England looking for new opponents after New Zealand pull out of friendly
England’s international friendly against New Zealand in November has been called off due to travel restrictions caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
Gareth Southgate’s side were due to host the All Whites on Thursday November 12 at Wembley but England are now looking for new opponents.
New Zealand have withdrawn from the clash due to “further travel and player availability complications caused by Covid-19”.
We are disappointed to confirm that we are withdrawing from our fixture against @England next month due to further travel and player availability complications caused by Covid-19.
Read our full statement at https://t.co/fxq8bnTIHB
— New Zealand Football (@NZ_Football) October 14, 2020
New Zealand Football chief executive Andrew Pragnell said in a statement: “It is with deep regret that we have been forced to cancel our participation in the upcoming match against England at Wembley.
“It is not an action taken lightly, this is a match we all wanted to play, however, as it stands of the last All Whites squad selected for the November 2019 tour, even excluding the New Zealand based players, a significant number of the team would be subject to quarantine or restrictions on their return home.
“This would heavily disrupt their domestic seasons and potentially jeopardise their professional careers.”
