The ongoing coronavirus pandemic has wreaked havoc on the worldwide sporting calendar.
The Football Association, the Premier League, the English Football League, FA Women’s Super League and FA Women’s Championship have all called a halt to the action until at least the beginning of April.
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Meanwhile, England’s cricket team have cut short their tour of Sri Lanka, while the year’s first golf major, the Masters, has been postponed, while horse racing’s flagship race, the Grand National, and the London Marathon have been scrapped.
Here’s how all sports have been impacted…
Football
– The Premier League has been suspended until April 4 and the EFL until April 3 at the earliest.
– The Scottish Professional Football League postponed all games ‘pending any Government order and/or further direction from the Scottish FA’.
– The Football Association announced it was “advising that all grassroots football in England is postponed for the foreseeable future”.
– The Football Association of Ireland has suspended its leagues until March 29.
– England’s two friendlies later this month at Wembley, the Women’s Super League and FA Women’s Championship have been postponed by the FA.
– Wales’ international matches with Austria and the United States at the end of March are both called off.
– UEFA has announced all remaining last 16 Champions League and Europa League fixtures are postponed, as well as the quarter-final draws for both competitions.
– UEFA has called an emergency meeting for Tuesday to discuss whether Euro 2020 can go ahead as scheduled.
– Arsenal head coach Mikel Arteta and Chelsea winger Callum Hudson-Odoi have tested positive for coronavirus.
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– An unnamed Everton player undertook a period of self-isolation after reported symptoms consistent with coronavirus while three Leicester players showed symptoms and were kept away from the rest of the squad.
– Bournemouth announced five of their employees, including goalkeeper Artur Boruc, were self-isolating having displayed symptoms consistent with the virus.
– Juventus defender Daniele Rugani tested positive, as did Fiorentina striker Patrick Cutrone, on loan from Wolves, and team-mate German Pezzella and club physio Stefano Danielli.
– Ezequiel Garay became the first LaLiga player to announce that he has tested positive for coronavirus, with Valencia later confirming five positive tests among players and staff.
– Real Madrid players were told to go into quarantine after a member of the club’s basketball team tested positive. LaLiga suspended “at least the next two rounds of matches” as a result of the quarantine in place at Real.
– Barcelona suspended all first-team activity after taking advice from their medical staff.
– All domestic sporting action in Italy – including Serie A matches – was suspended until April 3.
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– Ligue 1 and Ligue 2, the top two divisions in France, are suspended until further notice.
– The German Football League suspended games in the Bundesliga and 2. Bundesliga until at least April 3, with a review to be undertaken on March 30.
– Major League Soccer announced the suspension of matches for 30 days with immediate effect.
– The South American (CONMEBOL) World Cup qualifiers scheduled for March 23-31 were postponed to a later date.
– The Professional Footballers’ Association annual awards ceremony, due to take place on April 26, has been postponed.
– The Vanarama National League suspended all fixtures until at least April 3 on March 16.
Rugby Union
– The Gallagher Premiership was suspended for five weeks on Monday.
– The Guinness PRO14 was suspended indefinitely.
– Sunday’s Premiership Rugby Cup final between Sale and Harlequins was originally given the go-ahead on Friday, only to be postponed following an individual on staff developing symptoms consistent with coronavirus.
– The Super Rugby season was suspended after the decision of the New Zealand government to quarantine people entering the country for 14 days.
– Rugby Australia closed its Sydney headquarters for an “intensive clean” after two members of its Australian Sevens program showed signs and symptoms associated with coronavirus.
– South Africa Rugby suspended all competitive matches until April 25 at the earliest and calls off all national team training camps and business travel.
– The Heineken Champions Cup and Challenge Cup quarter-finals were postponed.
Golf
– The US Masters, the first men’s golfing major of the year, has been postponed. The blue riband event at Augusta National was due to take place from April 9-12. A new date is yet to be arranged.
– The Players Championship has also been cancelled along with all other PGA Tour events for the next three weeks.
– Five European Tour tournaments have been postponed. Next week’s Hero Indian Open and August’s Czech Masters have joined this week’s Kenya Open and April’s Maybank Championship and China Open in being called off.
– The Ladies European Tour’s Aramco Saudi Ladies International has been postponed with a view to it being rescheduled later in the year.
– Africa’s Sunshine Tour has suspended all activities and will review the situation on April 20 “or as the situation demands”.
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Cricket
– England’s upcoming Test series against Sri Lanka is postponed with the touring players returning home.
– Australia have pulled out of their tour of New Zealand with immediate effect.
– The start of the Indian Premier League has been postponed from March 29 to April 15 as a precautionary measure.
– Surrey have cancelled their pre-season training camp at the ICC Academy in Dubai amid concern over the safety of their players.
– The final two one-day internationals between India and South Africa will be played behind closed doors.
– The April ODI and Test match between Pakistan and Bangladesh has been postponed
– Cricket South Africa has cancelled all forms of cricket for the next 60 days.
– Ireland’s limited-overs tour of Zimbabwe next month was postponed.
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Formula 1
– The season-opening Australian Grand Prix was called off along with the races in Bahrain and Vietnam, with the start of the season set to be pushed back to June.
