Sweden friendly moved to Russia over virus entry restrictions
An upcoming friendly between Sweden and Russia has been moved to Moscow due to Swedish coronavirus pandemic rules, the Swedish Football Association said on Wednesday. Sweden is not able to host the Oct. 8 match under restrictions limiting unnecessary travel to the Scandinavian country. It will not allow travel from anywhere other than from other European […]
An upcoming friendly between Sweden and Russia has been moved to Moscow due to Swedish coronavirus pandemic rules, the Swedish Football Association said on Wednesday.
Sweden is not able to host the Oct. 8 match under restrictions limiting unnecessary travel to the Scandinavian country.
It will not allow travel from anywhere other than from other European Union (EU) countries, as well as Britain, Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Switzerland.
“Unfortunately, we are forced to move the match against Russia since we still have not received any word from the government —- in spite of the fact that we sent a letter already since Aug. 27,” said Hakan Sjostrand, secretary general of the Swedish Football Association.
He added that the strict rules applied in international football would have entailed “a significantly lower risk of the spread of infection compared with other permitted occupational categories.”
The Russia friendly is part of Sweden’s preparations for 2020/2021 UEFA Nations League matches away to Croatia on October 11, and Portugal three days later.
