New Zealand Pull Out Of England Football Friendly
New Zealand Football has announced that its national tea won’t travel to the UK to face England in a friendly at Wembley on 12th November.
According to the organisation, the decision was taken because of travel and player availability concerns, with players having to self-isolate upon returning to New Zealand after the match – a situation which could ‘potentially jeopardise [players’] professional careers’.
“It is with deep regret that we have been forced to cancel our participation in the upcoming match against England at Wembley,” said Andrew Pragnell, CEO, New Zealand Football.
“It is not an action taken lightly, this is a match we all wanted to play, however, as it stands of the last All Whites squad selected for the November 2019 tour, even excluding the New Zealand based players, a significant number of the team would be subject to quarantine or restrictions on their return home. This would heavily disrupt their domestic seasons and potentially jeopardise their professional careers.”
The November 2019 tour was the last time the country has played an international match, with New Zealand Football having also cancelled friendlies against Oman and Bahrain in March 2020 because of the coronavirus pandemic.
“The shifting nature of travel restrictions and commercial flight availability under Covid means that we do not have certainty we could assemble a squad at Wembley on this day and defaulting on this fixture at the last minute is not an option,” added Pragnell.
