BERN, Switzerland — World Cup quarterfinalist Switzerland has lost a second player from its Nations League squad because of years-old cases of fake COVID-19 documents.
Breel Embolo will not join the squad in Scotland as planned, the Swiss soccer federation said Friday, due to fresh reporting in national media about his past case of obtaining forged test certificates in 2021.
“This decision aims to allow the team to remain fully focused on the next matches,” the federation said about the Atlanta United forward.
Switzerland captain Granit Xhaka agreed with team officials last weekend to withdraw from the squad because he is implicated in an investigation of a doctor issuing fake vaccination certificates during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Read more:Granit Xhaka to captain Switzerland as World Cup squad revealed
Xhaka, the Swiss record holder with 152 caps, admitted getting the forged document in 2022 and accepted he made mistakes.
Switzerland starts its Nations League second-tier group Saturday at North Macedonia, plays at Scotland on Tuesday, then has home games in Lucerne against Slovenia and North Macedonia.
Embolo already was suspended for the game Saturday because of his controversial red card against Argentina in the World Cup quarterfinals.
Soccer’s Zurich-based rules panel, known as IFAB, later acknowledged Embolo was mistakenly sent off in a breach of video review protocol.
On Friday, the Switzerland Today outlet reported details of Embolo’s financial sanction imposed last year for the previously known false test result documents.
At the World Cup, the 29-year-old Embolo scored in Switzerland’s opening game — a 1-1 draw with Qatar — despite arriving at the tournament days later than teammates because of a visa issue with United States authorities. He also scored in a round of 32 win over Algeria.
