Stadiums

Ever since the novel coronavirus pandemic shut down all sports in the U.S., supporters have been wondering: When will fans be allowed at sporting events? We just got the definitive answer for the first match to allow fans back in a stadium to watch a live event this week.

The Real Monarchs of the USL Championship announced Thursday they will host Landon Donovan’s San Diego Loyal SC on July 11 — with Rio Tinto Stadium open for up to 5,300 fans. It will mark the first U.S. sporting event with fans since the Denver Nuggets played the Dallas Mavericks in the NBA on March 11.

Álvaro Cervera arrived in Cádiz after a three-year spell with Tenerife. It was mid-April when he took the job as manager, the season nearly over. Cervera was able to guide Cádiz CF to a fourth-place finish and promotion to the Spanish second division after six arduous years in the third tier. Four years on, El Submarino Amarillo is on the brink of a return to the promised land of LaLiga.

The Rio de Janeiro state championship restarted once again on Sunday as Botafogo — one of the clubs opposed to what they see as a premature resumption of top-level football —— took the field with a banner protesting the decision.

The move to get back underway in Rio has focused attention on the wider confusion surrounding football's stop-start status in the South American nation. Although many clubs are back in training, only Rio has restarted its state league as the daily number of dead and infected due to the new coronavirus remains high.

Leeds United has removed a cardboard cutout of former al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden from the stands at Elland Road after it was spotted in a photo posted on Twitter, British media have reported.

With no spectators allowed into stadiums as part of efforts to curb the spread of COVID-19, many English clubs are giving fans the chance to send in photos and have cutouts put on the seats instead.

A plane carrying a banner declaring “White Lives Matter Burnley” flew over Manchester City's Etihad Stadium on Monday at the start of the Premier League game against Burnley.

The plane appeared shortly after players from both teams took a knee in support of the Black Lives Matter movement. There was no indication who had organized the plane and banner.

Football supporters groups from around Europe have criticized attempts to liven up matches in empty stadiums by using artificial crowd noise, describing it as a rebuke to match-going fans.

The fans said that the recent return of football following the coronavirus stoppage, with matches behind closed doors, had shown that supporters were "the lifeblood of the game" and their contribution should be recognized by leagues and clubs.

This season's Champions League, suspended in March because of the COVID-19 pandemic, will be completed with an eight-team mini-tournament which will be held in Lisbon in August, European soccer's governing body UEFA said on Wednesday.

The quarterfinals and semifinals will be staged over one leg, instead of the usual two, with the final to be held on Aug. 23, UEFA deputy general secretary Giorgio Marchetti said after an executive committee meeting held by video conference.