[ad_1]
Most recently, the request for a change of location was in the room. However, following internal consultations, the ÖFB refrained from this alternative scenario. A request for an exchange of places should have been approved by the FIFA world association, and this variant would have required an exemption for the Scottish delegation to land on Austrian territory.
A trade would also have had disadvantages for the ÖFB in sporting terms. In September, three away games in Moldova, Israel and Scotland would have been on the program in a few days, so travel would have been very difficult. Scotland rejected the event in a neutral location. “We had to choose one of two unsatisfactory options. We did it after weighing all the parameters, ”explained ÖFB Managing Director Bernhard Neuhold.
“It is important that the decision has been made”
Foda will announce his squad on Friday for the game in Scotland and subsequent games in Vienna on March 28 against the Faroe Islands and against Denmark on March 31. In Vienna, David Alaba and Co. may be there again, as German quarantine regulations apply to stays in Britain, but not Austria.
“There was no satisfactory option in this situation. We made our decision with a view to the overall rating. It is important to us that the decision has been made. Now we have to focus on the things we can influence, ”says team boss Franco Foda, who has to plan his team against Scotland without a total of 14 German legionnaires. These include mainstays like Alaba, Marcel Sabitzer, Martin Hinteregger, Christoph Baumgartner, Xaver Schlager, Stefan Lainer, and Stefan Ilsanker.
ÖFB continues negotiations with German clubs
The ÖFB will continue to seek exemptions from German clubs. “In this context, today a letter was sent to all German clubs, which on the one hand underlines the strict prevention and hygiene measures in the field and on the other hand again transmits the request to the clubs to issue special permits for legionaries in a double pass with local health authorities, ÖFB announced in a press release.
The background of the situation is that due to the coronavirus pandemic, returnees from Great Britain in Germany have to be quarantined for between 10 and 14 days, depending on the federal state. However, if a player has to be quarantined for more than five days, the club is released from the obligation to be released by a FIFA regulation. Since German clubs are not expected to give the go-ahead anyway, Scotland’s team will consist of players from the Austrian Bundesliga and other European leagues such as France, Switzerland, Belgium and Turkey.
