After a week-long will they or won’t they discussion, FIFA has granted permission to South American players to play this weekend. There were talks of a five-day ban initially, but it is no longer expected to be a hindrance.
Premier League teams clashed with national federations and FIFA over the last fortnight regarding their decision not to release certain players for international duty. Those held back mostly belonged to South American nations on the red list, meaning that those players would have had to quarantine for ten days upon return. FIFA’s attempts to get Premier League teams to release their players were rebuffed, which led to several affected federations calling for five-day bans.
Chelsea, Manchester City, Manchester United, and Liverpool would have all been affected directly as a result of the proposed ban. Chelsea and Manchester United would’ve lost a player each for this weekend’s round of matches, with Thiago Silva and Fred missing out, respectively. Both Silva and Fred would’ve missed out on this season’s first Champions League group stage games, too. Manchester City and Liverpool would’ve lost two players each, including both of their first-choice goalkeepers.
Elsewhere, Leeds United would’ve been ineligible to field star winger Raphinha while Wolverhampton Wanderers would’ve had to do without Raul Jimenez. Miguel Almiron, who plays for Paraguay, would also have had to sit out, which would’ve affected Newcastle United.
Nonetheless, after discussions involving FIFA and the national federations of Brazil, Mexico, Chile, and Paraguay, those players have been given the green light to participate in this weekend’s round of matches.
Things are slightly more complicated for the players who represent Argentina. Four players – Emiliano Martinez, Emiliano Buendia, Giovani Lo Celso, and Cristian Romero – secured a release from their respective clubs before flying to South America for the FIFA qualifiers.
Those players won’t be available to their clubs this weekend, as they have to serve a ten-day quarantine period before being allowed back into the fold. Tottenham Hotspur and Aston Villa are the only two clubs affected in this instance as they own two of those four players each.
