Poland’s national soccer team got a private military escort to the FIFA World Cup in Qatar, Thursday.
Footage of two F16s alongside the passenger jet were shared by the team’s official Twitter page with the caption, “We were escorted to the southern border of Poland by F16 planes! Thank you and greetings to the pilots!”
The escort was arranged days after two Polish citizens were killed by a missile that landed four miles over the Ukrainian border with Poland. Emergency NATO meetings were held following the incident, and it has largely been determined to most likely be an unintentional accident, with many believing that the missiles came from Ukrainian air defense.
Do południowej granicy Polski eskortowały nas samoloty F16! ✈️ Dziękujemy i pozdrawiamy panów pilotów! 🇵🇱 pic.twitter.com/7WLuM1QrhZ
— Łączy nas piłka (@LaczyNasPilka) November 17, 2022
The soccer team remained extra vigilant as they made their way toward the southern border. Videos and photographs of their impressive escort went viral on social media. A post of the footage by the ESPNFC account garnered more than 6 million views overnight. (RELATED: REPORT: Qatar Bans Single World Cup Fans From Having Sex)
The Polish national soccer team has not made it to the knockout stages of the World Cup since 1986, according to The Sun. The major sporting event has been the topic of much debate, in part, over conditions the workers had to go through to bring the event to fruition and the lack of freedoms afforded to certain types of people in the country. A popular international brewery started an anti-sponsorship campaign of the events, largely due to human rights concerns in Qatar.