European teams start World Cup qualifying campaign amid Covid chaos
PARIS: Holders France begin their defence of the World Cup this week as European qualifying for next year’s finals in Qatar gets underway against a backdrop of confusion and chaos over the release of players in a worrying health context across the continent.
While this month’s scheduled qualifiers in South America were called off and most matches in Asia were postponed, players in Europe are having to work their way around travel restrictions in order to join up with national teams.
Fifa’s decision to relax rules forcing clubs to release players during an international window remains in place until the end of April, with world football’s governing body unable to ignore the wider context of the Covid-19 crisis.
The consequences of that have largely been confusion and plenty of backtracking by clubs and authorities in recent days.
Winners in 2018, France host Ukraine behind closed doors tomorrow before flying 5,500 kilometres (3,418 miles) to Kazakhstan and stopping off on the way back in Sarajevo for another game against Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The trip has caused some controversy in France, with authorities allowing members of the French team to go to Central Asia and then the Balkans while the French league said it would not release players to travel outwith the 27-nation European Union or European Economic Area (EAA).
Realising it was not a good look, the French sports ministry announced over the weekend that all players could be released after all, saying they would be “exempt from a seven-day isolation as long as they respect a strict health and medical protocol” on returning.
U-turns have happened elsewhere, with Bayern Munich announcing on Saturday that star Polish striker Robert Lewandowski and Austrian defender David Alaba would be released for international duty due to a change in Germany’s Covid-19 travel restrictions.
Lewandowski can now play for Poland against England at Wembley on March 31, while Alaba can feature for Austria against Scotland in Glasgow on Thursday.
Some countries have been forced to take quite drastic action to get around possible restrictions.
Portugal moved their qualifier against Azerbaijan to Turin in Italy. Had the game gone ahead in Lisbon, they feared having to leave out 10 Premier League-based players who faced having to self-isolate for 10 days on their return to the United Kingdom.
The decision to make teams play three qualifiers in seven days just before the run-in to the club season, despite the travel difficulties, also raises eyebrows as it means no letup for elite players in a punishing schedule.
Despite qualifying automatically as hosts, Qatar have already taken part in the Asian qualifying tournament and will now be involved in the European competition too.
They will be sparring partners for teams in Group A and will play games in Hungary against Luxembourg, Azerbaijan and the Republic of Ireland.