September 13 – On Sunday, Fabinho was among the stars in Liverpool’s impressive 3-0 away victory at Leeds United. The Brazilian, alongside his compatriot Allison and other South American players, was eventually cleared to feature for his club in this weekend’s Premier League matches after football associations from South and Central America dropped their demand that FIFA impose the five-day rule.
The clearance came after days of negotiations between the Premier League and FIFA with Brazil, Chile, Paraguay and Mexico, having initially pressed the world federation to apply the ban following the Premier League’s collective decision to not release players for international duty to red-zone countries. On return to the United Kingdom, the players in question would have been subject to quarantine.
Brazil had been most insistent on the ban being applied with Mexico and Paraguay quickly pulling away from demanding the ban was enforced.
The Tottenham trio Giovani Lo Celso, Cristian Romero and Davinson Sánchez, as well as Aston Villa’s Emi Martínez and Emi Buendía, did fly to South America for matches and were unavailable for this weekend’s matches.
The rule would have affected Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United, Chelsea and Leeds, with the Confederation of Brazilian Football (CBF) asking an exemption for Everton’s Richarlison on the basis of the good relationship between the two parties after the Merseyside club released the player for both the Copa America and the Olympic Games earlier this summer.
But ultimately the CBF and the other three football associations relented and the resolution between the clubs and the FAs will come as a relief to the global governing body, preventing what could have been a major standoff between the clubs and FIFA.
The world federation wants the British government to ease quarantine rules for October when World Cup qualifiers will resume around the world.
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