– McLaren had already withdrawn from the Australian race after a member of staff tested positive for the illness. It is understood the team member reported symptoms associated with the virus in the Albert Park paddock on Wednesday morning. Two personnel from American outfit Haas were tested and went in self-isolation.
– Ferrari shut down production at its Formula 1 and road car factories.
Formula E
– Formula E has temporarily suspended the season.
Nascar
– Nascar announced it would be holding its race events in Atlanta (March 15) and Miami (March 22) without fans in attendance.
Motorcycling
– The opening four races of the MotoGP season in Qatar, Thailand, the United States and now Argentina were called off. The Qatar race was cancelled, while the other three have been moved to later in the season, which is now due to get under way in Spain on May 3.
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Basketball
– The NBA season has been suspended “until further notice” after an unnamed player from the Utah Jazz tested positive for coronavirus.
Cycling
– The International Cycling Union suspends all events until April 3 at the earliest
Tennis
– The high-profile BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells, where the likes of Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic were due to compete, was called off.
– The ATP has announced a six-week suspension of the men’s professional tennis tour due to “escalating health and safety issues” arising from the coronavirus outbreak.
– The Miami Open tennis tournament, due to start on March 23, has been cancelled after a ban on mass gatherings in Miami-Dade County.
– The Volvo Car Open in Charleston (April 4-12) has also been called off. Next month’s Fed Cup finals in Budapest and Fed Cup play-offs, due to be held in eight different locations, have been postponed, while China’s Xi’an Open (April 13-19) and Kunming Open (April 27-May 3) have been cancelled.
– The WTA announces the suspension of its tour until May 2, with the clay events in Stuttgart, Istanbul and Prague postponed.
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Racing
– The 2020 Grand National has been cancelled.
– Racing in Ireland will be closed to the public until March 29.
– Racing at Kelso on Monday will be held behind closed doors, the British Horseracing Authority has announced.
Athletics
– The World Indoor Championships, which had been due to take place in Nanjing in China this month, has been called off.
– The London Marathon has been postponed until Sunday, October 4. The 40th edition of the historic race was originally scheduled to take place on April 26.
– The Paris Marathon, which was due to take place on April 5, has been postponed until October 18 and the Rome Marathon, scheduled for March 29, has been cancelled.
– The International Triathlon Union has moved the 2020 ITU Paratriathlon World Championships, planned for May 2, from Milan to Montreal.
– May’s Edinburgh Marathon has been postponed with a new date due to be set this week
Olympics and Paralympics
– The International Olympic Committee remains fully committed to staging the Tokyo 2020 Games as scheduled this summer, despite Japan’s Olympic minister Seiko Hashimoto suggesting it could be postponed until later in the year.
– The British Olympic Association still plans to send a delegation of around 55 people to Tokyo this month for a “detailed operational recce”.
– The 2020 Olympics flame handover in Athens will take place behind closed doors this week
Rugby League
– All rugby league fixtures, from the Betfred Super League to “the community game”, were suspended until at least April 3.
– The Coral Challenge Cup fixture between York City Knights and Rochdale Hornets was switched to the Millennium Stadium in Featherstone after York City cancelled the availability of Bootham Crescent.
– Canadian club Toronto Wolfpack stood down their entire UK-based playing staff after four players presented with “mild possible” coronavirus symptoms and were put into self-isolation.
– Dewsbury Rams say their Betfred Championship match against Toulouse has been postponed.
Boxing
– Shakur Stevenson vs Miguel Marriaga and James Kirkland vs Marcos Hernandez (March 14) were postponed.
– Michael Conlan vs Belmar Preciado (March 17) was postponed.
– Vergil Ortiz Jr vs Samuel Vargas (March 28) has been postponed.
– The World Boxing Super Series cruiserweight final between Mairis Briedis and Yuniel Dorticos in Latvia has been moved from March 21 to May 16
– London-based Olympic qualifiers postponed until later this year.
– All events scheduled for March in Japan have been cancelled.
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Snooker
– The £1million China Open, scheduled to start in Beijing at the end of March, has been cancelled. The attendance in the arena for this week’s Gibraltar Open has been limited to 100 people.
Ice skating
– The World Short Track Speed Skating Championships, scheduled for March 13-15, were called off. The World Figure Skating Championships in Quebec, planned for March 16-22, were also cancelled.
Judo
– The International Judo Federation has cancelled all Olympic qualification events on the calendar until April 30.
Darts
– The Professional Darts Corporation has cancelled the Premier League double-header in Rotterdam, the European Darts Grand Prix in Sindelfingen and the European Darts Open in Leverkusen, which were all scheduled for later this month, plus next month’s German Darts Grand Prix in Munich.
Ice hockey
– The NHL has been paused with 189 games regular-season remaining. The Stanley Cup play-offs were due to start the week of April 6.
Netball
– Netball Superleague season is suspended until further notice
MMA
– UFC London moved out of UK with venue in the United States to be decided for March 21
– Leon Edwards withdraws from Tyron Woodley fight as UFC London is moved to America
Source: TalkSport.com Motorsport
