Coronavirus: Premier League and other sports events affected
- Published
A Premier League match between Manchester City and Arsenal, which was meant to take place today (11 March), has been called off because of the coronavirus.
The new virus has caused disruption to travel, schools and major public events over recent weeks.
It's also had a big impact on some sporting fixtures.
Around the world, events in football, rugby, Formula 1 and speed skating have all been affected.
European football
Manchester City and Arsenal's game on 11 March has been cancelled after some of Arsenal's players met with Evangelos Marinakis - the owner of Nottingham Forest and Olympiakos football clubs - at the end of last month.
The club owner has now tested positive for the virus and tonight's match has been postponed as a safety measure.
A number of Arsenal players and some of the team's staff are now in self-isolation and will stay at home for two weeks.
An Arsenal statement read: "Our home match with Olympiakos in the Europa League was played on Thursday, 27 February and none of our staff who came into contact with Mr Marinakis on that matchday have reported any symptoms since.
"We're following the government health guidelines and have additional procedures in place to protect our players and staff. This has included regular deep cleaning of areas used by players at Emirates Stadium and our training centre"
To try and curb the spread of the virus, Uefa (the organisation in charge of European football) has banned pre-match handshakes between players and officials in all its competitions until further notice.
Manchester United's Europa League match against LASK Linz on Thursday 12 March will be played in an empty stadium to avoid the spread of the coronavirus.
Barcelona's Nou Camp will also close its doors to fans for their Champions League last 16 second match against Napoli on 18 March.
All sporting events in Italy have been suspended until at least 3 April because of the coronavirus, including Serie A matches.
Italy, which has had over 9,000 confirmed cases of the virus, has now restricted travel across the country with other public gatherings also forbidden.
These clubs could lose lots of money because they are not able to sell tickets.
Before these measures were brought in, it is estimated Cristiano Ronaldo's team Juventus lost over 3 million euros by having to play their match against Inter Milan behind closed doors.
Six Nations rugby
In rugby union, England's men's and women's Six Nations matches against Italy, which were scheduled to take place on 14 March and 15 March, have been postponed.
Plans to reschedule the fixtures are yet to be sorted.
This isn't the first time the rugby tournament has been disrupted.
In 2001, an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease, which affected farmers and their livestock around the UK, meant the Six Nations - which is usually played over a matter of weeks - took eight months to complete.
Uefa European Championships
Looking ahead to this summer, the Uefa European Championship is due to take place across various cities around Europe.
The major football tournament kicks off in Rome in Italy on the 12 June.
The organisation in charge of this summer's tournament say they are monitoring the situation closely.
"For the moment, there is no need to change anything in the planned timetable." said a spokesperson.
"The sporting path will only be closed if the situation gets worse," they added.
Olympics and Paralympics
In July and August, the Olympics and Paralympics are due to take place in Tokyo, Japan.
At the moment the world's greatest sporting event is not under threat but International Olympic Committee member, Dick Pound, has said organisers would "reluctantly" have to cancel the Games if the coronavirus developed into a serious pandemic.
The organisers have also decided to scale back the Olympic torch relay, with the lighting of the flame due to take place in Greece on 12 March.
The flame will be lit in the Greek town of Olympia - where the original Olympic Games were held - before it heads to Japan. The plan is to then hold a relay around the country, with the torch passing through 859 municipalities over 121 days.
Formula 1
In Formula 1, the Chinese Grand Prix, which was due to take place on the 19 April, has been postponed, but Chase Carey, who runs the sport, said "we do plan to proceed with the race," in Vietnam. He also said the Formula 1 tour would visit Melbourne in Australia and Bahrain in the Middle East for their races.
However, they have said the Bahrain Grand Prix from 20-22 March will be held behind closed doors.
Other events
There are lots of others events which face cancellation. And lots that have been postponed.
The World Indoor Athletics Championships is one of them. It's been moved back to an undecided date in 2021 and the Short-Track Speed Skating World Championships in South Korea have also been postponed.
In tennis, the Indian Wells tennis event - which is one of the most important tournaments outside of the Grand Slams - has been cancelled two days before the main draw matches were due to start.
The International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) says April's World Tour Japan Open is postponed. It hopes to hold the event later in 2020.
- Published27 February 2020
- Published27 February 2020
- Published27 August 2020