Holders France begin their defence of the World Cup this week as European qualifying for the 2022 finals in Qatar gets underway against a backdrop of confusion and chaos over the release of players in a worrying health context across Europe.

While this month’s scheduled qualifiers in South America were called off and most matches in Asia were postponed, players in Europe are having to work their way around travel restrictions in order to join up with national teams.

FIFA’s decision to relax rules forcing clubs to release players during an international window remains in place until the end of April, with world football’s governing body unable to ignore the wider context of the Covid-19 crisis.

The consequences of that have largely been confusion and plenty of backtracking by clubs and authorities recently.

Winners in 2018, France host Ukraine behind closed doors on March 24 before flying 5,500km to Kazakhstan and stopping off on the way back in Sarajevo for another game against Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The trip has caused some controversy in France, with authorities allowing members of the French team to go to Central Asia and then the Balkans while the French league said it would not release players to travel outwith the 27-nation EU or European Economic Area, which also includes Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway.

That was due to clubs being worried about players having to self-isolate for a week on their return, thereby missing their team’s next league game.

A row ensued, with the decision affecting several European nations with players based in Ligue 1, but also many African national teams looking to call up players for Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers.

U-turns

“I’m not a politician, I’m just an ordinary guy, but it’s not fair. It is not wise at the moment either. We need to stick together and not show discrimination or racism. It doesn’t give a good image,” said Lyon captain Memphis Depay, with the Dutch international at risk of missing his country’s qualifier in Turkey as a result.

Realising it was not a good look, the French sports ministry announced over the weekend that all players could be released after all, saying they would be “exempt from a seven-day isolation as long as they respect a strict health and medical protocol” on returning.

U-turns have happened elsewhere, with Bayern Munich announcing on March 20 that star Polish striker Robert Lewandowski and Austrian defender David Alaba would be released for international duty due to a change in Germany’s Covid-19 travel restrictions.

Lewandowski can now play for Poland against England at Wembley on March 31, while Alaba can play for Austria against Scotland on March 25.

Bayern had initially said neither player would be released to play in the UK as Germany had insisted on a two-week quarantine for anyone travelling from Britain.

“We gave the go-ahead for both players,” confirmed Bayern coach Hansi Flick.

Punishing schedule

Some countries have been forced to take drastic action to get around restrictions.

Portugal moved their qualifier against Azerbaijan to Turin in Italy. Had the game gone ahead in Lisbon, they feared having to leave out 10 Premier League-based players who faced having to self-isolate for 10 days on their return to the UK.

The decision to make teams play three qualifiers in seven days just before the run-in to the club season, despite the travel difficulties, also raises eyebrows as it means no let-up for elite players in a punishing schedule.

It is worth pondering what kind of condition they will be in by the time the delayed Euro 2020 starts on June 11.