Faced with the multiplication of cases of Covid-19 in football clubs, the French Football Federation (FFF) decided on Friday to relax the regulations. The round of 16 of the competition is scheduled to take place from January 2 to 4.
According to information from RMC Sport, confirmed by AFP, the FFF will thus suspend, on an exceptional basis, an article of the regulations of the Cup: the one which imposes the presence “on the scoresheet of at least seven players who took part in one of the last two official matches played by their first team”. The competing clubs will therefore be able to draw more heavily from their workforce, and in particular from their reserve team or their youth teams, to constitute their starting eleven.
No match postponed in the Coupe de France
With 21 players unavailable due to the Covid, Bordeaux is particularly concerned before his trip to Brest on Sunday. The Girondins, who wanted the match to be postponed, expressed their dissatisfaction and their questions on Thursday in a press release. But the FFF regulations do not provide for postponement in the event of a cluster.
Conversely, the Ligue 1 match between Angers and Saint-Etienne, scheduled for Sunday January 9 and counting for the 20th day of Ligue 1, was postponed Friday by the Professional Football League (LFP). Angers, eliminated in the 32nd of the Cup by Linas-Montlhéry, in mid-December, announced Thursday 19 positive cases in its workforce and asked the League to postpone the meeting.