The Brazilian football association has sought FIFA’s help in their ongoing battle with Brazil’s Premier League players who rejected a call-up to the national team. FIFA has sanctioned eight Premier League players after the Brazil FA requested FIFA’s intervention.
The ruling means that eight Brazilian players – Roberto Firmino, Alisson, and Fabinho (all Liverpool), Fred (Manchester United), Raphinha (Leeds United), Thiago Silva (Chelsea), and Ederson (Manchester City) will be banned for five days, which will see them miss this weekend’s Premier League fixtures, while a few will miss next week’s Champions League fixtures.
The players refused to travel to their home country, as Brazil is one of the many countries on the UK’s COVID-19 red list. The Brazilian players would’ve had to quarantine for 10 days upon returning to the country, which they did not want to do. Everton’s Richarlison also refused to travel back home to represent his national team, but he was given a reprieve as he represented the country in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
Brazil isn’t the only country to call upon FIFA to sanction Premier League clubs from refusing to allow players to play for their national teams. The football federations of Mexico, Paraguay, and Chile have also requested FIFA to take action, which means that Wolves’ Raul Jimenez, Newcastle’s Miguel Almirón, and Francisco Sierralta of Watford could also miss games if FIFA passes sanctions on them.
Brazil faced Chile in a World Cup qualifier, but their next qualifier against Argentina was suspended just seconds before the game was to kickoff. Brazilian health authorities ran on to the pitch and detained four Argentine players from the Premier League – Emi Buendia, Cristian Romero, and Giovani Lo Celso, and Emiliano Martinez for not adhering to the country’s quarantine rules. Brazil plays the last of their games against Peru.
Teams that field these players before the five-day ban period will result in a 3-0 forfeit, as per FIFA rules. Premier League clubs, though, hope that they will be allowed to play their Brazilian players this weekend.
Liverpool will be the hardest hit by the sanctions as three of their key first-team players will miss the game. Manchester City will miss their first-choice keeper Ederson, and to compound matters for them, their backup keeper, Zack Steffen, has COVID-19. This could mean that 36-year-old Scott Carson – who has played one game in the previous two seasons – could have to start in goal against Leicester City on Saturday.
