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Qatar FA Fines Barca Legend Xavi $2,700 For Breaching COVID-19 Rules

    Advertisement Qatar’s Football Association fined former Barcelona star Xavi Hernandez and several other top-flight players and staff $2,700 each for breaching coronavirus rules, … Continue reading Qatar FA Fines Barca Legend Xavi $2,700 For Breaching COVID-19 Rules


(FILES) A file photo taken on September 16, 2019 shows Al Sadd SC’s Spanish coach Xavi Hernandez reacting during the AFC Champions League quarter-final football match between Saudi’s Al-Nassr and Qatar’s Al-Sadd at the Jassim bin Hamad Stadium in Doha. – Barcelona legend Xavi tested positive for COVID-19 in a statement released by Al Sadd football club on July 25, 2020. (Photo by KARIM JAAFAR / AFP)
(FILES) A file photo taken on September 16, 2019 shows Al Sadd SC’s Spanish coach Xavi Hernandez reacting during the AFC Champions League quarter-final football match between Saudi’s Al-Nassr and Qatar’s Al-Sadd at the Jassim bin Hamad Stadium in Doha.(Photo by KARIM JAAFAR / AFP)

 

 

Qatar’s Football Association fined former Barcelona star Xavi Hernandez and several other top-flight players and staff $2,700 each for breaching coronavirus rules, it said in a statement on Thursday.

Xavi, head coach of Qatari side Al-Sadd, revealed at the end of July that he had contracted the virus but just days later he said he had returned home and to work.

The penalty, which included an official warning from the league, was because of “non-compliance with the Ministry of Public Health’s safety protocols including breaching a home quarantine pledge signed by him”, the statement said.

Al-Sadd players Hammam al-Amin and Abdul Karim Hassan also faced fines of 10,000 riyals ($2,700) and warnings from the QFA’s disciplinary committee, as did players and staff from several other Qatari teams.

It is not clear if the sanctions related to the two-week mandatory quarantine period that Qatari authorities applied to those returning to the country at the height of the pandemic.

 

xavi
In this file photo taken on October 01, 2019 Sadd’s coach Xavi Hernandez reacts after a goal during the first leg of the AFC Champions League semi-finals football match between Qatar’s Al Sadd and Saudi’ Al Hilal at the Jassim bin Hamad Stadium in the Qatari capital Doha, on October 1, 2019. Karim JAAFAR / AFP

 

The quarantine period has since been reduced to one week for those returning to Qatar from countries deemed “low-risk”.

The Qatar Stars League resumed competition on July 24 with strict social distancing rules, routine testing of players and staff and a blanket ban on media attendance.

Matches were halted in March to stem the spread of COVID-19.

More than 4 percent of Qatar’s 2.75 million people have had coronavirus, with 112,092 cases reported since the start of the pandemic giving the tiny Gulf state one of the highest per capita total infection rates.

However the gas-rich country has posted just 178 deaths meaning it has one of the world’s lowest virus death rates and 108,831 people have recovered from COVID-19, according to official statistics.

AFP