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Coronavirus and sports: UEFA postpones Champions League matches

  • March 12, 2020
  • UEFA suspends Champions League matches featuring under-quarantine Real Madrid and Juventus
  • NBA suspended until further notice
  • Real Madrid players tested after outbreak at training complex

March 12

— UEFA has announced that both of next Tuesday’s Champions League matches — Manchester City vs. Real Madrid and Olympique Lyon vs. Juventus — have been postponed.

Real Madrid players are currently under quarantine after a basketball player tested positive for the virus. Juventus players are also under quarantine after Daniele Rugani was also diagnosed with the virus.

— Major League Soccer has become the latest governing body to suspend the current season following the coronavirus pandemic. The American soccer league, which began its new season just two weeks ago, has called off play for the next month.

— ATP have announced that there will be a six-week suspension of the men’s tennis tour. The WTA are yet to make an announcement on the women’s tour, but are expected to follow suit. However, the WTA have confirmed the cancellation of the upcoming Miami Open.

— Second division side Hannover 96 have announced that their entire team have been put in “homebound quarantine” for 14 days after a second member of their first-team squad, Jannes Horn, tested positive for coronavirus. As a result, the club have requested their upcoming fixtures against Dynamo Dresden and VfL Osnabrück be postponed.

— So far, we’ve not had any news to suggest the Bundesliga will be suspended, but all fixtures in the top division, including the headline Ruhr derby in Dortmund, will be played without fans. 

— UEFA have made a statement, but one that falls some way short of addressing immediate concerns over public health. No blanket ban on games or an extension on games behind played closed doors. Instead, a meeting via video link, on March 17 among its ‘stakeholders’ to discuss what to do next. 

— La Liga has announced that games in the top two flights of Spanish football – La Liga and La Liga 2 – have been postponed for the next two weeks at least, with immediate effect. Furthermore, Real Madrid are in quarantine after a player from the club’s basketball team tested positive. Real Madrid’s sports teams use the same training complex. 

— Formula One team McLaren will not participate in the opening race of the season in Australia after a member of its team tested positive for the virus. However, the race is still expected to go ahead, despite four other suspected cases in the paddock.

— It has been reported in the Times newspaper that the English Premier League are close to announcing that upcoming games will be played behind closed doors, but there has been no official confirmation on that from the Premier League. It has been confirmed that three Leicester City players are self-isolating having shown the symtoms of the virus.

— In the United States, the NBA has suspended play due to the coronavirus pandemic after Utah Jazz player Rudy Gobert tested positive for the virus. “The NBA will use this hiatus to determine the next steps for moving forward in regard to the coronavirus pandemic,” the league said in a statement.

— The Swiss ice hockey league have taken the significant step of canceling the season with immediate effect. All decisions regarding champions, promotions and relegations will be decided in an extraordinary meeting scheduled for Friday.

“We have a responsibility to protect our players, club members, and their health, and that is now a top priority,” Denis Vaucher, Director of the National League and the Swiss Leagues, said.

March 11

— Another football player has tested positive for coronavirus – Juventus and Italian international Daniele Rugani. The club statement now reads that they are currently activating all the isolation procedures required by law, including those who have had contact with him.

— The NCAA men’s and women’s basketball tournaments will now also be played without fans as the US tries to do its best to contain the spread of the virus. The games will still take place, so as to allow fans the chance to watch the game, but the atmosphere of the tournament will of course now be different. March Madness, as the tournament is known, now takes on a very different meaning.

— Also in the US, the Seattle Sounders in the MLS have postponed their next game after consultation with their governor. “Nothing is more important than public safety and the wellbeing of our fans.”

— The Golden State Warriors have announced their NBA game vs. the Nets at their home stadium will be played without fans. They havae also stated that all events at the Chase Center through March 21 will be cancelled or postponed. They are the first NBA team to announce a game without fans.

— Second-division side Hannover 96’s Timo Hübers has tested positive for coronavirus. The 23-year-old defender is the first professional player in Germany known to have caught the virus. 

— Eintracht Frankfurt’s Europa League home game against Basel on Thursday evening will take place with fans in attendance. However, Sunday’s Bundesliga match between the Eagles and Borussia Mönchengladbach will be played behind closed doors. According to the authorities in Frankfurt, the reason behind the decision is the “low” number of coronavirus cases present in the cities of Frankfurt and Basel whereas the Mönchengladbach area is one of Germany’s epicenters of the coronavirus outbreak.

