Football: European teams start World Cup qualifying campaign amid COVID-19 chaos

Kylian Mbappe and France begin their defence of the World Cup trophy against Ukraine as European qualifying begins despite the difficulties caused by the pandemic. PARIS: 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 the continent.

Winners in 2018, France host Ukraine behind closed doors on Wednesday before flying 5,500km to Kazakhstan and stopping off on the way back in Sarajevo for another game against Bosnia and Herzegovina. U-turns have happened elsewhere, with Bayern Munich announcing on Saturday 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.

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 United Kingdom.

Singapore Latest News, Singapore Headlines

Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.

Football: Soucek leads Czechs past Estonia 6-2 to start World Cup campaignA Tomas Soucek hat-trick helped the Czech Republic to storm back from an early deficit to thrash Estonia 6-2 on Wednesday and kick off their World ...
Source: ChannelNewsAsia - 🏆 6. / 66 Read more »

Soccer-European qualifying draw for the 2023 women's World CupThe following is the European qualifying draw for the 2023 women's World Cup in Australia and New Zealand, which was made in Nyon, Switzerland on ...
Source: ChannelNewsAsia - 🏆 6. / 66 Read more »

Football: Start of African World Cup qualifiers could be postponed to SeptemberJOHANNESBURG: The start of the group stages of the African qualifiers for the 2022 World Cup could be postponed for a second time to September, a ...
Source: ChannelNewsAsia - 🏆 6. / 66 Read more »

Football: Africa World Cup stadium ban plunges qualifiers into crisisCAPE TOWN: Africa's World Cup qualifiers have been thrown into crisis after a ban on numerous stadia across the continent left many countries ...
Source: ChannelNewsAsia - 🏆 6. / 66 Read more »

Football: Dani Alves rejoins Brazil for World Cup qualifiersBrazil coach Tite recalled 38-year-old veteran Dani Alves on Friday for their World Cup qualifiers against Ecuador and Paraguay on June 4 and 8.
Source: ChannelNewsAsia - 🏆 6. / 66 Read more »