Clubs brace themselves for impact of latest border restrictions

Gibraltar National League Football clubs face changes to their training and match schedules after last night’s announcement that Andalusia will be sealing its borders.
The Junta De Andalucia has announced restrictions on movement to and from Andalucia, in a development that will not impact frontier workers and residents in Spain but will likely curtail cross-border travel for leisure until November 9.
Although players who have full-time and professional contracts with clubs are not expected to be affected, clubs are braced for the restrictions to impact on the movement of players who remain with amateur contracts. With many clubs relying on Spanish based players to make their numbers this could have an impact on matches scheduled during this latest period of restrictions.
Football clubs who predominantly use Spanish facilities for training are also bracing themselves to find alternative ways of keeping their training programmes open.
Clubs were last night monitoring the situation as they braced themselves for further disruptions with discussions on how to proceed taking place as clarification was sought on what effects the announced restrictions would have on cross-border player movements.
The decision to close off Andalucia’s regional perimeter seeks to stem the spread of Covid-19 and follows the Madrid government’s decision to announce a new state of emergency last Sunday.