“Our decision is based on the advice given to us by the experts,” said the city of Frankfurt’s health office.

— The game between Union Berlin and Bayern Munich on Saturday will be held behind closed doors​​​​, the authorities in Berlin-Köpenick have said.

March 10

— Although there won’t be fans inside the stadium for Borussia Dortmund’s second leg against PSG tomorrow, it looks like there might be fans allowed outside.

— The German Ice Hockey League (DEL) has ended its season early in an attempt to stop the spread of the virus, leaving the 2020 season without a champion. This came hours after the Austrian league made a similar announcement.

— Another Bundesliga game has been put behind closed doors to prevent the spread of the virus. Hoffenheim have just announced their home game against Hertha Berlin will now be played without fans.

Union Berlin on the other hand, have stated that after an extensive examination they have decided “not to issue an order preventing spectators from attending” the home game against Bayern Munich.

— Germany vs Italy in Nuremberg on March 31 will be played without fans, the DFB have announced. The game could yet be canceled depending on how long Italy’s country-wide lockdown remains in force. Their game against Spain in Madrid is still expected to go ahead as planned, but no decision in regards to coronavirus has been made.

 Saturday’s Ruhr Derby between Borussia Dortmund and Schalke, arguably the biggest derby in Germany, will be played behind closed doors for the first time, Dortmund officials have confirmed. The 80,000-capacity Signal Iduna Park will be empty, but for club and match officials and selected media outlets. The city of Dortmund has said that, as things stand, Dortmund’s match against Bayern Munich on April 4th is also expected to take place with no spectators. There is growing speculation that all Bundesliga games will be played behind closed doors this weekend, but we still await an official announcement.

— It’s also been confirmed that Bayern Munich’s Champions League game against Chelsea on March 18 will also be played without spectators. That’s one of several upcoming Champions League games across Europe that will close its doors to fans, with Spanish league, La Liga, announcing that all games will be played without fans until at least March 22, covering the next two rounds of top-tier fixtures in the country.

— Wednesday’s Bundesliga game between Borussia Mönchengladbach and Cologne is to be played behind closed doors due to the coronavirus outbreak. The city of Mönchengladbach announced the move in a statement issued on Tuesday. The local derby, postponed from February because of a storm, will be the first top-flight German football game to be played behind closed doors.

German Health Minister Jens Spahn had previously recommended that events with more than 1,000 people be called off. The western state of North Rhine-Westphalia has been Germany’s hardest hit by the outbreak.

March 9

— Late on Monday  Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte announced that the country’s top-flight Serie A football league will be suspended because of the coronavirus crisis.

“There is no reason why matches and sporting events should continue and I am thinking of the football championship,” Conte told a press conference in Rome.

Italy’s Olympic Committee (CONI) had recommended earlier in the day that all sporting events in the country be suspended until April 3 to help contain the outbreak. The final Serie A game before Conte’s announcement saw Sassuolo beat Brescia 3-0 behind closed doors in Reggio Emilia on Monday.

–The presidency of the DFL, which operates the Bundesliga, met on Monday to discuss the rapidly developing outbreak of the coronavirus in Germany and its impact on the league.

In a statement released following the meeting, the DFL said that unless local authorities order otherwise, all nine Bundesliga games on Matchday 26 are to go ahead as planned. The DFL reiterated an earlier statement in which it pointed to the need to get the season played in its entirety by the summer. It also said that it could hold matches with a limited number of spectators, if so ordered by local authorities, and it said it would comply with whatever instructions are issued by local authorities. The DFL ruled out canceling single games, but said it was open to delaying entire matchdays between now and the end of May if necessary. In such cases, it said the DFL would do so in consultation with the German FA (DFB) and the European governing body, UEFA.

Monday’s meeting came in light of a recommendation from German Health Minister Jens Spahn, who has called for all events of over 1,000 people to be canceled. 

— The police in the canton of Basel have announced that the Europa League match between FC Basel and Eintracht Frankfurt will not be played in March 19 as planned due to the coronavirus. It was not immediately known when and where the match could be held. The first leg of their round-of-16 tie is to be played in Frankfurt on Thursday. 

— The Paris police authority has announced that the second leg of the Champions League round of 16 fixture between Paris Saint-Germain and Borussia Dortmund is to be played behind closed doors due to concerns about the coronavirus outbreak. The police said in a statement that the move was to conform with measures adopted by the government to cope with the spread of the virus. The health minister said that France, which has more than 1,100 confirmed cases and has had 19 deaths, has banned gatherings of more than 1,000 people to try and slow the spread of COVID-19. Dortmund take a 2-1 advantage into the second leg.

