Sancho, Akanji Land DFB Fines After Breaching Covid-19 Protocols For Haircuts

Pictures emerged online earlier this week of celebrity barber Winnie Nana Karikari posing for pictures with the two Dortmund players, with none of them in any personal protective gears and social distancing protocols out of the window.

The photos were reportedly taken on May 28, and Sancho in particular was sporting a much cleaner trim than his previously bushy hair when he took to the field and scored a hattrick against Paderborn last weekend.

Four other Dortmund players also broke protocol to get haircuts but a lack of photographic evidence let them off the hook.

The DFB did not reveal the magnitude of the fine but Akanji and Sancho have been given five days to launch an appeal.

A statement read: "The DFL fines Manuel Akanji and Jadon Sancho. The Borussia Dortmund players had apparently violated general hygiene and infection protection standards in home hairdressing appointments, and in particular the medical and organisational concept of the DFL task force 'Sports Medicine / Special Game Operations'. This can be seen in photos published in media and on social media.

"There is no question that professional footballers also have to get their hair cut. However, this currently has to be done in accordance with the medical-organisational concept. In specific cases, the club had also provided its players with a corresponding opportunity.

"The concept of the DFL task force forms the basis for the current special game operations in the Bundesliga and 2.Bundesliga and was included in the DFL rules of procedure as a legally binding annex to the DFL general assembly.

"In principle, the DFL does not provide any information about the amount of a penalty in contractual penalty proceedings. Players have the right to lodge a complaint within five days. The penalties are expressly not directed against the club, for which no 'organisational fault' is recognisable."