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Eddie Chikamhi-Senior Sports Reporter

THE Warriors technical team will be keeping its fingers crossed on the outcome of the lobbying by the English Premier Soccer League to allow the British Government to exempt football stars from quarantine rules ahead of the upcoming World Cup qualifiers. 

Zimbabwe is among countries on the red list of UK quarantine rules and players like Marvelous Nakamba, Tendayi Darikwa and Jordan Zemura could find it difficult to come back home for the opening rounds of the 2022 World Cup qualifiers. 

The Warriors are set to host South Africa at the National Sports Stadium on September 3 before travelling to Ethiopia, four days later. Ethiopia is also among the red list countries. 

The UK have tighter travel restrictions in place to reduce the introduction and transmission of new variants of Covid-19 from red list countries. 

The Warriors could not secure the services of most of their Europe-based professionals due to the travel restrictions, when they played the last two 2021 AFCON qualifiers against Botswana and Zambia in March this year. 

The stringent travel rules implemented by the UK Government have also affected the Zimbabwe national cricket team, who were supposed to engage in a multi-format cricket series against Ireland and Scotland at the beginning of the month. 

The Chevrons had to reschedule their cricket tour because of the quarantine requirements. 

The team was supposed to fly to Belfast first but had to change the itinerary since Northern Ireland is part of the United Kingdom, which has placed Zimbabwe under the red list. 

Football stars from top clubs, including Liverpool, Manchester United and Manchester City, are also caught up in the conundrum as they could miss up to four games when they return from the upcoming World Cup qualifiers when they return from red-list countries like Brazil, Argentina and Egypt. 

Travel rules mean they would need to quarantine at least 10 days upon their return from national team duties and could miss key English Premier League and possibly the opening Champions League match. 

However, the Daily Mail of the UK reported yesterday that English Premier League chiefs have begun the process of lobbying their Government for quarantine exemptions to avoid their star players being forced to isolate in hotels and face missing key matches. 

In what is set to become a huge club-versus-country row, the likes of Liverpool pair Alisson Becker and Roberto Firmino, Gabriel Jesus at Manchester City, Everton’s Richarlison and Leeds winger Raphinha (all from Brazil) will be forced into quarantine while Mo Salah could also be affected with one of Egypt’s matches due to take place at home. 

If it is not resolved, players face missing two English Premier League games, one round of Carabao Cup matches and the opening group-stage clashes in the Champions League. 

It comes after FIFA have scrapped their temporary rule that allowed clubs to refuse to release players for international duty who faced more than five days’ quarantine.

To try and avoid a disastrous clash of interests, the English FA and Premier League are understood to have already met with senior figures at the Department of Media, Culture and Sport (DCMS) to make their case for exemptions with clubs in support of the move. 

Last week, sources at DCMS suggested to the Daily Mail that exemptions were unlikely to be granted and on Saturday night there had still been no resolution to the dispute. 

British & Irish Lions rugby players were denied quarantine exemptions when they returned from their South Africa tour earlier this month. 

If quarantine isn’t granted, it will leave the football players in the delicate position of having to choose between club and country. 

This could also mean that Nakamba will not be available for Villa’s games against Chelsea on September 11 and Everton seven days later while those Zimbabweans in lower divisions could miss more. 

The Warriors technical team have delayed naming the World Cup squad because of some of these uncertainties. 

Clubs who force their players to stay in England face FIFA sanctions and are understood to be willing to leave the decision to individual players whilst fully supporting the outcome. 

The UK Government are aware of the financial benefits the English Premier League bring to the country but are also mindful an elite exemption will lead to accusations of double-standards with regular members of the public having to abide by quarantine rules. 

The situation is further complicated by Europe’s biggest clubs being furious with FIFA for extending the international break window for the South American qualifiers so close to English Premier League games it will be virtually impossible for the players to play in both — even if isolation rules are lifted.