[imagesource: Twitter / @ESPNFC]

Footballers are used to being flown around the world in luxury.

When you earn the sort of money that many of the top players do, you can afford the more extravagant things in life.

That said, it’s not every day that you get escorted by F-16 aircraft en route to a World Cup, which is how the Polish team flew into Qatar.

Following a missile landing in the eastern Polish town of Przewodówon on Tuesday, nothing was left to chance regarding the players’ safety.

Below via Newsweek:

The Russian-made missile that hit the Polish town on Tuesday, which has killed two people, was the first incident from the Russian war in Ukraine that had directly impacted a NATO member…

A video of the two F-16 aircraft flying next to the plane transporting the Polish soccer players was posted by ESPN and viewed nearly 2 million times on Twitter. The aircraft were escorting the soccer team to the southern border of Poland as they headed to Qatar.

Observe:

Poland’s national football team were escorted by F16 planes to the southern border of Poland on their way to Qatar 😱✈️

(via @LaczyNasPilka) pic.twitter.com/mIZjW3FPEW

— ESPN FC (@ESPNFC) November 17, 2022

Always nice when you get a little wave:

Do boju Polsko 🇵🇱⚽️. Dziękujemy pilotom z bazy lotnictwa w Krzesinach. pic.twitter.com/aTvY7scbah

— Łukasz Wachowski (@LukasWachowski) November 17, 2022

The team’s official Twitter account also posted this:

✈️ #KierunekKatar 🇵🇱 pic.twitter.com/1dFSxFt5ka

— Łączy nas piłka (@LaczyNasPilka) November 17, 2022

Poland is in Group C and will face Mexico on November 22, Saudi Arabia on November 26, and Argentina on November 30.

That last match will see Robert Lewandowski square up against Leo Messi and should make for fascinating viewing.

The build-up to the World Cup has been anything but smooth sailing and it’s been likened to Fyre Fest. Part of me hopes this World Cup is a flop so that FIFA’s greed in awarding Qatar the tournament is never forgotten.

[source:newsweek]