London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Wednesday, Jan 14, 2026

Premier League footballers offered new quarantine rules for international break

Premier League footballers offered new quarantine rules for international break

With another round of international matches looming in the football calendar, questions about players being released to represent their countries remain a headache for the Premier League.

Under new guidelines announced last week, several Premier League footballers returning from international duty face 10 days in "bespoke quarantine facilities" -- a move that has irked Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp.

The guidelines say that fully-vaccinated players returning to the UK from "red list" countries -- including Brazil and Argentina -- will be allowed out of their quarantine facilities once a day to train or play in matches.

But Klopp, for whom Brazil's Alisson and Fabinho, Greece's Kostas Tsimikas and Senegal's Sadio Mane will be impacted by the 10-day quarantine measures, has voiced concerns about the decision.

"They go for 10-12 days with their national teams, and then they go another 10 days away from their families into quarantine," he told reporters last week.

"That's 22 days, and two weeks later there's the next international break. It doesn't sound to me like a real solution."

Klopp went on to add: "We take people for three weeks out of normal life for actually no real reason because we take care of our players when they're here and with their families.

"They don't do anything else. They go home, come to training and go home ... The Premier League has to fight for our players."

The guidelines for Premier League players are different compared to members of the public returning from red list countries, who have to quarantine in a hotel for 10 days after arriving in England.

The exemption for players is also subject to strict protocols and a code of conduct to be agreed with clubs, the Football Association (FA) and Public Health England.

From Monday, the UK government amended its travel rules, in part by scrapping its green and amber lists of countries. More than 50 countries remain on the red list.

The current international break, during which teams will compete in the final stages of the UEFA Nations League and qualifiers for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, runs from October 4-14; Premier League fixtures start again on October 16.

"We have worked closely with football authorities to achieve an outcome that balances the interests of both club and country while maintaining the highest levels of public health and safety," a UK government spokesperson said in relation to the exemption for players on international duty.

"Our best defence against the virus is vaccination and these new measures will allow fully vaccinated players to fulfill their international duties in the safest, most practical way possible, while allowing them to train and play with their clubs as early as possible upon their return."

Alongside the FA and FIFA, the Premier League tried to find a solution to shorten players' quarantine period but accepted the UK health authorities' desire to maintain a 10-day quarantine. The protocols will be reviewed by the governing bodies over the course of this international window.

"FIFA welcomes the UK government`s decision to allow fully vaccinated players the opportunity to represent their countries in the upcoming qualifying matches for the FIFA World Cup and return from a red-list country to bespoke quarantine conditions," said a statement from football's governing body.

"We have worked closely with the UK government, Football Association and Premier League to find a reasonable solution, in the interests of everyone, and we believe this is a much more desirable solution to the situation that players faced in September."

The statement added: "We acknowledge this decision does not help every player and we remain committed to further improving the situation for upcoming windows and joining discussions to explain more about the many measures we are putting in place to reduce the risks of Covid transmission into the community as a result of player travel."

Liverpool's Sadio Mane is set to represent Senegal during the international break.


Previously, Premier League clubs have decided not to release players for international matches in red-list countries.

Then in September, there were chaotic scenes as the World Cup qualifier between Brazil and Argentina was suspended minutes after kickoff when four Argentinian players were accused of breaking Covid travel protocols.

Brazilian health officials marched onto the pitch in São Paulo and claimed that the players in question had made false statement upon arriving in Brazil, omitting that they had been in the UK in the past 14 days.

