Leeds United could be handed a fine and a forfeit if they field Raphinha v Liverpool
Leeds United would potentially be handed a fine and forced to forfeit the match should they decide to field Raphinha against Liverpool.
The Liverpool Echo report that should the Whites decide to play Raphinha, they would breach section 22 of FIFA’s disciplinary code, resulting in a fine and a forfeit.
However, the Reds have also been banned from playing their Brazilian players, and if they decide to play them, they could also be hit by the exact same punishment.
Ridiculous situation.
On Wednesday, it was revealed that the Brazilian FA had convinced FIFA to ban all the Brazilian players who weren’t allowed to participate in Brazil’s international fixtures for five days [The Times].
Therefore, as it stands, Leeds will officially be without Raphinha though they could play him and risk a forfeit, while Liverpool could do the same.
This would mean that both would have to forfeit the game, and how would that work in terms of points and goal-difference – someone would have to be a winner, right?
There really should be some common sense applied here, and it should be recognised that travelling to a country on the travel red list during a pandemic is probably not the best thing to be doing.
The clubs who didn’t let their players travel should probably be praised for having some common sense, but instead, we have this bizarre situation.
There is talk that the Premier League are trying to resolve this dispute, and we hope that they do manage to find a suitable solution [Mike Keegan].
In other Leeds United news, Ian Wright has made a claim on one Leeds star after footage emerges.