League of Ireland players to be tested twice a week under new FAI Covid-19 guidelines
League of Ireland players will be tested twice a week for Covid-19 when they resume training.
Any player who does test positive will have to self-isolate for 14 days and will only be allowed to return to training following retesting and if it is then deemed safe for them to do so.
Where more than one player in any team tests positive, public health advice will be sought.
Four-times daily temperature checks are among other measures which will have to be adhered to when players return to training, according to FAI guidelines which were issued to clubs last night.
Dundalk, Shamrock Rovers, Bohemians and Derry City are the first League of Ireland clubs set to return to the training pitch.
To enable the four teams to prepare for European competition - and in what has been described as "a pilot programme for a return to football for everyone" - they have been invited to resume collective training on June 8, followed by their participation in a mini-tournament to be played behind closed doors at a neutral venue. Players and staff from the clubs involved will undergo their first Covid-19 tests on Monday.
All other SSE Airtricity League squads will be permitted to return to collective training on June 29, under Phase Three of the Government’s Roadmap For Reopening Society and Business.
However, with the exception of SSE Airtricity League clubs and Women’s Champion’s League representatives, Peamount United, the current cessation of all football under the jurisdiction of the FAI continues until July 20.
