Hütter says Frankfurt may bar some players from national team duty: "I don't think it's very intelligent to play these games."
With the first international break since November arriving in just over a week, German clubs must decide whether to release their players for international travel whilst a global pandemic still rages.
Eintracht Frankfurt head-coach Adi Hütter indicated that his organization was already considering barring some players from reporting to their national teams.
Eintracht Frankfurt head-coach Adi Hütter indicated that his organization was already considering barring some players from reporting to their national teams.
| Adi Hütter. | Photo: Werner100359, CC BY-SA 4.0 |
In the Bundesliga, clubs TSG 1899 Hoffenheim and Hertha BSC elicited serious consequences for allowing their players to leave during the beginning of the second-wave in October and November. Several Hoffenheim notables contracted the novel virus whilst away and Hertha lost important actors to travel fatigue and domestic quarantine measures.
Matters got serious enough that DSC Arminia Bielefeld and SV Werder Bremen actually forbade several of their players to leave in November. Despite the fact that great progress has been made in combatting the global scourge, SGE trainer Adi Hütter told reporters that his organization would consider preventing certain players from leaving.
To take a concrete example, Austria is scheduled to play a World Cup Qualifying match on March 25th in Glasgow. Eintracht Austrian internationals Martin Hinteregger and Stefan Ilsanker could possibly be barred from accepting a call-up. In point of fact, the surfeit of Austrian professionals playing in the Bundesliga actually has the DFL itself lobbying UEFA for a postponement of the fixture.
Other Frankfurt professionals with potential long-distance travel itineraries include Daichi Kamada of Japan and Aymen Barkok of Morocco. Hütter voiced his displeasure at the prospect of releasing such integral players to the dangerous of international travel.
"There are thoughts throughout the Bundesliga about not letting these players loose," Hütter told German footballing magazine Kicker, "That's an issue here too. Basically, I don't think it's very intelligent to play these games. In view of the risk of contagion, its insanely dangerous."
In the final analysis, it's highly unlikely that some sort of blanket ban will emerge. Clubs employing high-profile superstars didn't dare impose rules on them during the November break. Legally speaking, the Bundesrepublik does afford professional athletes an exception from the 14-day-quarantine procedures regular incoming travelers are subjected to.
