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Fears of coronavirus, emerging infection rates and quarantine regulations pose serious practical considerations before the first of the World Cup qualifiers in South America.
By Tariq Panja
After weeks of indecision and discussion, FIFA plans to order football clubs to release players who have been called up for next week’s World Cup qualifiers, a move that can provoke a backlash from teams, leagues and player unions for fear of dangers of traveling abroad in the coronavirus pandemic.
FIFA’s request comes after weeks of unsuccessful discussions to find a compromise that addresses considerations of players’ commitment to the intercontinental amid a global build-up of virus cases, and will apply to South American national groups wishing to withdraw their foreign players for the first time. qualifying matches for the 2022 World Cup.
At an assembly last week, a league alliance, Europe’s most productive club deal and the FIFPro global players’ union suggested to FIFA its regulations on the release of players for next month’s matches, which will take a position from 8 to thirteen October.
FIFA, according to 3 other people familiar with the theme, plans to access the needs that players will not be required to play in friendly or out-of-competition matches, but will apply the publishing needs of the first World Cup circular. qualifying matches in South America and for matches. In the League of Nations of Europe. The resolution will force clubs to free dozens of athletes in Europe and North America as soon as this weekend so their groups and unions see them as difficult trips that can force them, due to quarantine regulations, to miss club games once they return.
The dispute can also set the level for a primary showdown between FIFA and clubs that employ the world’s most productive players. Clubs and leagues have long been upset about having little to say in releasing the national team of players on which they spend millions. dollars to use.
Major League Soccer and some of its organizations became Friday the first organization to write to South American federations saying they would not free players for matches, saying quarantine needs in the United States and considerations about testing procedures elsewhere meant they were within their rights. to block player requests to enroll in their national organizations.
“While we perceive that players and staff will go through tests and controls, we don’t think it’s medically imaginable to find out the prestige of COVID-19 of the player’s teammates, coaches, and technical staff given the player’s travel schedule, education, and game dates. “, read one of the MLS letters reviewed through the Times. In that document, the league said that ” it was not in a position to release “the player, Alejandro Romero of Paraguay, known as Kaku.
Conmebol, the regional framework of South American football, wrote that same day to FIFA ingsing it to enforce its rules, and its letter, signed through conmebol President Alejandro Dominguez, insists that any breach of this legal liability would affect the sporting integrity of its qualifying campaign. In the letter, Dominguez demanded that FIFA factor sanctions for any infringement.
Under its laws, FIFA would possibly prohibit a player from playing club football for five days after the completion of the foreign departure window if a valid application is ignored. He could also initiate disciplinary proceedings against the player’s club, which would result in the head of the World Players Union said FIFA’s resolution would push players into an unsustainable position next week, forcing them to put aside their non-public fitness disorders or sanctions threats.
“The truth is that we are in the middle of a pandemic, and the prospect that a player can be punished for taking a resolution considering what is absolutely false for him,” said Jonas Baer-Hoffmann, secretary general. FIFPro, a global union of players. FIFPro, as well as organisations such as the World League Forum and the Association of European Clubs, a lobby organisation for Europe’s most productive organisations, had discussed the October window with FIFA.
In the past, players and clubs have circumvented regulations by reporting minor injuries just before a foreign window, but many now expect these diagnoses to burst over the next week.
An examination through FIFPro showed that the greatest influence of the FIFA rule would take place through groups in North America and Europe. In all cases, Bolivia, most of the players of the South American team are found abroad. Once FIFA makes its decision, the first players will have to travel from Sunday, although there are no uniform protocols in a position to protect their health.
Existing proposals reviewed through FIFA for the October Games will require a minimum trial era of 72 hours, making it more flexible than the 48-hour requirement for matches played in Europe in September and can put players at a greater threat of contracting the virus while they wait. Results.
And while FIFA seeks to enforce its regulations for the World Cup qualifiers, at the same time it will ease the requirement for out-of-competition matches. This decision, while welcome, has caused confusion over the “health first” mantra that FIFA has adopted. repeated the pandemic; Critics of strict adherence to the qualifying rule have noted that the dangers of contracting the virus remain unchanged regardless of what is at stake in the match.
“There are players who will need to play if they feel it, we’re not saying they deserve to be sanctioned,” Baer-Hoffmann said. “But we say they deserve to be when they do. “
The pandemic has already shaken the football calendar, forcing changes in the schedules and postponements of World Cup qualifiers and regional and foreign championships. But South America stood firm and insisted that its games be held.
Not doing so can result in the loss of millions of dollars in television winnings for the continent’s national football federations, but players are already feeling the consequences. A recent outbreak among players from Brazil’s most sensitive team, Flamengo, has led 16 players to go out of action and isolate themselves.
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