Robert Lewandowski flies to Dubai – deemed a ‘risk area’ in Germany – to collect Globe Soccer Awards Player of the Year prize but Bayern Munich star won’t have to quarantine for 10 days and miss Mainz clash as it was classed as a ‘business trip’
- Robert Lewandowski was in Dubai on Sunday at the Globe Soccer Awards
- The Bayern Munich striker was there to collect the prize for Player of the Year
- However, Dubai has been classed as a ‘risk area’ in Germany since September 23
- An automatic 10-day quarantine follows for those returning to Germany usually
- However, he can play in Bayern’s clash with Mainz on Sunday as he is exemptÂ
Robert Lewandowski wasn’t allowed to receive his The Best FIFA Men’s Player of the Year for 2020 in person, due to the coronavirus pandemic, but that hasn’t stopped him doing so for a less heralded prize.
Just a fortnight ago, the Polish striker collected the former award at Bayern Munich‘s training ground after FIFA president Gianni Infantino flew from Switzerland to Bavaria to present him with it.
But on Sunday, Lewandowski jetted to Dubai to be win the Globe Soccer Awards Player of the Year after shining with Bayern.
Robert Lewandowski was in Dubai on Sunday to win Globe Soccer Awards Player of the Year
However, the decision to travel to the Middle East appeared an odd move considering that the UAE has been classified as a ‘risk area’ by the national public health institute (Robert Koch Institute) in Germany.
This has been deemed so since September 23 – with the outcome of anyone visiting there resulting in an automatic 10-day quarantine.
As a result that would rule out Lewandowski of Bayern’s Bundesliga clash with Mainz on January 3, but he has now been cleared to play due to an exception.
According to the Bavarian Entry Quarantine Ordinance, exceptions to quarantine at home are permitted if people ‘have been in a risk area for up to five days and cannot be postponed… in a risk area according to Section 1 (5).’
And the 32-year-old’s spokeswoman Monika Bondarowicz told BILD that the trip was definitely deemed as a business one: ‘Robert is on a 48-hour business trip and keeps all the rules. Of course it will play on January 3.’
Bayern Munich return to training on Tuesday following German football’s winter break. The German giants currently sit top of the Bundesliga with 30 points from 13 games – two ahead of Bayer Leverkusen and RB Leipzig who are in joint second.