Sherida Spitse is missing on September 18 from the Orange Women for the European Championship qualifier against Russia. Her Norwegian club Valerenga IF will not release the thirty-year-old international for the meeting in Moscow, the KNVB reports on Wednesday.
The reason for the cancellation of Spitse is the fact that Norway does not make an exception in the quarantine policy for top athletes who are active in non-Schengen countries, to which Russia belongs. As a result, the 178-time international would have to be quarantined for ten days upon return to Norway.
After the European Championship qualifying match against Russia, Spitse will join the Orange Women for the second part of the training internship in Zeist. Because a 24th player had already been added to the selection, national coach Sarina Wiegman does not call for a replacement for Spitse.
FIFA has determined in consultation with UEFA that clubs may refuse to relinquish players to the national selections. This is only the case if players are faced with a mandatory quarantine of more than five days upon arrival in their (father) country.
The Orange women will play the seventh game in the European Championship qualifying series against Russia on 18 September on their way to the final tournament in 2022. The Netherlands, which won the last European Championship in 2017 in their own country, is still clear in the group after six matches. Russia has nine points after four games.
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