Southgate could AXE England stars from World Cup who refuse Covid jab

England coach Gareth Southgate could leave out several players from his World Cup squad due to their refusal to take the Covid vaccine.

Sportsmail has learned that a handful of players who would expect to make Southgate’s 26-man party for the tournament in Qatar have yet to be vaccinated, which under current regulations means they will have to isolate for five days following their arrival in the country in November.

England’s first World Cup fixture is on the tournament’s opening day, November 21, just six days after their scheduled arrival in Qatar, so any player forced to self-isolate will realistically have to sit it out as they will have barely trained with their team-mates.

Southgate is therefore contemplating an unpalatable choice between leaving some vaccine refuseniks out of his squad entirely, as Chelsea and Crystal Palace have done on their pre-season tours, or going into England’s opener with reduced numbers.

The issue of vaccine refusal is also affecting other World Cup sides, such as France, with N’Golo Kante one of several international stars who have yet to be vaccinated, but England’s problem is more acute as they have been given an opening-day game.

FIFA are understood to be lobbying Qatar to relax its Covid vaccine rules ahead of the tournament.

The issue of player vaccination has been a hot topic in the Premier League this summer. 

Crystal Palace had to take just 10 senior players on their pre-season tour of Singapore and Australia due to a number of their squad not meeting the entry requirements for these countries when the trip was scheduled.

Manager Patrick Vieira had to do without a number of high-profile players including Wilfried Zaha, Eberechi Eze, Marc Guehi and Michael Olise. 

Travellers are