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
UK Intensifies Arctic Security Engagement as Trump’s Greenland Rhetoric Fuels Allied Concern
Meghan Markle Could Return to the UK for the First Time in Nearly Four Years If Security Is Secured
Meghan Markle Likely to Return to UK Only if Harry Secures Official Security Cover
UAE Restricts Funding for Emiratis to Study in UK Amid Fears Over Muslim Brotherhood Influence
EU Seeks ‘Farage Clause’ in Brexit Reset Talks to Safeguard Long-Term Agreement Stability
Starmer’s Push to Rally Support for Action Against Elon Musk’s X Faces Setback as Canada Shuns Ban
UK Free School Meals Expansion Faces Political and Budgetary Delays
EU Seeks ‘Farage Clause’ in Brexit Reset Talks With Britain
Germany Hit by Major Airport Strikes Disrupting European Travel
Prince Harry Seeks King Charles’ Support to Open Invictus Games on UK Return
Washington Holds Back as Britain and France Signal Willingness to Deploy Troops in Postwar Ukraine
Elon Musk Accuses UK Government of Suppressing Free Speech as X Faces Potential Ban Over AI-Generated Content
Russia Deploys Hypersonic Missile in Strike on Ukraine
OpenAI and SoftBank Commit One Billion Dollars to Energy and Data Centre Supplier
UK Prime Minister Starmer Reaffirms Support for Danish Sovereignty Over Greenland Amid U.S. Pressure
UK Support Bolsters U.S. Seizure of Russian-Flagged Tanker Marinera in Atlantic Strike on Sanctions Evasion
The Claim That Maduro’s Capture and Trial Violate International Law Is Either Legally Illiterate—or Deliberately Deceptive
UK Data Watchdog Probes Elon Musk’s X Over AI-Generated Grok Images Amid Surge in Non-Consensual Outputs
Prince Harry to Return to UK for Court Hearing Without Plans to Meet King Charles III
UK Confirms Support for US Seizure of Russian-Flagged Oil Tanker in North Atlantic
Béla Tarr, Visionary Hungarian Filmmaker, Dies at Seventy After Long Illness
UK and France Pledge Military Hubs Across Ukraine in Post-Ceasefire Security Plan
Prince Harry Poised to Regain UK Security Cover, Clearing Way for Family Visits
UK Junk Food Advertising Ban Faces Major Loophole Allowing Brand-Only Promotions
Maduro’s Arrest Without The Hague Tests International Law—and Trump’s Willingness to Break It
German Intelligence Secretly Intercepted Obama’s Air Force One Communications
The U.S. State Department’s account in Persian: “President Trump is a man of action. If you didn’t know it until now, now you do—do not play games with President Trump.”
Fake Mainstream Media Double Standard: Elon Musk Versus Mamdani
HSBC Leads 2026 Mortgage Rate Cuts as UK Lending Costs Ease
US Joint Chiefs Chairman Outlines How Operation Absolute Resolve Was Carried Out in Venezuela
Starmer Welcomes End of Maduro Era While Stressing International Law and UK Non-Involvement
Korean Beauty Turns Viral Skincare Into a Global Export Engine
UK Confirms Non-Involvement in U.S. Military Action Against Venezuela
UK Terror Watchdog Calls for Australian-Style Social Media Ban to Protect Teenagers
Iranian Protests Intensify as Another Revolutionary Guard Member Is Killed and Khamenei Blames the West
Delta Force Identified as Unit Behind U.S. Operation That Captured Venezuela’s President
Europe’s Luxury Sanctions Punish Russian Consumers While a Sanctions-Circumvention Industry Thrives
Berkshire’s Buffett-to-Abel Transition Tests Whether a One-Man Trust Model Can Survive as a System
Fraud in European Central Bank: Lagarde’s Hidden Pay Premium Exposes a Transparency Crisis at the European Central Bank
Trump Announces U.S. Large-Scale Strike on Venezuela, Declares President Maduro and Wife Captured
Tesla Loses EV Crown to China’s BYD After Annual Deliveries Decline in 2025
UK Manufacturing Growth Reaches 15-Month Peak as Output and Orders Improve in December
Beijing Threatened to Scrap UK–China Trade Talks After British Minister’s Taiwan Visit
Newly Released Files Reveal Tony Blair Pressured Officials Over Iraq Death Case Involving UK Soldiers
Top Stocks and Themes to Watch in 2026 as Markets Enter New Year with Fresh Momentum
No UK Curfew Ordered as Deepfake TikTok Falsely Attributes Decree to Prime Minister Starmer
Europe’s Largest Defence Groups Set to Return Nearly Five Billion Dollars to Shareholders in Twenty Twenty-Five
Abu Dhabi ‘Capital of Capital’: How Abu Dhabi Rose as a Sovereign Wealth Power
Diamonds Are Powering a New Quantum Revolution
Trump Threatens Strikes Against Iran if Nuclear Programme Is Restarted
×