The South American and Mexican footballers who dispute the English championship will be able to play with their clubs this weekend after their national federations have withdrawn the request for sanction for not having appeared in the last international window, FIFA announced this Saturday.
Some Premier League clubs, such as the two from Manchester (United and City), Liverpool, Chelsea and Leeds refused to allow their Latin American footballers to travel to their countries of origin to play the last qualifiers for Qatar-2022 since upon their return they would have had to serve a 10-day isolation imposed by the British health authorities as a result of the pandemic.
For this reason, the Federations of Brazil, Chile, Paraguay and Mexico had demanded that FIFA apply the rule that suspends for five days all those footballers who do not attend the call of their teams, so they would not have been able to play the matches of the 4ª day of the Premier League, this same weekend.
This decision by some English clubs also affected some African players, such as Mohamed Salah, released by Liverpool only to play Egypt’s second game against Gabon, after having lost the first against Angola.
FIFA admitted in a statement that “players have no control over the extreme situation caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and current health restrictions” on travelers from a number of countries on a “red” list. where there is more incidence of the pandemic, among them those in South America.
‘As a sign of good faith, goodwill and cooperation’, the affected federations’ have taken the decision to withdraw their complaints in relation to players playing in England, and players destined to play in England, who were not released for the recent international matches, “added the agency.
– Silva and Fred will be able to play the ‘Champions’ –
That means that the Brazilians Ederson and Gabriel Jesus will be able to play this Saturday with Manchester City, Fred with United, Alisson, Fabinho and Firmino with Liverpool, Raphinha with Leeds and Thiago Silva with Chelsea.
Liverpool coach Jürgen Klopp had been very critical of the South American federations on Friday: “We all know that we are in the middle of a pandemic, it is difficult for all parties, life and football. If we had let our players travel they would have had to spend a ten-day quarantine in any hotel, probably near the airport, which is not good for anyone.
“But for a soccer player spending ten days in a hotel means losing muscle, losing everything. It means ten days in the hotel and ten days to get back in shape, “he added.
The Mexican Raúl Jiménez (Wolverhampton), the Paraguayan Miguel Almirón (Newcastle) and the Chilean Francisco Sierralta (Watford) were also affected.
In the case of Thiago Silva and Fred, the sanction, which began to count from the last day of the international advantage (Thursday), would also have meant their absence on the first day of the Champions League, next Tuesday.
FIFA said that it is working with the football organizations of the United Kingdom as well as with the government of that country to “find a reasonable solution” for the future, “showing a spirit of mutual understanding, in the interest of all.” AFP (HN)