Granit Xhaka has withdrawn from the Switzerland squad and issued a public apology after prosecutors in Lucerne confirmed they are investigating whether he obtained a forged Covid-19 vaccination certificate in 2022.
The Sunderland midfielder, 33, was at Arsenal at the time. He has not waited for the process to play out before speaking. In a statement posted on social media on Monday, he described a "mistrust" of the vaccine and said he had been "influenced by worries and uncertainty".
What Xhaka said
"In this troubled state of mind I acquired a vaccine certificate, instead of clarifying my unanswered questions in the proper way," he wrote. "Today I see clearly, that this way was not correct. It was a mistake. I'm sorry."
He added that he would "engage with the process of establishing the facts and fully co-operate with the relevant authorities". The public prosecutor's office of the city of Lucerne has confirmed the investigation is live and is looking at whether any criminal behaviour took place in obtaining a "false or forged" certificate.
The rules he was operating under
Switzerland never made holding a certificate a general legal requirement, and the Swiss office of public health has been clear about that. What it did do was restrict access. Without one, a person could not get into various venues, activities and, crucially for a professional footballer in 2022, certain forms of travel.
Those domestic measures ran until spring 2022. Certificates continued to be issued after that, mainly so Swiss citizens could satisfy entry requirements in other countries.
Nobody has said what penalty Xhaka might face. There is a comparison close to hand. In 2023 the then Switzerland men's ice hockey coach Patrick Fischer was convicted of using a fake Covid-19 certificate to work at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing. A criminal court fined him 38,000 Swiss francs. He was sacked from the national job in April this year and banned for four years by the International Ice Hockey Federation earlier this month.
Out of the Swiss camp, future undecided
The Swiss Football Association said Xhaka pulled out of the squad for the Nations League matches against Scotland, North Macedonia and Slovenia after publishing his statement. It described the withdrawal as a joint decision between player and management, and said his longer-term place in the team would be discussed once the international window closes.
That is a significant absence. Xhaka holds Switzerland's appearance record with 152 caps and captained the side at this summer's World Cup, where they reached the quarter-finals before losing to eventual runners-up Argentina. Switzerland travel to North Macedonia on 26 September and Scotland on 29 September, then host Slovenia and North Macedonia in early October.
At club level, Sunderland boss Regis le Bris declined to be drawn after the defeat at Manchester City on Sunday. "It is not my area to speak about those problems or situations," he said. "My area is football. About football, he is really good."
Case facts: Granit Xhaka, 33, Sunderland midfielder and Switzerland captain, 152 caps. Investigation opened by the public prosecutor's office of the city of Lucerne into an alleged forged Covid-19 certificate obtained in 2022, when he played for Arsenal. Xhaka has apologised and withdrawn from the Nations League squad. No charge has been brought and no penalty determined.
0 Comments