New FIFA rule may leave out Portuguese players in the national team
Bruno Fernandes, Bernardo Silva or Diogo Jota may not participate in the selection commitments in March.
Some of the Portuguese players may be prevented from participating in the commitments of the March selection, qualifying for the World Cup in 2022, due to a new rule approved yesterday on 5/02/2021 by FIFA.
The new FIFA rule allows clubs to prevent players from representing the national team if they have to be quarantined for 5 days or more on their return.
The United Kingdom has blacklisted several countries due to the pandemic, including Portugal but also South American and African countries, so anyone returning from those countries will have to be quarantined for 10 days.
Therefore, Premier League clubs are authorized by FIFA to prevent players from blacklisted countries from participating in national team games.
Bruno Fernandes, Bernardo Silva, Diogo Jota and others, may not be able to participate in the next games for the Portuguese team against Azerbaijan, on the 24th, at the Alvalade stadium, against Serbia, on the 27th, in Belgrade, and against Luxembourg, on the 30th in Luxembourg.
