UEFA has called off tonight’s Nations League match between Romania and Norway.
Moi Elyounoussi and Kris Ajer were among the 18-man playing squad ready to fly to Bucharest yesterday but their plans were put on hold by concerns from the Norwegian Government with home-based players already excluded from the trip.
The Norwegian FA had been planning on flying out this morning to play the match but late on Saturday night UEFA stepped in with a decision that could have a knock on effect for this week’s scheduled International fixtures.
Clubs across Europe have voiced their concerns about the risk involved in players from various bubbles traveling by scheduled flights before matches in two or three venues during the course of a week.
The Standard reports:
Uefa has confirmed that Norway’s Nations League game in Romania on Sunday has been cancelled after the UEFA Norwegian team was prevented from travelling by the nation’s health authorities due to a positive test.
Norway’s FA clashed with the country’s health authorities as the squad prepared to leave Oslo on Saturday. The health ministry insisted the team did not travel to Bucharest and should instead go into quarantine following a positive test for Galatasary right back Omar Elabdellaoui.
“The Norwegian Football Federation believes that we can travel within the regulations. The Norwegian government says no to this. We disagree with that, but of course we cannot defy the government,” NFF president Terje Svendsen said in a statement.
“We are very disappointed that the authorities are forcing us to stay home. All the other 54 Uefa nations are playing international matches this week except Norway. This is very detrimental to the national team’s ambitions in the short and long term.”
Should all of this week's Nations League matches be cancelled?
No, the games should go ahead as planned
Yes, beyond a joke, bring players back to their clubs
UEFA will now have to decide whether to reschedule the match or award Romania a 3-0 win, it seems unlikely that the Norwegian Government will allow their team to fly to Austria to play on Wednesday.
Four Celtic players are in the Scotland squad in Slovakia today, on Wednesday they are due to play Israel which would see a total of six Celtic players involved in the squads.