— The Leipzig health office, meanwhile, has confirmed that Tuesday’s Champions League match between RB Leipzig and Tottenham Hotspur will go ahead as planned.

—  French Sports Minister Roxana Maracineanu has confirmed that France’s final Six Nations rugby international game against Ireland has been postponed. Maracineanu did not specify the new date for the game. French media had earlier reported on Monday that all games on the final day of rugby’s Six Nations Championship on Saturday had been postponed amid fears over the coronavirus outbreak. The move is in keeping with France’s ban on all gatherings of more than 1,000 people. 

— Japanese officials have postponed the start of the 12-team professional baseball league season due to the spread of the coronavirus. The season was to open on March 20. The league had been playing its preseason games in empty stadiums due to the virus.

“I personally believe that we have no choice but to postpone at this stage,” the league’s commissioner, Atsushi Saito, said.

Meanwhile, the head of the soccer J-League said it planned to extend its suspension of play, which is already in effect until March 18.

“At this moment I think it’s very difficult to resume the matches,” J-League chairman Mitsuru Murai said.

— Basketball superstar LeBron James has said he won’t play if his Los Angeles Lakers are forced to hold games behind closed doors due to the outbreak. The National Basketball Association has reportedly told teams to look into strategies on how to play without fans in the arena amid concerns over the spread of coronavirus.

“If I show up to the arena and there ain’t no fans in the crowd, then I ain’t playing. This ain’t Europe,” James said.

— Organizers of the 2020 BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells, California, have announced the tournament “will not take place at this time due to concerns surrounding the coronavirus and the safety of the participants and attendees at the event.”

The first ATP Masters 1000 and WTA Premier Mandatory event of the year had been slated to kick off on Wednesday.

“The health and safety of the local community, fans, players, volunteers, sponsors, employees, vendors, and everyone involved with the event is of paramount importance,” said the tournament’s director, Tommy Haas. “We are prepared to hold the tournament on another date and will explore options,” he added.

The decision followed a confirmed coronavirus case in the Coachella Valley, which prompted the Riverside County Public Health Department to declare a public health emergency.

March 8

— Despite the increased spread of the coronavirus, DFL CEO Christian Seifert is pushing for the German football season to end on schedule. “The coronavirus puts the whole of society, and therefore football too, in a difficult situation,” Seifert said in a press release on Sunday. “Of course, the health of the population and therefore of all football fans is our top priority. The aim must be to find the appropriate path between justified precaution and excessive caution in different areas of life.” 

— German Health Minister Jens Spahn has called for more large public events to be canceled to help control the spread of the virus. Authorities have been criticized for allowing large sporting events such as the Bundesliga to continue while other countries have already halted public matches.

“In light of the dynamic developments of the last couple of days, things need to change quickly,” Spahn told dpa. The biggest upcoming sports event this week is set to take place in Leipzig for the UEFA Champions League Round of 16 when Tottenham come to visit. The club have tweeted that no decision has been made yet.

March 7

–The International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) has called off the 2020 Women’s Ice Hockey Championship, which was to be hosted by Nova Scotia next month. 

“It is with great regret that we must take this action,” IIHF President René Fasel said. “It was not an easy decision to make, as we were greatly looking forward to hosting this tournament in Canada. Nevertheless, the decision has been made due to safety concerns for the well-being of players, officials, and spectators.”

An IIHF statement said the cancelation of the women’s tournament had no bearing on planning for the men’s tournament,to be hosted by Switzerland in May.

March 6

— The head virologist at Berlin’s Charité, the oldest hospital in Germany’s capital, has called for all Bundesliga matches in the Rheinland region to be postponed this weekend in light of a Coronavirus outbreak in Heinsberg near Mönchengladbach. “Full stadiums with 10s of thousands of fans – especially in areas like the Rheinland which have been strongly affected by the coronavirus – would have be stopped from a medical point of view,” said Christian Drosten, Director at the Institute for Virology at the Charité. 

Borussia Mönchengladbach are due to face Borussia Dortmund in a clash that could prove decisive in the Bundesliga title race. Gladbach’s stadium is less than 10 kilometers away from the Heinsberg area and, as a result, the club have fans from the Heinsberg area not to attend, promising future recompensation of match tickets. Authorities have decided to let the game go ahead as planned. 

