By Andrew Dampf / The Associated Press
ROME—Holding soccer games behind closed doors without fans in attendance is a problematic solution, Italian Olympic Committee (CONI) President Giovanni Malagò said Sunday as authorities scrambled to contain a rapidly rising number of COVID-19 cases in the country and a third death from the virus.
CONI, the Olympic committee, oversees all sports in Italy.
Four matches in the top Italian league scheduled for Sunday were postponed after the government ordered a ban on all sporting events in Lombardy and Veneto—the regions in the heart of the outbreak—and later Turin.
Besides refunding vast numbers of tickets—some 60,000 fans were slated to attend Inter Milan’s game against Sampdoria on Sunday at the San Siro stadium in Milan before it was postponed—Malagò noted Italian fans’ tendency to go stand outside stadiums where matches are played behind closed doors and cheer on their team from the parking lot.
“It’s going to cause a public safety issue,” Malagò told Sky Italia. “That’s particularly problematic at this moment when police are busy with other situations and won’t be able to stand outside a soccer stadium.
“It’s a matter of public health,” Malagò added.
Italian authorities announced that they are shutting down Venice’s famed carnival events in a bid to stop the spread of the virus, as numbers of infected persons in the country have soared to at least 152—the largest amount of cases outside Asia.
Veneto regional Gov. Luca Zaia said the shutdown will begin Sunday evening. Carnival, which draws tens of thousands of visitors to the lagoon city, would have run through Tuesday.
Nearly all of Italy’s confirmed cases are clustered in the north, with 110 in Lombardy and others in the regions of Veneto, Emilia-Romagnia and Piedmont. Only two cases have been found in the south, a Chinese couple in Rome earlier this month.
The death on Sunday of an elderly woman, who was already suffering from cancer and who contracted the virus, raised the nation’s death toll to three, said Lombardy regional official Giulio Gallera. All three deaths occurred in the north.
The Atalanta versus Sassuolo and Hellas Verona versus Cagliari Serie A games were also called off while Torino’s match at home to Parma was postponed hours before kickoff on Sunday, following new cases in Piedmont.
Parma, which had already traveled to Turin, spent Sunday practicing at Juventus’ training facility.
The only Serie A games to go ahead Sunday were Lazio’s 3-2 win at Genoa and Roma’s 4-0 home win against Lecce in the capital. Some fans at the games wore protective face masks.
Also postponed: Milan’s game against Fiorentina in the Serie A women’s league; a women’s Six Nations rugby match between Italy and Scotland scheduled for Legnano near Milan; as well as a long list of lower-league and children’s games across all sports.
There was no immediate announcement on when the postponed Serie A matches might be made up.
“It is right to take precautionary measures and understand where the problem starts,” Lazio Coach Simone Inzaghi said. “We must not underestimate what is happening, football is moving in the right direction.
“The answer isn’t playing matches behind closed doors, because the fans are the heart of our sport. It is right to share football with the fans, we need to find an alternative solution for this problem.”
There are also concerns over Inter’s Europa League match against Ludogorets, with the second leg scheduled for Thursday in Milan. The Bulgarian side has written to UEFA to request more information about the situation.
Juventus, which is based in Turin, is scheduled to host Inter next Sunday in the return of former Coach Antonio Conte.
“Right now, the sports world must not try to go its own way,” Malagò said. “It absolutely needs to share the indications of the authorities, first and foremost the government. Dialogue is ongoing with all of the clubs affected.
“We have to take it one day at a time,” Malagò added. “If someone tells you today that they have an answer to what will happen, they are lying.”
AMMAM TO HOST TAEKWONDO QUALIFIER
The World Taekwondo, meanwhile, confirmed the Asian Olympic qualification tournament has been moved from Wuxi in China to Jordan’s capital Amman because of the coronavirus outbreak.
The continental qualifier is set on April 10 and 11. The two-day was the latest sporting event to be impacted by the outbreak.
The virus originated in China, with the country now subject of travel restrictions from several nations.
World Taekwondo President Chungwon Choue confirmed Amman stepped in to replace Wuxi as host of the Asian qualifier in a letter to member national associations.
ESPORTS MATCHES IN SEOUL POSTPONED
THE Overwatch League is postponing three weeks’ worth of scheduled matches in Seoul amid reports that Asia’s virus outbreak is spreading in South Korea.
The league previously postponed matches scheduled for three cities in China this month and rescheduled them for March in Seoul due to the COVID-19 illness, which is caused by a newly identified coronavirus that has infected tens of thousands of people, mostly in China.
Those matches, along with previously scheduled home dates for the Seoul Dynasty, have now been postponed.
“In order to protect the health and safety of our players, fans, and staff, we are canceling plans to host OWL 2020 matches in South Korea in Weeks 5, 6, and 7, including the Seoul Dynasty home event,” the league said in a statement. “We’ll share more info about when and where matches will take place at a later.”
South Korea on Monday reported 161 more cases of the virus in the city of Daegu, bringing the nation’s total to 763 cases and seven confirmed deaths from the outbreak.
This is the first year for OWL’s unprecedented global schedule including host matches for its 20 city-based franchises in Asia, North America and Europe.
The Dynasty is the only franchise based in eSports-obsessed South Korea. The team had planned to host matches spanning March 7 to 22 at the landmark Dongdaemun Design Plaza. The next Overwatch League matches scheduled in Seoul on May 9 and 10.
Image credits: AP