Dortmund 'reserve right' to stop players from Germany duty

Berlin (AFP) – Borussia Dortmund’s head of player department Sebastian Kehl said on Thursday they could stop their players from featuring for Germany in the Nations League next month due to coronavirus worries.

Joachim Loew’s side travel to Ukraine on October 10, a country which is classed as a Covid-19 red zone due to its high number of cases.

“We’re working to find solutions, but we reserve the right to not make the players available, as long as there’s no rule allowing the players to play immediately after they return,” Kehl told specialist magazine Kicker.

The publication claimed the managers of champions Bayern Munich and Leipzig hold the same view.

Rules in Germany state people returning from risk zones must be placed in quarantine before receiving a virus test result.

Ahead of September’s international matches FIFA adapted its rules regarding players in areas with high numbers of the virus.

Despite the clubs’ worries the German Football Association’s director Oliver Bierhoff said the visit to the Ukrainian capital would last 36 hours and the team would stay away from the public.

“We will stay there in a bubble.”