A Premier League team has banned players from shaking hands as Coronavirus threatens to disrupt British football for months and could force matches to be played in empty stadiums if it becomes a pandemic.
Millions of supporters travel the length of the UK to follow their team but some are expected to masks at matches this weekend or choose may not to travel as the number of cases grew to 19 today – including six in the past 24 hours.
Public Health England has now admitted that if the country loses its grip on the virus the public could be banned from sporting events for two months, threatening football fixtures and Six Nations rugby matches this month and the London Marathon and Grand National in April.
The Euro 2020 football tournament, which starts in Rome, could also be in doubt while British cycling stars Chris Froome and Mark Cavendish are quarantined at their Berlin hotel and are being tested after two Italians staff fell ill. Further ahead the Tokyo 2020 Olympics could be postponed or moved.
Newcastle United has a daily tradition where players and staff greet one another with a handshake every morning but manager Steve Bruce admitted today: ‘We’ve stopped that on the advice of the doctor’.
But the Premier League will not be stopping the traditional shaking of hands between teams before matches.
And as Switzerland today banned all events involving more than 1,000 people, Mr Bruce said: ‘We’re glued to the TV and let us hope it doesn’t get any worse in this country.’
Today Manchester United boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer admitted he is ‘worried’ about being drawn against Inter Milan in the Europa League – after the northern Italian team found itself on the edge of the country’s coronavirus crisis zone.
Newcastle United boss Steve Bruce shakes hands with Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta – but Bruce has admitted the ritual is banned at the training ground because of coronavirus
In a picture of what could be to come in Britain, Inter Milan’s San Siro stadium was empty for the team’s Europa League match as sporting fixtures could be played behind closed doors or even cancelled to avoid spreading illness
Inter played their match in an empty San Siro stadium last night to avoid up to 80,000 supporters turning up and spreading the illness that has claimed 2,550 lives worldwide so far – including 17 in Italy in a week.
Switzerland has today banned all events involving more than 1,000 people in a drastic bid to stop the spread of coronavirus.
The Swiss government announced the emergency measure today and said it will last until at least March 15.
Officials say the ban on ‘public and private events’ is intended to ‘prevent or delay the spread of the disease in Switzerland, thus reducing its momentum’.
Switzerland has already confirmed eight cases and officials expect the outbreak to get worse because of the crisis over the border in northern Italy.
England’s chief medical officer Professor Chris Whitty has revealed that a ban on public gatherings including sporting events could be needed if coronavirus cases continue to escalate in Britain, which now has 19 confirmed cases including six in the past 24 hours.
Premier League and FA Cup matches are certain to be under threat or played behind closed doors if the situation gets worse.
The London Marathon and the Grand National in April could also be at risk because of the large number of spectators
Further ahead this summer’s Euro 2020 tournament, which is being played in cities across the continent including London, Glasgow and Rome – the capital of coronavirus-hit Italy – is certain to be under review.
The tournament has not yet been affected but UEFA is ‘monitoring’ the coronavirus situation.
Michele Uva, a member of the UEFA executive committee, told Italian broadcaster RAI: ‘We are at the waiting stage. We are monitoring country by country, and football must follow the orders of the individual countries. The sporting path will only be closed if the situation gets worse.’
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer expressed his concern at playing in Italy during the coronavirus outbreak
The upcoming Six Nations match between Ireland and Italy has already been postponed to prevent fans bringing it to the Emerald Isle.
The rugby union tie, due to be held in Dublin on March 7, became the largest sporting casualty in Europe since the outbreak, with tens of thousands of fans expecting to descend on the Irish capital forced to cancel or change plans.
England are due to play Italy in the Six Nations on March 14 in Rome, which is now also in doubt.
Asked about the proposition of the tie being postponed yesterday, health secretary Matt Hancock said: ‘Our goal is to minimise social disruption, of which this is an important part for any rugby fan, subject to keeping the public safe.’
The postponement has raised concerns about the cancellation of other major events in upcoming months, including England’s football friendly against Italy at Wembley on March 27 and even the Olympic Games, due to be held in Tokyo later this year.
The first Euro 2020 fixture is set to take place in Rome on June 12, raising fears that it could also be called off if the virus continues to spread across Italy.
