The Czech football team had to postpone their departure for a World Cup 2022 playoff game in Sweden because of a plane problem on Tuesday, the national team spokesman said.

"The Czech national team is changing its schedule, it will only travel to Sweden tomorrow because of a plane defect," said spokesman Petr Sedivy.

The game is due to be played in Solna on Thursday and the winner will face Poland in the playoff final.

Poland were given a bye for the first playoff round after Russia were banned by FIFA out after the Ukraine invasion.

Sedivy did not disclose the details of the defect which meant another blow to the injury-plagued team missing its top striker Patrik Schick and winger Vladimir Coufal with injuries, among others.

The incident evoked memories of a plane issue that forced the Czechs to leave Prague late for Budapest to face the Netherlands in the Euro 2020 last-eight phase.

Some players then blamed the delay on an evacuation slide inflated by mistake and even posted pictures of it on social media, while the national team vehemently denied this was the cause.

The Czechs went on to beat the Netherlands 2-0 and reach the quarter-finals where they were knocked out by Denmark.