Bayern Munich defender Niklas Sule has tested positive for the coronavirus and four more German players are in precautionary quarantine ahead of the FIFA World Cup qualifying games against Liechtenstein and Armenia. 

Sule, who is fully vaccinated, does not have any symptoms currently, Team director Oliver Bierhoff said on Tuesday. The German centre-back had also tested positive for COVID-19 a year ago.

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Germany, who have already qualified for next year’s World Cup, host Liechtenstein in Wolfsburg on Thursday and then plays Armenia in Yerevan on Sunday.

Meanwhile, the other four players — Joshua Kimmich, Serge Gnabry, Jamal Musiala and Karim Adeyemi — have tested negative for the virus but have been instructed by the local health authority in Wolfsburg to isolate because of their proximity to the infected player. Although it’s still unclear how long they will have to quarantine.

“It’s in the hands of the local heath authority,” Germany team doctor Tim Meyer said, according to Associated Press inputs. “It depends on whether any symptoms arise. It depends on how any subsequent tests turn out.”

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Sule, Kimmich, Gnabry and Musiala all play for Bayern Munich while Adeyemi plays for Austrian club Salzburg.

Bayern coach Julian Nagelsmann returned last week after missing four games because of his COVID-19 infection. He was also fully vaccinated.  

Bayern later said that Cameroon forward Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting also had to isolate.

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As a precaution, another four unknown German players who were on the trip to Wolfsburg with Süle were separated from the rest of the team. They are considered lower-risk and are allowed to stay at the team hotel.

A second-division match in Germany was postponed last weekend after one of the teams reported 18 new coronavirus symptoms among players and personnel.

With inputs from the Associated Press