Conmebol and FIFA lobby European clubs to release players for March World Cup qualifiers

March 3 – Conmebol and FIFA are seeking to convince European clubs to allow their players to travel for March’s World Cup qualifiers. Brazil have postponed their call-up, which had been scheduled for Friday.

On Thursday, Conmebol and FIFA representatives will meet, reports Brazil’s Globo, to mull over the situation that threatens the qualifiers later this month.

The coronavirus pandemic is reaching a new peak in Brazil and the British government (a bulk of players to be called up play in England) has all ten Conmebol countries on a red list, with fears that a Brazilian variant of the virus could spread in the UK.

It has been mooted that the March qualifiers would be played exclusively with home-based players, but Conmebol members are understood to be unhappy with that option.

With the Copa America in the summer and a congested calendar leading all the way up to the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, Conmebol can’t afford the upcoming matches to be postponed. The outbreak of the pandemic last year already resulted in multiple rounds of qualifiers being delayed.

On Tuesday, Brazil announced that they would postpone their call-up for the qualifiers, which had been planned for Friday. The five-time world champions are supposed to visit Colombia in Barranquilla on March 26 and then host Argentina in Recife on March 30.

Contact the writer of this story, Samindra Kunti, at moc.l1711708677labto1711708677ofdlr1711708677owedi1711708677sni@o1711708677fni1711708677