England boss Gareth Southgate could ban WAGS from World Cup

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Gareth Southgate has refused to rule out banning the WAGS from England’s Qatar World Cup base amid ongoing Covid fears.

The Lionesses were forced to spend the entirety of their Euro 2022 success in the summer apart from their families and the men’s boss is in regular contact with senior players about the best way to deal with the threat next month.

“There is that decision about how much risk do you want to take?” Southgate explained. “If you lose a player or two players, for them that may be their only opportunity to play at the World Cup.

“I’m sure their families will realise that as well. It is a decision that we’re talking with the senior players about, and they’re realising how complicated that is. Obviously it’s quite fluid in terms of where we will be in terms of rates of infection and what that will look like.

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“There have been small changes to the medical procedure that we had originally had regarding the tournament, so we’re monitoring it closely.” However, Southgate is also concerned that being locked in with each other for five weeks with little to occupy their minds could have just as detrimental an effect.

“We would have a preference that families can engage, because that’s better for everybody. If you’ve got a miserable camp where nobody’s happy, that also can have a negative effect on performance.”

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Earlier on Sunday, England discovered their opponents for their Euros 2024 qualifying group. Southgate’s men were handed a tough draw, being pitted against Italy, Ukraine, Malta and North Macedonia.

The England boss admitted his team face a real ‘challenge’ to qualify for the tournament, saying: “You know there’s going to be high-level games, and we certainly know enough about them, so it’s not like there’s too many surprises,” he said. “It’s a challenging group.

“Ukraine are a really strong team, and as North Macedonia showed against Italy, that’s also got complications.” 

He added: “I suppose it’s the first time for a while where there’s maybe a bit more jeopardy and excitement in a qualifying group. It’s good for football, because you need that jeopardy to make the competition more exciting.”

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