The Chinese Grand Prix, originally scheduled for April 19, has already been postponed, with Formula One races in Australia, Bahrain and Vietnam are now at risk of cancellation.
The Irish Rugby Football Union [IRFU] announced the decision to suspend next month’s game against Italy as the number of new infections in the country surged to 322, including 11 confirmed deaths.
A women’s Six Nations tie scheduled for the following day has also been postponed.
The decision came after Irish health minister Simon Harris met with the IRFU yesterday [WEDS].
The body was told that the games should not proceed ‘in the interests of public health.’
Ticketholders have been told they will be able to attend a rescheduled game or they will be entitled to a refund.
Countries affected by the coronavirus outbreak or poised to hold events which may welcome fans from affected countries overseas are now braced for sporting cancellations.
Earlier this week, Dick Pound, of the International Olympic Committee, suggested that the Olympics, set to begin on July 24, could be cancelled.
He said there should be a window of a minimum two months to decide whether they would be called off, meaning a decision could be put off until May.
However Japanese government spokesman Yoshihide Suga (corr) countered his claims, and said there are currently no plans to cancel or postpone the games.
Yesterday the FA said it currently had no plans to postpone England’s warm-up friendly against Italy next month, but the body was continuing to monitor government advice.
The sporting world has already been rocked by the rapid coronavirus outbreak.
This weekend, five matches in the Italian football top division – Serie A – will be played behind closed doors, including a tie between Juventus and Inter Milan.
Yesterday, the world Short Track Speed Skating Championships, due to take place in Seoul, South Korea from March 13 to 15, were also cancelled.
Entire leagues postponed, football matches without any fans, Six Nations games off and major questions over the Olympics: How coronavirus is causing chaos in sport
The killer coronavirus outbreak across the globe has lead to a host of sporting events being cancelled, postponed or placed in serious doubt.
This outbreak, which has been labelled as ‘the start of an epidemic’ by France and Germany, has spread into every continent but Antarctica with more than 82,000 documented cases and at least 2,800 deaths.
Having first emerged in Wuhan, China, at the end of December, cases have now been confirmed in almost 50 countries. Denmark, Estonia, Switzerland, Romania, North Macedonia, Greece, Norway and Georgia have all recorded their first cases in the past 24 hours.
The coronavirus outbreak has seen fears that the Olympic Games in Japan could be postponed
The sporting calendar has been hit hard with growing concerns that the scale of the outbreak in Asia could lead to the cancellation of the Olympic Games in Japan this summer.
Athletes have been urged to train as normal with Olympic organisers insistent that the Games will go ahead as planned despite the current scale of the outbreak.
Italian football has seen a number of matches postponed while others are to take place behind closed doors with a limited window between now and the end of the season to complete all remaining matches.
There have been 453 reported cases in Italy with 12 deaths so far as they remain the worst-affected country in Europe.
Impacted countries are looking to self-isolate in a bid to tackle the deadly virus and so international travel has been reduced in and out of affected regions.
While individual matches and tournaments across a number of sports have been cancelled or put back, this summer’s 2020 European Championships, which is due to take place multi-city across the continent, including Italy, finds itself in doubt if fresh cases continue to emerge.
2020 OLYMPIC GAMES
In doubt
The scale of the outbreak in Japan saw senior International Olympic Committee member Dick Pound describe the disease as ‘the new war’ threatening Tokyo 2020 and he warned the Games may have to be cancelled if the virus was still around by May.
Olympic organisers have told athletes to train as normal with no decision made on cancellation
The Japanese government later insisted Pound’s comments were not the IOC’s official stance but there remains doubts over whether the summer showcase can still go ahead with health concerns.
Athletes have been told to keep training and the plan remains to hold the Games in Japan as planned but training for around 80,000 volunteers has been delayed for at least two months- it was due to begin on February 22.
ATHLETICS
Cancelled
World Athletics Indoor Championships (March 13-15 in Nanjing) off until 2021.
The World Athletics Indoor Championships in Nanjing, China, has been postponed due to concerns over the danger of the coronavirus and its ability to spread among competitors
North Korea cancels Pyongyang Marathon scheduled for April after imposing a border lockdown due to the level of outbreak in South Korea.
