A total of eight English Premier League players have been banned from playing football for the next five days.
The players affected are from Manchester United, Manchester City, Chelsea, Liverpool, Leeds and Ever-ton.
The ban instituted by FIFA was prompted by the fact that the mentioned clubs refused to release their players for World Cup qualifiers in South America as they would have to quarantine upon arrival back in England.
The players affected include Liverpool goalkeeper Alisson, Fabinho, Roberto Firmino, Manchester City’s Ederson, Gabriel Jesus, Chelsea’s Thiago Silva, Manchester United’s Fred and Raphinha. The players will not kick the ball for the next five days after their country’s football association asked them to institute the ban.
Other players who found themselves in a mix even after being released by their teams in England are Tottenham’s Giovani Lo Celso and Christian Romero, and Villa stars Emiliano Martinez and Emiliano Buendia who travelled to represent Argentina – but faced arrest for breaking quarantine laws.
Just minutes into the qualifier,police and health officials stormed the pitch to detain the Premier League stars – seeking to deport them for failing to adhere to quarantine regulations after arriving in Brazil.
According to rules in Brazil, people arriving from the UK have to isolate for 14 days upon arrival into the country.
Brazil invoked the bans after EPL barred players from appearing for their countries on the red list due to Covid-19 pandemic.