teams.
FIFA has invoked temporary employment and registration rules, which allow foreign players registered to clubs in Ukraine and Russia to sign for new teams outside the two countries.
The rules ensure that all contracts with clubs affiliated to the UAF or Football Union of Russia (FUR) will be suspended until June 30, 2022.
Information from Associated Press was included in this report.