Zenit St Petersburg’s Brazilian striker Hulk has pulled out of today’s World Cup qualifying draw, only days after complaining of “gross and ugly” racism in Russian football.
The Brazilian international will be replaced by former Russia captain Alexey Smertin as one of the draw assistants for today’s event in St Petersburg, FIFA said in a statement, adding that Hulk had withdrawn due to club commitments.
Zenit are away to FC Ural tomorrow in a Russian Premier League match, although there have been no alterations to the fixture list since FIFA initially announced on Wednesday that Hulk would take part in the draw.
The World Cup’s local organising committee said the decision was made purely on sporting grounds by Zenit coach Andre Villas-Boas.
Other former players who will take part in today’s draw include Ronaldo (Brazil), Diego Forlan (Uruguay), Fabio Cannavaro (Italy), Samuel Eto’o (Cameroon) and Oliver Bierhoff (Germany).