World Cup qualifiers: South Africa to benefit from English FA decision against Ghana

According to the English FA all players who visit or travel to countries designated as red zones by the World Health Organization would be quarantined for 10 days upon their return to England.

As a result, the FA policy has resulted in English clubs refusing to play African players called up for national service to compete in World Cup qualifiers.

This is a huge setback for countries like as Ghana, where the bulk of their best players play in England. Ghana will be without players such as Crystal Palace's Jordan Ayew, Arsenal's Thomas Partey, Leicester City's Daniel Amartey, Brentford's Tariq Fosu, New Castle's Christian Atsu, and Chelsea's Baba Abdul Rahman.

Ghana's first two matches will be against Ethiopia and South Africa. On the other side, Bafana Bafana will only lose Percy Tau to Brighton and Hove Albion.

The Bafana Bafana team is primarily made up of local footballers, and their local league was active during COVID-19, qualifying the majority of its players as fit. The only issue with the Bafana Bafana team is that the majority of its members are not regular starters at their respective clubs.