The KNVB sees the increase in the number of corona infections in professional football as no reason to stop the Eredivisie and the Kitchen Champion Division. According to the football association, there is also no reason to tighten up the corona protocol.
“Stopping professional football makes little sense because it concerns a very small group of players who hardly ever enter public spaces and travel by their own transport”, a KNVB spokesman told NU.nl on Tuesday. “The impact on public health is therefore negligible.”
In the past period, five league matches were postponed in the Netherlands due to multiple corona infections within a club. AZ and NAC Breda were hit hard last week and PSV will miss six players on Sunday due to positive test results.
Player unions FIFPRO and VVCS have already expressed concern about the increase. “We see the numbers rising. That is worrying,” Evgeniy Levchenko, chairman of the Dutch trade union VVCS, said earlier today.
‘Paid football also provides new insights’
Nevertheless, the KNVB has no plans to tighten up the corona protocol. “With the detailed protocols the basic rules at the clubs are guaranteed. Thanks to all the measures taken, infections are actually prevented,” said the spokesman.
“Even players without complaints are tested at least once a week and if the result is positive, they can immediately be isolated from the rest”, he continues. “In society, only people with complaints are tested. Professional football therefore also provides new insights.”
If it is up to the international trade union FIFPRO, the number of friendly international matches will be limited for the time being. The Dutch will play an exhibition game against Spain on November 11 and will then face Bosnia and Herzegovina (home) and Poland (away) in the Nations League. For the time being, the KNVB does not want to cancel the match against Spain.
“As far as the friendly match is concerned, it is one and the same international window as the Netherlands-Bosnia and Herzegovina and Poland-Netherlands, where the players stay in the bubble for a period. So there will be no extra travel movements for this exhibition match”, the spokesman concludes.
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