Coronavirus: Updates from the world of sports

April 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 economy 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.

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 potponement" 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 decions 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, schedule 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.