After the controversy of the last FIFA World Cup qualifying cycle involving players from CONMEBOL, the Premier Leagueis set to announcethat players will be given exceptions from completing United Kingdom quarantine protocol upon arrival.
In the last slate of games Brazil had to leave behind 9 players from their squad and Uruguay and Manchester United forward Edinson Cavani also missed his national team commitments. Argentina on the other hand did field players from the Premier League which caused controversy in their match against Brazil which had to be suspended when a representative from the Brazilian health authorities stormed the field and suspended the match.
FIFA also stepped in and threatened to fine FA’s and players who did not meet their national team commitments ahead of the 2022 World Cup. CONMEBOL was one of the federations most hit by the pandemic forcing the teams in South America to play a tight and condensed schedule of games from here until the end of qualifying.
South American players allowed to play in October World Cup qualifying matches
Emiliano Martinez of Argentina (Getty)
According to The Times, the Premier League wanted to avoid further issues with FIFA and consented to allowing the players to leave for national team duty. Oddly enough while the South American teams had issues getting their players, Concacaf players were allowed to travel.
A condition to lift thequarantine is that any host of players intending to travel to South America must share the cost for a private charter jet, which is around $165,000 each way. CONMEBOL has assured all FA’s that during qualification each team is in a bubble which would avoid any possible COVID-19 infection.
