Club World Cup preparations going ahead as planned, say FIFA

BERNE (Reuters) - Preparations for the Club World Cup in Morocco in December are going ahead as planned and have not been affected by the Ebola crisis although the situation is being monitored, FIFA said on Tuesday.





FIFA also supported the Confederation of African Football's (CAF) decision to avoid playing international matches in Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia, the hardest-hit countries, as it issued recommendations for teams and players.

"According to the World Health Organization (WHO), there are currently no cases of Ebola reported from Morocco and therefore all preparations continue as planned," said FIFA in a statement.

"FIFA is monitoring the situation and is in close contact with the Moroccan authorities and constantly updating its position in accordance with WHO technical guidance.

"Should the situation change we will be in touch with the participating clubs accordingly."

Morocco is also scheduled to hold the African Nations Cup in January and February, and has asked CAF for a postponement of that event. CAF are due to meet with Moroccan authorities in Rabat next week.

FIFA said that clubs whose players take part in an international match involving one of the three high-risk countries should carry out a check-up on their return.

It added that Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea should hold pre-match training and meetings on neutral grounds and that, before international games, players and officials from those teams should conduct self-monitoring, "including daily temperature control", for any symptoms.

Guinea have been staging their home matches in the Nations Cup qualifying competition in Casablanca while Sierra Leone have played in Democratic Republic of Congo and Cameroon.

The venue for their home match against Ivory Coast on Nov 14/15 has not been confirmed.

Liberia were eliminated by Lesotho in a preliminary round tie in June and have not played an international game since.





(Writing by Brian Homewood in Berne; editing by Toby Davis)


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