Seoul Marathon cancelled in a bid to protect runners following the mass outbreak in South Korea.
In doubt
A mixed relay Olympic triathlon qualification event scheduled for Chengdu, China in May moved to Valencia. Going ahead pending an outbreak in Spain.
BADMINTON
Cancelled
German Open (March 3-8), Vietnam Open (March 24-29) and Polish Open (March 26-29), all Olympic qualifying events, are cancelled due to ‘strict health protection’.
BOXING
Cancelled
Olympic boxing qualifiers to be staged in Wuhan cancelled by the International Olympic Committee. Now been relocated to occur in Amman from March 3-11
IBF title fight between Daniele Scardina and Andrew Francillette in Milan on February 28 postponed by Matchroom due to restrictions in Italy following the outbreak
Japanese boxing commission cancels all fight cards scheduled for March on government advice to suspend all pending sporting fixtures. They will not be rescheduled.
Boxing qualifiers set for Wuhan were called off by the International Olympic Committee
FOOTBALL
Cancelled
All domestic fixtures at all levels are postponed by the Chinese Football Association as the season is pushed back due to the scale of the outbreak in China.
Asian Champions League matches involving Guangzhou Evergrande, Shanghai Shenhua and Shanghai SIPG are postponed until April.
The start of the Korean K-League season is postponed. The four teams in the AFC Champions League playing their matches behind closed doors.
Inter Milan will play their European tie against Ludogorets behind closed doors at the San Siro
Ludogorets players were taking no chances after the coronavirus outbreak in northern Italy
Japan’s J-League postpones all domestic games until the middle of March.
Inter Milan’s game against Sampdoria was one of four Serie A games cancelled last weekend due to affected regions in Italy leading to advice from the prime minister to call off sporting events.
Impacted
The home leg of the Chinese women’s national team’s Olympic qualification play-off against South Korea set for March is switched to Sydney. The squad are held in quarantine upon their arrival in Australia for January’s qualifying group stage due to fears of virus carriers.
Inter Milan’s Europa League match against Ludogorets on February 27 to be played behind closed doors. Only rights-holders are allowed to attend as media as club look to secure the San Siro. Ludogorets players arrive in Italy wearing face masks.
Serie A announce five matches on February 28-March 1 will be played behind closed doors, including Juventus v Inter Milan in Turin.
Wolves fans who made the trip to Espanyol for their Europa League last-32 second-leg have been urged to ‘travel with caution’ after a number of confirmed cases this week in Barcelona. The game is expected to go ahead without issue.
Jadon Sancho, Raheem Sterling and their England team-mates are due to face Italy in March
In doubt
England’s friendly against Italy at Wembley in March now in doubt as the FA hold crisis talks following the outbreak in northern Italy.
Israel has warned citizens to avoid all international travel which raises questions whether supporters or players will travel to Scotland for their Euro 2020 play-off match on March 26.
Growing concerns that some matches at Euro 2020 could be called off if the coronavirus outbreak gets worse between now and the summer. The tournament is set to be multi-city.
FORMULA ONE
Cancelled
Chinese Grand Prix in Shanghai on April 19 postponed with no decision over whether it will be reinserted into the 2020 calendar for later in the season.
The Chinese Grand Prix was first to be cancelled and other races could yet follow their lead
In doubt
Australian Grand Prix insists they will go ahead despite an emergency response plan being enacted across the country to deal with the virus. The chief executive of the tourism council says that Victoria cannot afford for the event to be cancelled.
Bahrain Grand Prix still planning to go ahead despite a number of flights from Dubai and the UAE into the country being cancelled this week due to coronavirus fears.
Growing concerns over whether the inaugural Vietnam Grand Prix (scheduled to take place in Hanoi on April 5) will go ahead
GOLF
Cancelled
The Women’s Amateur Asia-Pacific golf championship, slated to take place from February 12-15 in Thailand, was postponed and has been rescheduled for October.
The Honda LPGA Thailand event in Pattaya, Thailand scheduled for February 20-23 along with the HSBC Women’s World Championship in Singapore, scheduled to start on February 27, were both postponed
The PGA Tour Series-China postponed two qualifying tournaments and delayed the start of its 2020 campaign by two months, cutting the number of regular season events down from 14 to 10.
