Shame of Covidiot England stars soccer
Players axed after taking model and friend into Iceland hotel
TWO England footballers were yesterday kicked off the squad in disgrace after inviting a beauty queen into their hotel in Iceland.
Phil Foden, 20, and Mason Greenwood, 18, made their senior international n debuts in Reykjavik o on Saturday. But the next day they invited a model and her cousin to rooms in the team hotel, it t emerged yesterday. This was a clear breach of rules the Football Association had thrashed out with Iceland to get round strict 14-day quarantine t measures. The FA agreed England players would stay in a bubble during their stay so they could play their next fixture, against Denmark tonight. An Icelandic newspaper revealed Foden and Greenwood had welcomed beauty queen Nadia Gunnarsdottir, 20, and her cousin, Lara Clausen, 19, a law student, to their hotel. England manager Gareth Southgate swiftly announced they were out of the squad and were flying home alone – after paying fines of 250,000 Icelandic krona, about £1,400.
The women said they were ‘really sorry’ and that the players had let them take pictures, and did not mention any quarantine problem when they sneaked them into the hotel on Sunday.
Foden’s club, Manchester City, said his
‘Sorry to teammates and my family’
actions were ‘totally inappropriate’, while Greenwood’s, Manchester United, said it was ‘disappointed’.
The Daily Mail learnt last night that Iceland’s police went to the hotel to question both players, making them pay the maximum fine before they left.
The fee will take the players only a few hours to earn – but repairing their reputaSelfie: tions may be more costly. Foden is in a long-term relationship and has a son aged two. In a statement posted on Twitter last night, he said: ‘I apologise to Gareth Southgate, to my England team-mates, to the staff, supporters and also to my club and my family.
‘I breached Covid-19 protocols put in place to protect myself and my England colleagues. As a consequence I will now miss the opportunity to travel to Denmark with the squad, and that hurts.’
Both players performed creditably in England’s 1-0 defeat of Iceland on Saturday, won with a penalty by Raheem Sterling in the 90th minute.
Miss Gunnarsdottir, 2019 finalist for Miss Universe Iceland, told newspaper DV she and Greenwood had been talking for ‘a couple of days’ before he managed to get her into the hotel. She said: ‘We haven’t spoken to them since... It was a good night that we had. We were all the four of us spending time together and getting to know each other.’
The FA said it was launching a full investigation.