Chelsea will be forced to leave unvaccinated players behind when they travel to France for the second leg of their Champions League last-16 game against Lille next month.
Uefa has published special new Covid regulations for the knockout stages of its club competitions that suggest Lille will not have to move the match to a neutral venue to accommodate Chelsea’s unvaccinated players.
France has introduced strict measures for unvaccinated visitors. Chelsea could attempt to apply for special exemption for their unvaccinated players via the English Football Association, but that is unlikely to be granted.
The first leg of the tie will be played at Stamford Bridge on 22 February, with the second at Lille’s Stade Pierre Mauroy on 16 March.
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It is not known which of Chelsea’s players have not had the vaccine but Blues manager Thomas Tuchel said last month that a French travel ban could “create problems for us in not being able to use key players”.
He added: “They [the players] are aware of it. And at some point, everybody who is not vaccinated will face some consequences.
“Does that make it wrong that they are not? I’m not so sure about it, I simply don’t know. I took my decision for myself. For us, isolated as a club, isolated as a football team, there can be huge consequences.”
France’s travel rules also state that anybody who is double-jabbed but has not received a vaccine booster within nine months is also treated as unvaccinated.
Footballers and other professional athletes have frequently found themselves exempt from Covid regulations when travelling around the world during the pandemic. But countries have started taking tougher measures against unvaccinated sportspeople.
French President Emmanuel Macron has recently adopted a tough stance, saying publicly that he wished to “piss off” unvaccinated people.
As such, tennis star Novak Djokovic is expected to be denied entry to compete at the French Open, unless he gets vaccinated before the tournament begins in May.
The Serb missed the Australian Open after being dramatically deported from the country for failing to meet vaccination standards.
Roland Garros organisers have said that under current regulations there will be no exemption, although they hope that could change before May.
Djokovic was overtaken in the record books by Rafael Nadal, who won the Australian Open in his absence to claim a 21st grand-slam trophy, moving him one ahead of Djokovic and Roger Federer. It is a record the 34-year-old craves.
Real Madrid may also face problems when they visit Paris Saint-Germain on Tuesday.
from Football – inews.co.uk https://ift.tt/zH3BGUT
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