German soccer teams started the week in isolation on Monday after going into seven-day quarantine ahead of the Bundesliga season restart on Saturday, with club bosses saying completing the campaign amid the coronavirus outbreak will not be easy. The German Football League (DFL) decided last week to resume the first and second division from May 16 after a two-month suspension, making it the first major sports league to attempt a restart.
Angel Correa saw La Liga leaders Atletico Madrid snatch a 2-1 victory away to Granada on Saturday
Summary of all sports events and persons that made news on Thursday.
Professional athletes could be particularly vulnerable to falling seriously ill with the new coronavirus, the head of a global union representing them said on Thursday. Brendan Schwab, the executive director of the World Players' Association, added that some players are being asked to sign away rights that would normally give them legal and financial protection should they fall ill.
German Interior Minister Horst Seehofer on Sunday backed a possible restart for the Bundesliga season this month without spectators as the government prepares for a key meeting next week.
'We should send a thousand million messages for the black people. I'm embarrassed and ashamed of what the white people have done for the black people'
The players, and referee Michael Oliver, also took a knee as the opening whistle was blown, following a moment's silence before kick off in memory of those who died in the pandemic.
Leon Goretzka's 86th minute goal gave Bayern Munich a 2-1 victory over visitors Borussia Moenchengladbach on Saturday, meaning they need to win just one of their last three matches to secure the Bundesliga title.
Poignant ceremonies mark 60th anniversary of Munich air crash
Both teams' players as well as the match officials went down on one knee before kickoff in tribute to George Floyd, an unarmed black man whose death in US police custody has triggered protests around the world.
Regional leaders in Bavaria and North Rhine Westphalia said on Monday that any league resumption would be without fans and that there would be no action before May 9.
Bundesliga players are free to show their support for protests over the death of George Floyd, an unarmed black man killed in police custody in the United States, the German Football Association (DFB) said on Wednesday.
Leeds United great Norman Hunter has died aged 76 after contracting coronavirus, his former club announced
Thuram, the son of 1998 World Cup winner Lilian Thuram, grabbed his second goal on the hour, tapping in at the far post after Plea threaded another pass through the Union defence.
Thuram, the son of 1998 World Cup winner Lilian Thuram, grabbed his second goal on the hour, tapping in at the far post after Plea threaded another pass through the Union defence.
Hockey legend Ashok Kumar reckons India would have won a medal had the Olympics been held this year but the break in momentum will make a big difference now that the Games are pushed to 2021.
'It is going to be a lifelong thing for me.'
The UEFA president said that without a second-leg to fall back on, teams have been forced to go for goals.
The World Athletics Championships have been moved back 11 months to July 2022 to avoid clashing with the Tokyo Olympics, which have themselves been delayed by the coronavirus outbreak, the sport's governing body said on Wednesday. World Athletics confirmed in a statement that the event, which is usually held every two years, would now take place from July 15-24 in 2022 in Eugene, Oregon.
The shooting World Cup scheduled to be held in two parts in New Delhi in May was on Monday cancelled owing to the coronavirus pandemic. The World Cup, originally scheduled to be held from March 15-26, was postponed to May barely four days before the start of the event.
The mother of Manchester City coach Pep Guardiola has died after being diagnosed with the novel coronavirus, the English Premier League champions said on Monday. Guardiola, who has also coached Barcelona and Bayern Munich and spent most of his playing career with Barca, donated one million euros ($1.08 million) last month to fight against the virus.
Borussia Dortmund scored a goal in each half to beat hosts VfL Wolfsburg 2-0 on Saturday and stay on the heels of Bundesliga leaders Bayern Munich.
Soccer in Germany has been suspended for almost a month and the German Football League (DFL) has said the ban will remain in place for the top divisions at least until April 30. Clubs, however, were given the all clear to resume training this week, with champions Bayern Munich deciding to train players in small groups to minimise the risk of infection.
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News of all that's transpired on and off the football field.
Lionel Messi was back in scoring business for Barcelona on Sunday, leading them to a resounding 4-0 win at home against Villarreal in a near-perfect La Liga opener for the Catalans under new coach Ronald Koeman.
The DFL had last week proposed the extension from April 2 with the country still in lockdown to contain the spread of the virus.
Champions Bayern Munich scored a goal late in each half to beat promoted Union Berlin 2-0 on their return to the Bundesliga on Sunday after more than two months out due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and protect their four-point lead at the top. League top scorer Robert Lewandowski converted a 40th minute spot kick and Benjamin Pavard headed in a corner in the 80th in an empty stadium, to keep the Bavarians in the driving seat for a record-extending eighth successive league title.
Tottenham still had an annual cost base running into hundreds of millions of pounds.
The gaze of the sporting world will fall on Germany this weekend as the Bundlesliga becomes the first major soccer league to emerge from the shutdown caused by the coronavirus pandemic. All 18 clubs will crank back into action in what could act as a catalyst for other leagues to follow suit.
The German Football League decided last week to resume the first and second divisions from May 16 after a two-month suspension, with teams undergoing a seven-day isolation period after testing for the new coronavirus.
The German football body will decide on the criteria for the distribution of the solidarity fund.
Lionel Messi led Barcelona to a 3-1 win at home to Napoli for a 4-2 aggregate victory which took the club into the Champions League quarter-finals, where they face Bayern Munich.
Napoli brush aside lowly Crotone to go third in Serie A.
The Bundesliga season will restart on May 16 after a suspension of more than two months, the German Football League (DFL) said on Thursday, becoming the first European league to resume amid the coronavirus pandemic. The DFL said the season would restart under the terms of a strict health protocol that bans fans from the stadium, with six games on Saturday, including the high-profile Ruhr valley derby between Borussia Dortmund and Schalke 04.
The guidelines note that while there is not enough evidence yet to measure the impact of school closures on the disease transmission rates, the adverse effects of school closures on children's safety and learning are well documented. Gains made in increasing access to children's education in recent decades risk being lost and, in the worse cases, reversed completely.
Germany's Bundesliga is set to be given the green light for a restart, probably from May 15, as part of measures to further ease the country's coronavirus regulations, two people familiar with the preparations told Reuters. The Bundesliga would be the first of the five major European domestic soccer leagues to resume play after a stoppage which has seen almost all football put on hold around the world since mid-March.
UEFA has postponed all Champions League and Europa League matches due to take place next week because of the coronavirus outbreak, European soccer's governing body said in a statement on Friday.
Bayern Munich CEO Karl-Heinz Rummenigge said the German champions would never spend anywhere near the 222 million euros ($261 million) that Paris St Germain paid for Brazilian forward Neymar this month, saying he would prefer a stadium with that money.