March 5

— Italy has ordered all major sporting events to be played behind closed doors for a month, in a bid to curb the Coronavirus outbreak in the country. The governmental order will be in place until April 3 at the earliest. Ten Serie A matches have already been postponed as a result of the virus, with two Italian Cup semifinals also being affected.

— The Six Nations rugby game between Italy and England, which was set to take place in Rome next week, has been postponed due to the Coronavirus, reports in the UK suggest.

March 4

— Thursday’s second leg of Napoli’s Italian Cup semifinal against Inter Milan has been postponed as the coronavirus epidemic continues to spread through the country. A Serie A statement said that the move came in accordance with an order from the prefect of Naples calling for the game to be delayed. Napoli lead the semifinal 1-0. A new date for the second leg has not yet been announced.

— The health minister of Germany’s North Rhine-Westphalia state has said he does not believe Saturday’s Bundesliga match between Borussia Mönchengladbach and Borussia Dortmund should be postponed,despite a coronavirus outbreak in the region. Karl-Josef Laumann said this assumption was based on the fact that the local health authorities saw no reason for putting off the match. However, Gladbach have asked those from the Heinsberg to region, which has been the hardest hit in the state, to voluntarily skip the game – in return for a full refund.

— Cycling teams confined to a luxury Abu Dhabi hotel have been instructed by the country’s health authorities to remain in quarantine until March 14 due to coronavirus concerns. Emirati authorities ordered the lockdown of the Crowne Plaza in Yas Island and the nearby W hotel after two Italian participants involved in last week’s UAE Tour were suspected of contracting coronavirus.

Members of the French teams Cofidis and Groupama-FDJ as well as Russia’s Gazprom have been confined to the fourth floor of the Crowne Plaza since last Thursday.

— Clemens Fuest, the leader of IFO Institute for economic research, has warned of a “historic year for sports, in a bad sense,” in light of the Coronavirus.

March 3

— The German FA (DFB) has said it will follow the advice of the country’s health authorities on how to respond to the coronavirus outbreak. 

“I can give you a simple answer as we have don’t have any medical expertise,” DFB Vice President Rainer Koch said after a reporter asked him whether Germany might follow Switzerland in canceling professional matches.

“We are in close consultation with the relevant authorities and the health offices. It’s for them to make the decisions and we will follow their advice, and implement their decisions,” he said. 

— International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach has reiterated his assertion that this summer’s Tokyo Olympics will be a success despite the coronavirus outbreak. 

“We are all healthy and looking forward to the meeting,” a smiling Bach told reporters as he arrived at IOC headquarters in Lausanne for a meeting of the organization’s executive board.

“We are preparing for a successful Olympic Games Tokyo 2020,” he said. 

Both Tokyo 2020 Olympics organizers and the IOC have repeatedly stressed that the Games, slated to open on July 24, will go ahead as planned.

Japanese Olympic Minister Seiko Hashimoto

Earlier on Tuesday, though, Japan’s Olympics minister, Seiko Hashimoto appeared to raise the possibility of delaying the start of the Games.Hashimoto said that Tokyo’s contract with the IOC “could be interpreted as allowing a postponement” as long at the Games are held in the 2020 calendar year. However, she added that the Japanese government and Tokyo remained committed to the July 24 opening date.

There have been 1,000 confirmed coronavirus infections in Japan, with 12 fatalities. 

–UEFA announced on Tuesday that it has set up a working group with the European Leagues association to handle any fixture congestion be caused by coronavirus postponements.

The president of the Swiss FA, Dominique Blanc, warned of serious consequences for the sport.

“Due to the coronavirus we are in a situation that could shake, for a part of us, professional football to its foundations,” he said in an address to the UEFA Congress being held in Amsterdam.

The Swiss soccer league (SFL) has been put on hold until at least March 23 after the clubs rejected the possibility of playing matches behind closed doors.

FIFA President Gianni Infantino, who also addressed the conference,  said it was “important to work with authorities but not to panic.”

March 2

—  UEFA has said decisions over whether to cancel matches, including playoffs for the upcoming Euro 2020, due to the coronavirus, will be made by governments and health authorities.

UEFA executives met in Amsterdam on Monday but spent only a few minutes discussing the spread of the flu-like disease, which has seen sporting events canceled around the world.

It has played havoc with domestic soccer in Italy where Sunday’s clash between Juventus and Inter Milan was among six weekend games postponed. Last week, Inter played Bulgarian club Ludogorets in the Europa League behind closed doors at their San Siro stadium.

