Quarantine waived for traveling South American football teams

Football clubs travelling through South America to play in the Copa Libertadores and Copa Sudamericana will not need to quarantine for 14 days before games.

Published : Aug 07, 2020 10:14 IST , ASUNCION

The last Copa Libertadores game played was between Alianza Lima and Racing Club on March 12, 2020. The tournament, which is South America's equivalent of the Champions League, will resume on September 15.

The South American Football Confederation (CONMEBOL) agreed with national governments on Thursday that teams traveling around the continent to compete in club competitions do not need to quarantine for 14 days before playing matches.

The Copa Libertadores, South America's equivalent of the Champions League, and the Copa Sudamericana, akin to the Europa League, are to restart on September 15 and October 27, respectively, with 64 teams from 10 nations taking part.

With some countries still restricting the movement of foreigners and quarantine limits in place there was confusion about how the tournaments would proceed.

CONMEBOL said competing teams will be allowed to spend a maximum of 72 hours in another country and must restrict their movements to only go between airport, hotel, training ground and stadium.

The teams must follow strict sanitary norms and host nations must train hotel staff to ensure a minimum of contact with the visiting staff and players.

The organisation also said a new FIFA rule that allows five substitutions per game was ratified for both the Libertadores and Sudamericana.

South America has been hit hard by the new coronavirus pandemic, with more than 4 million cases and almost 150,000 deaths.