• Comes days after striker complained of ‘gross and ugly’ racism • Fifa says player has withdrawn because of ‘club commitments’

This article is more than 5 years old

This article is more than 5 years old

The striker Hulk has pulled out of Saturday’s World Cup qualifying draw days after he complained of “gross and ugly” racism in Russian football.

Hulk says he encounters racism in ‘almost every game’ in Russia Read more

Fifa said that the Brazilian had been replaced because of “club commitments” with Zenit St Petersburg, who visit Ural Yekaterinburg in the Russian Premier League on Sunday, and will be replaced by the former Russia captain Alexey Smertin as one of the draw assistants for Saturday’s event in St Petersburg.

The match has been on the schedule since at least 30 June, long before Hulk was announced as a participant in the World Cup draw. Other former players who will take part in Saturday’s draw include Ronaldo, Diego Forlán, Fabio Cannavaro, Samuel Eto’o and Oliver Bierhoff.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Russian soccer authorities need to do more to combat racism, a UN official said.

Russia, hosts for the 2018 World Cup, have repeatedly been criticised for failure to tackle racism in domestic football.

“It [racism] happens at almost every match in Russia but the world does not hear about it because they try to keep it quiet,” Hulk said on Monday at a Zenit training session.