Rangers first teamer Fashion Sakala has been directly impacted by the news that Zambia is set to be added to the UK government’s Covid-19 red travel list.
The southern African nation joins Malawi, Mozambique and Angola in joining the list from 4am Sunday 28th November amid growing fears concerning the Omicron Covid-19 variant [Guardian].
These countries follow South Africa, Botswana, Lesotho, Eswatini (formerly Swaziland), Zimbabwe and Namibia being added on Thursday.
Until rules are relaxed, UK and Irish residents arriving from these countries must self-isolate for 10 days at a government-approved facility and take a PCR test on day two and eight.
Any non-UK or Irish travellers from these countries will be denied access to the country at the border and this obviously has a direct impact on Fashion.
Rangers star impacted as Zambia added to Covid-19 red list
It is unclear how long Zambia will remain on the red list but the duration of the situation is unknown and it is not clear if Fashion would – for example – be able to return home during the winter break.
Covid-19 has certainly transformed the footballing landscape but over the last few months, fans in particular have gotten used to a partial return to normal.
Amid growing fears over the new variant, we’re already seeing the game being impacted and as we enter the winter months and there is uncertainty in both society and football.
Whilst not concerned with southern Africa, Rangers will have one eye on the situation in the region with three first-teamers set to travel to Cameroon in January.
Joe Aribo, Leon Balogun and Calvin Bassey are all in the running to be included in the Nigeria squad for the Africa Cup of Nations in Cameroon in January 2022.
The tournament is set to run from Sunday 9th Jan 2022 to Sunday 6th February 2022 and as things stand there has been no suggestion the tournament will be impacted by the mutation.
Meanwhile, a Rangers loanee was benched for his new side after a shocker in his previous match as his adopted side run riot.