Ukraine demanded a public apology from the International Football Federation (Fifa) and now it has arrived. Fifa is backing down after the mistake during Friday's draw for the men's World Championship qualifying, when they showed a map of Ukraine – but without the Crimean Peninsula.
"We fully understand how sensitive this issue is and even though it was an unintentional mistake, we sincerely apologize", writes Elkhan Mammadov, Fifa's head of communication with national associations, in a letter that the Ukrainian Football Association published on Sunday.
The Crimean Peninsula has been illegally annexed by Russia since 2014.
