The suspension of soccer matches in England, Scotland and Wales until at least April 3 due to the COVID-19 pandemic was announced on Friday along with the other four major European leagues and an Olympic qualification tournament in Mexico, while FIFA recommended that all international matches this month and next month be postponed.
Taiwan’s World Cup qualifying matches are affected.
There have been 798 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the UK, with 10 deaths announced, but health officials fear there could be many more thousands infected.
Photo: Reuters
Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta and Chelsea winger Callum Hudson-Odoi are among the Premier League players to have tested positive for the virus.
Financial ramifications will be felt across the board with the potential for the Premier League to lose out on millions through penalties in television rights clauses if the season cannot be completed.
The situation outside the elite could be even more grave with lower league clubs desperately in need of the gate receipts from matches to be able to meet their bills.
Liverpool manager Juergen Klopp, whose side’s cruise towards a first Premier League title in 30 years has been put on hold, said: “Today, football and football matches really aren’t important at all.”
“Of course we don’t want to play in front of an empty stadium and we don’t want games or competitions suspended, but if doing so helps one individual stay healthy — just one — we do it no questions asked,” Klopp said. “If it’s a choice between football and the good of the wider society, it’s no contest.”
Liverpool fan group Spirit of Shankly said that fans wanted a say in decisions.
“In the weeks ahead it is likely difficult decisions will need to be made about how this season’s football competitions are to be concluded,” the group said. “As supporters — the most important stakeholder group in the game — we hope to be fully involved in any dialogue and decisionmaking with the football authorities on these matters.”
Shrewsbury Town chief executive Brian Caldwell, whose team play in League One, told the BBC that the financial fall-out could be ruinous for some clubs.
“We’ve got five home games left, you are probably looking at ￡200,000-￡250,000 [US$250,000-US$313,000] would be lost by not having the income from not just tickets, but bars, hospitality, programming income and everything else that we at this level all rely on.”
“It could have a devastating effect on some clubs potentially having that loss of income,” Caldwell said.
In Germany, Bundesliga games were halted with immediate effect, the first such suspension since World War II.
“Given the developments of today with new coronavirus infections and suspected cases directly linked to the Bundesliga and the second division, the German Football League has decided at short notice to postpone today’s matches,” it said in a statement.
Spain’s La Liga postponed fixtures for two weeks from Thursday, Italy’s Serie A was put on hold until April 3 at the start of the week and France made a similar announcement for its divisions, including Ligue 1.
In Paris, FIFA recommended that all international matches this month and next be postponed.
While it did not ban matches outright, the world governing body said that clubs would be allowed to refuse to send their players to national squad gatherings.
FIFA also said that it was working on rescheduling qualifying matches for the 2022 World Cup in Asia — including Taiwan’s matches against Nepal and Australia — and South America, which have been postponed.
Meanwhile, a Tokyo Olympic North American qualifying tournament that was scheduled to begin in Mexico on Friday next week was postponed.
The Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football announced it was delaying the event and all other competitions for 30 days.
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