Switzerland and Ukraine were scheduled to play their Nations League match tonight, Tuesday, November 17, but few hours before the match, the European football governing body, UEFA, announced that the match has been called-off due to coronavirus infections.
Ukraine football team traveled from Germany where they were beaten 3-1 in the Nations League Group 4A match, to Switzerland where they were scheduled to play against the bottom-placed team in Lucerne.
When the team arrived in Switzerland, the Ukrainian players were mandated to undertake another round of coronavirus tests in line with the competition’s protocol.
After the test, three Ukrainian players, Atalanta midfielder Ruslan Malinovskyi and Shakhtar Donetsk team-mates Sergiy Kryvtsov and Junior Moraes returned positive results on Tuesday morning.
The three confirmed cases made it 6 confirmed cases in the squad between the space of two days as the team’s goalkeeper Dmytro Riznyk, left-back Eduard Sobol, and midfielder Yevgen Makarenko, tested positive for coronavirus on Monday.
Due to this number of confirmed coronavirus cases, Swiss authorities had to place all Ukrainian delegations on quarantine which made it impossible for the Switzerland and Ukraine Nations League match to go on as planned.
A statement from UEFA read: “The Ukrainian Football Association confirmed they have no other team, ie eligible players, able to play the match, either today or tomorrow.
“The UEFA Nations League fixture between Switzerland and Ukraine, scheduled for today, Tuesday 17 November 2020, can therefore not take place.
“The matter will now be submitted to the UEFA control, ethics, and disciplinary body for a decision to be taken by the special rules applicable to UEFA national team competition matches.
“UEFA would like to reinforce the importance for all teams, players, officials, and all those involved to fully respect the UEFA Return to Play Protocol and the applicable regulatory framework.”
As it stands, the German national team which was playing a goalless draw with Spain at the time of publishing this report is currently topping Group 4A with 10 points in 6 games.
While the German team is closely followed by Spain with 9 points in 6 games. Switzerland and Ukraine occupy the 3rd and the 4th spots respectively.
