Chelsea’s Champions League tie with Lille WILL go ahead in France, with the Blues unlikely to be allowed to field any unvaccinated players.
France made a point of reaffirming their stance over mandatory vaccination for all elite athletes over the debacle which unfolded with Novak Djokovic in Australia.
Djokovic will also be unable to defend his French Open title as a result of his unvaccinated status, and it appears as though unvaxxed Chelsea players could encounter similar difficulties.
As is reported by The Sun, UEFA are not planning on moving Lille vs Chelsea to neutral ground. The game will go ahead in France with the country-wide vaccine regulations in force.
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As a result, if there are any lingering unvaccinated players within Thomas Tuchel’s squad, he will not, at the time of writing, be able to include them in the squad for the game.
That will inadvertently identify the unvaccinated players at Chelsea and could lead to prejudice. It’s a precarious road to go down, whichever side of the argument you reside on.
UEFA could well have been more accommodating, but they appear intent on ensuring all top-level footballers without a valid exemption are vaccinated against COVID-19.
