Fear Corona and AFC Champions League: footballers travel in protective suits

Chinese teams go to the Champions League tournament in protective suits

Normally, participating in the Champions League is every footballer’s dream. But nothing is normal in 2020. After a long hiatus, the AFC Champions League, the Asian counterpart of the UEFA Champions League, now continues. With a tournament in Qatar, where the participating teams should remain in the bubble.

But Qatar is not a great example in terms of the number of cases. Corona infections are fairly stable. But with more than 200 new cases a day, the emirate is faring worse than most other Asian countries.

The first part of the tournament – the group stage of the western region – proved that the Qatari bubble is not working perfectly. Reigning champions al-Hilal (Saudi Arabia) and al-Wahda (Abu Dhabi) have been excluded from the competition after several positive corona tests in their team.

So it’s understandable that some teams are skeptical of participating in this year’s Champions League. “What is asked of the players and staff in Qatar is immense. There is a risk of mental and physical health being compromised, “says Beau Busch, co-managing director of the Australian players association. Not only have Australian players not played since March, if they qualify for the knockout stage, players are expected to spend Christmas in solitary confinement and miss the start of the season in the national A-League (scheduled for December 27).

In protective suit for the Champions League tournament

Chinese clubs in particular go a long way to protect their players from possible crown infections in Qatar. The images and videos show footballers not only wearing masks but also protective eyewear and suits when entering the desert state.

While Shanghai SIPG actors arrived in conventional protective clothing, Beijing Gouan has already unveiled bespoke protective clothing with its own logo. Incidentally, you only changed on the plane, as a video from the Chinese capital club shows.

The coronavirus has other effects on the Champions League as well, as some teams have to do without their stars. The Chinese Football Association, for example, has recommended that their teams refrain from playing players who have played for their national teams during the international break. Fearing they would bring the coronavirus to the teams.

For example, Shanghai SIPG voluntarily renounces the services of Austrian Marko Arnautovic. And with Beijing Gouan, championship top scorer Cédric Bakambu is also not in the squad after his appearances for Congo. The case of Malaysian Johor Darul Ta’zim FC is even more extreme. Malaysian authorities refused to allow the team to leave the country and thus participate in the tournament in Qatar. Malaysia has closed its borders since March due to the coronavirus pandemic.