• Polish FA chairman: ‘Hosting the World Cup in Russia is a disastrous mistake’ • Former Juventus player adds Fifa should have clause ‘in the event of a war’ • Fifa’s Sepp Blatter says 2018 World Cup in Russia will stabilise region

Zbigniew Boniek, the chairman of the Polish football association, has said Russia should be stripped of hosting the 2018 World Cup because of the conflict with Ukraine.

“Hosting the World Cup in Russia is a disastrous mistake, it’s a country engaged in war, who invaded another country,” the former Juventus and Poland midfielder said in the runup to next week’s Fifa congress.

“In 2010 when Fifa chose Russia to host the World Cup the situation was totally different. But now when Russia is at war with Ukraine? There should be a clause in the contract between Fifa and the host country that enables the executive committee to strip that country in the event of a war. Or violating the charter of the United Nations,” Boniek told Gazeta Wyborcza.

Russia was awarded the 2018 World Cup ahead of England and joint bids from Spain/Portugal and Netherlands/Belgium in December 2010. Since then, criticism has built over racism within stadiums and its stance on gay rights.

The latter prompted LA Galaxy’s Robbie Rogers to say Fifa was “insane” to take the tournament to Russia and Qatar, two countries that have poor records on gay rights.

A report from European anti-discrimination network Fare in March found over 200 incidents of racism within Russian domestic football over two years, prompting Fifa to say it was “concerned”.

The situation in Ukraine has also placed added focus on the decision to award the tournament to Russia. In July last year the Conservative MP Tracey Crouch, who is now the minister for sport, called for Russia to be stripped of the tournament.

“I think Russia ought to be stripped now,” she said. “There’s so much political uncertainty. Football could be used to put pressure on president Putin to change some of his practices.

“Russia was seemingly a democratic country when they won the bid. There are now sanctions against the country.”

The Fifa president, Sepp Blatter, met Vladimir Putin in Sochi last month and expressed his continued support for the 2018 World Cup. “Some people are wanting the World Cup to be taken away from Russia, but we will give one answer to this – we are involved in football and we will not allow politics to get in the way,” he said.

“Everything is going to plan and nothing will get in the way of Russia hosting the best ever World Cup. The economic situation is not the best, but I know it will get better.”

The weakening of the Russian economy has forced the country’s sports minister Vitaly Mutko to announce administration costs will be cut by 10% and the overall budget reduced by 4%.

Boniek said he was unlikely to attend the qualifying draw in St Petersburg on 25 July, given his strong views over stripping Russia of the tournament.

“Should I pretend that nothing is happening, that all’s fine? Should I attend and listen to the music like there’s no war? I feel uncomfortable so I’m thinking of going to Sardinia for holidays at the time,” he said.

Next week, Blatter is a strong favourite to win his fifth term as president despite having earlier promised to stand down in 2015.

The 2018 World Cup is on the agenda for the executive committee meetings and the Fifa general secretary, Jérôme Valcke, will update the congress on its progress. Valcke is likely to focus only on logistics and will not consider broader questions around the tournament.

“Other FA heads know my stance. I could possibly officially ask whether Fifa feels comfortable staging its biggest tournament in a country that is at war with Ukraine,” Boniek said. “But what will I gain asking that? Some papers will do interviews with me and that’s it. Does anyone really think Fifa would strip Russia of the World Cup?”