The decision was made to cancel the LPGA Blue Bay tournament in China, with the event at Hainan Island (due to start on March 5) seen as dangerous to players’ health
European Tour postpone Maybank Championship (April 16-19 in Kuala Lumpur) and Volvo China Open (April 23-26 in Shenzhen).
Impacted
Lorenzo Gagli and Edoardo Molinari withdraw from the Oman Open on medical grounds after Gagli showed symptoms of the virus. He shared a hotel room with Molinari and he also pulled out in a bid to self-isolate.
The Honda LPGA event in Pattaya, Thailand, is among a host of tournaments to be postponed
Edoardo Molinari (left) and Lorenzo Gagli (right) pulled out of the Oman Open following medical advice as Gagli showed symptoms of the virus. The two players shared a hotel room.
HORSE RACING
Impacted
The Japan Racing Association reveals that ‘government-sanctioned races’ will go behind closed doors.
In doubt
Cheltenham festival is in doubt as organisers set up a steering group to consider the danger posed by the virus, just 13 days prior to the prestigious Gold Cup event
The Cheltenham Festival is set to go ahead despite travel disruption caused by the coronavirus
RUGBY
Cancelled
Scotland Women’s Six Nations match with Italy on February 23 postponed due to an outbreak in the Milan area.
Ireland’s Six Nations meeting with Italy on March 7 is postponed.
Ospreys and Ulster’s Pro14 trips to play in Italy on February 29 are postponed. Ospreys were due to play Zebre in Parma with Treviso the venue for Ulster’s game against Benetton.
Ireland’s Six Nations encounter with Italy on March 7 has been postponed due to coronavirus
There are now concerns that England’s visit to Italy in the Six Nations could be in serious doubt
The Italian Rugby Federation suspends its National Championship and youth games for February 28-March 1.
Hong Kong Rugby Sevens postponed which is a blow to Olympic preparations for Team GB.
In doubt
Scottish rugby announce preparations ‘continue as normal’ as they discuss with French rugby whether to proceed with their Six Nations match on March 8 following a second coronavirus death in France.
All of Italy’s remaining Six Nations fixtures – they are due to host England in their final game on March 14 – are in serious doubt given the scale of the outbreak in Italy
TENNIS
Cancelled
The final of an ATP Challenger event in Bergamo, Italy, between Enzo Couacaud and Illya Marchenko of Ukraine is cancelled. Both players received ranking points and prize money for getting to the final. Denied opportunity to play behind closed doors.
China forfeited a Davis Cup tie because men’s team were unable to travel to Romania for the March 6-7 playoff.
WTA event Xi’an Open (set for April 13-19) cancelled due to fears over player safety. WTA announce they are assessing their schedule with a number of events set for China in the second half of the season.
Japan’s Davis Cup team has seen the match with Ecuador next week put behind closed doors
The WTA could still postpone the Kunming Open (pictured left is Zheng Saisai, the 2019 winner) having already called off the Xi’an Open set to take place from April 13 to April 19
Impacted
Japan’s home Davis Cup tie against Ecuador next week now set to be played behind closed doors.
In doubt
WTA event Kunming Open considered for cancellation after Xi’an Open is called off. It is due to start on April 27.
OTHER SPORTS
Cancelled
South Korean baseball league cancels all 50 pre-season game which were slated to take place from March 14-24. The first time since the leagues inception in 1982 that an entire set of exhibition matches are off.
The first-stage draw for the Table Tennis World Championships, scheduled for South Korea from March 22-29, is postponed.
A beach volleyball tournament, due to be held in Yangzhou from April 22-26, is postponed until after the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.
World Short track speed skating championship in Seoul is cancelled.
All 72 pre-season professional baseball games in Japan are to take plkace behind closed doors
The first-stage draw for the Table Tennis World Championships in South Korea is postponed
Impacted
The Japanese professional baseball league makes the decision to play their 72 pre-season games behind closed doors until March 15. Baseball is among the most popular sports in Japan.
In doubt
The South Korean baseball league regular season is in doubt ahead of the first round of matches on March 28. An emergency meeting has been called.
Doubts remain as the Asian weightlifting championships, scheduled for March, are relocated from Kazakhstan to neighbouring Uzbekistan. Still could be postponed.