Serie A tells Italian clubs not to release Ghanaian players for WC qualifiers

The Italian Football Federation (IFF) has backed clubs not to release Ghanaian players for the World Cup qualifiers.

Ghana will commence their World Cup qualifiers against Ethiopia on September 3 at the Cape Coast Stadium before they travel to Johannesburg for the South Africa encounter on September.

Premier League clubs earlier agreed not to release players for international duty next month for matches that would be played in countries on the UK’s coronavirus ‘red list’ with Italian clubs following suit.

On Wednesday, IFF declared support for clubs not release Ghanaian players for qualifiers as they would be quarantine on their return to Italy.

There have been concerns over mandatory quarantines for players travelling to and from red-list countries during the international break, which could threaten health and safety and have a serious knock-on effect for clubs in terms of training and the resumption of domestic games.

This means Spezia Calcio forward Emmanuel Gyasi will miss the chance to represent Ghana for qualifiers.

Meanwhile, FIFA responded with a personal message from President Gianni Infantino to British Prime Minister, Boris Johnson on Wednesday.

“I have written to Prime Minister Boris Johnson and appealed for the necessary support, in particular, so players are not deprived of the opportunity of representing their countries in qualifying matches for the FIFA World Cup, which is one of the ultimate honors for a professional footballer,” Infantino said in a statement on Wednesday. “I have suggested that an approach similar to that adopted by the UK government for the final stages of the Euro 2020 be implemented for the upcoming international matches.”

The African football body has also asked the British government to grant exemption to the continent’s stars for the second round of the World Cup qualifiers that will start in September.

“Same treatment previously applied to Europe” to players needing to go to Africa for games. Egypt and South Africa are among the African nations on Britain’s red list.

“The circumstances in the African countries on the red list in many cases are in fact less severe than other countries not currently on this list or for which exemptions were previously provided,” CAF said in a statement.