Soccer

Young Boys given green light to travel to Old Trafford on December 9th

Swiss Government give special dispensation to travel to UK

Young Boys celebrate beating Manchester United in September. Photograph: Sebastien Bozon/Getty/AFP

Wed Dec 1 2021 - 14:09

Young Boys have been given special dispensation by Swiss authorities to travel to Manchester United for next week's Champions League game.

The Old Trafford date had been placed in jeopardy by Switzerland imposing new restrictions on UK arrivals in response to the emergence of the Omicron variant of Covid-19.

The restrictions mean anyone coming from the UK needs to provide a negative Covid test and quarantine for 10 days, regardless of vaccination status.

The idea of the December 8th game being played at a neutral venue was raised, but the Swiss club have now confirmed there is no need for that.

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A statement read: “BSC Young Boys has received a special permit from the Canton of Bern for away games in the Uefa Champions League and the Uefa Youth League.

“This means that the players and staff of the teams do not have to be in 10-day quarantine after returning from the Uefa Champions League game Manchester United-YB on Wednesday, December 8th.

“This would have meant that the Swiss champions would not have been able to play the championship games against Sion (December 12th) and Basel (December 15th) and would also have played the last game of the year on December 19th in Lugano, coming straight from quarantine.”

Young Boys said players and staff will leave Bern on Tuesday via charter flight to Manchester and return to Switzerland on Thursday.

The group, the club said, will be in a “strictly separated bubble” as they have been in their previous five European away trips this season.

The statement added: “The BSC YB would like to thank the Canton of Bern for the flexibility and the exemption and will do everything in its power to continue to act as a role model.”

United guaranteed themselves top spot in the group by winning 2-0 at Villarreal in their last game on November 23rd.

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