“We’re in touch with the authorities, we’re in the hands of the local authorities, and we’ll deal with whatever they tell us,” a UEFA spokesman said.

— RB Leipzig have apologized to a Japanese group who were ejected from a Bundesliga game on Sunday due to fears
about the coronavirus. Fans posted on Twitter on Monday about their experience of being asked to leave around 10 minutes into the match with Bayer Leverkusen. Leipzig on Monday confirmed the incident, saying stewards had made a mistake in attempting to follow guidelines from the Robert Koch Institute for dealing with groups from potentially high-risk areas for the virus. The club said they were attempting to contact the group of fans affected to invite them to another game.

March 1

— Many rugby, hockey, golf and tennis events in Singapore, Thailand or China have been postponed or will not be played.

— The Chinese Grand Prix, scheduled for April 19, has been postponed by the sport’s governing body FIA and Formula One. No new date has yet to emerge.

— South Korea’s pro soccer league has postponed the start of its new season, while the Chinese FA said domestic games at all levels would also be postponed. 

— The World Athletics Indoor Championships, due to be held between March 13 and 15 in Nanjing, have been postponed until next year.

— Five Serie A games were postponed on Saturday, including league leaders Juventus’ home game against Inter Milan in Turin, in an attempt to contain the spread of a virus outbreak. The games were originally due to be played behind closed doors, but the decision to call them off was taken by the league as part of an urgent attempt to control the spread of the coronavirus.

February 28

— Bayern Munich have announced that as a result of the coronavirus outbreak, their players have been instructed not to sign autographs or pose for selfies with fans. This is a temporary  measure. The club said they were in regular contact with the City of Munich’s health department and the Robert Koch Institute, the German federal government agency responsible for disease control and prevention.

 

— Denmark’s Michael Morkov has been instructed not to leave his Berlin hotel room while he awaits a test for the coronavirus after traveling there for the track cycling world championships from the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The 34-year-old left for the German capital on Thursday, before the UAE Tour was canceled due to two Italian participants showing symptoms of the virus. All other riders and staff have since been confined to the Tour hotel.

Morkov had been scheduled to compete in Berlin this weekend. The UAE Tour was scrapped after five stages and ahead of its scheduled conclusion on Sunday.

— The Swiss Football League has announced that it has canceled all first and second-division games for the coming weekend due to the coronavirus outbreak. This followed a government order that all events with more than 1,000 participants be put off until March 15 at the earliest.

— Bundesliga club RB Leipzig have instructed players and staff to avoid shaking hands, which is the customary greeting in Germany. Head coach Julian Nagelsmann told a press conference ahead of Leipzig’s match against Bayer Leverkusen on Sunday that it was part of the club’s policy meant to prevent the spread of viruses.

“There is a ban on shaking hands; we greet each other with elbows,” he said. Leipzig have also imposed a travel stop on all scouts, staff and players apart from match travel.

— English Premier League club Newcastle United have also introduced a handshake ban to protect against the spread of the coronavirus.

“There’s a ritual here that everybody shakes hands with everybody as soon as we see each other every morning — we’ve stopped that on the advice of the doctor,” Newcastle manager Steve Bruce said at a press conference ahead of their match against Burnley on Saturday.

— German professional sports leagues have been monitoring the situation regarding the coronavirus outbreak and are in contact with the relevant authorities. 

— The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has said it is “fully committed” to holding the 2020 Games in Tokyo as planned despite the widening new coronavirus outbreak.     

IOC President Thomas Bach told Japanese media in a conference call late on Thursday that the IOC “is fully committed to a successful Olympic Games in Tokyo starting July 24.”

This came as the viral outbreak across Japan and dozens of other countries has fueled concerns about the Summer Games, with a swathe of other sports events, mainly in Asia, postponed or canceled.

The Ireland-Italy Six Nations match on March 7 in Dublin was postponed on Wednesday following an outbreak of the virus in northern Italy.

Several Serie A matches in northern Italy are to be played behind closed doors due to the outbreak.

In the Europa League, Inter Milan beat Ludogorets 2-1 (4-1) at an empty San Siro, with the game played behind closed doors due to the coronavirus outbreak in the region.
 

 

Article source: https://www.dw.com/en/coronavirus-and-sports-uefa-postpones-champions-league-matches/a-52569936?maca=en-rss-en-sports-1027-xml-atom

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