And then there were three. On Monday, Brazil withdrew its candidacy to host the 2023 Women’s World Cup, leaving Colombia, Japan and a joint bid from Australia and New Zealand as the remaining contenders before the final FIFA Council vote on June 25.
LaLiga will use virtual images of stands in television broadcasts with added “fan audio,” produced by the makers of the FIFA video game, when it returns to action on Thursday.
Domestic broadcasters in Spain will offer their viewers the choice of a “natural” broadcast of games played behind closed doors with no fans but the international audience will receive only the enhanced broadcasts with added audio and graphics.
In an act of solidarity that mirrors D.C. mayor Muriel Bowser’s decision to paint “Black Lives Matter” in giant yellow capital letters across several city blocks running towards the White House, D.C. United has voiced its support for protests across America by painting “I CAN’T BREATHE” and “BLM” on its playing surface at Audi Field.
Runaway Premier League leaders Liverpool should play Everton at Goodison Park in the Merseyside derby instead of the game being switched to a neutral venue as local authorities can now provide a safe environment, Liverpool mayor Joe Anderson said on Sunday.
Liverpool will resume their quest for a first top-flight title in 30 years against Everton on June 21 but the venue for the behind-closed-doors fixture was not confirmed when the league released its revised fixtures for the season's restart.
Tottenham has borrowed $220.40 million from the Bank of England to ease the financial burden due to the loss of revenue amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the Premier League club said on Thursday.
The club said it estimated a revenue loss of more than $250 million for the period until June 2021 due to the loss of income from matchday revenue, third party live events and other sporting events at their stadium.
Tel Aviv's Bloomfield Stadium has installed a special tunnel to spray soccer players arriving for matches with a fine disinfectant mist to help prevent the spread of the new coronavirus.
The pilot of the tunnel, which will run until the end of the season, comes as sports leagues around the globe are preparing to resume play but grappling with how to ensure the health of players and fans. Israel's soccer league has resumed but behind closed doors.
With fans barred from entering stadiums due to the impact of coronavirus, Danish league leaders FC Midtjylland took an imaginative approach to their return to action with a 'drive-in' broadcast for supporters.
The club installed giant screens in the parking lot of their MCH Arena to allow fans to watch matches from the their cars from the more than 2,000 available spaces.
European football will continue its cautious return to play following the COVID-19 stoppage over the next week as a number of the continent's smaller leagues restart with some novelties and one team in serious trouble for breaking coronavirus rules.
Portugal, Denmark, Poland, Serbia, Austria, Croatia and Ukraine are among countries which will again be able to enjoy league football, albeit in unusual circumstances with no spectators allowed at games. They join Hungary, Czech Republic, Estonia and the Faroe Islands where play has already restarted.
Italy's top-flight Serie A soccer league has been given the go-ahead to restart on June 20 following the novel coronavirus stoppage, sports minister Vincenzo Spadafora said on Thursday. He added that there was a possibility the resumption of the season, which was suspended on March 9, could be preceded by Italian Cup matches one week earlier.
"Italy is starting up again and it's only right that football can also get going," he told reporters after a conference call with representatives from the Italian Football Federation (FIGC).
After weeks of wrangling, with several U-turns on the way, Italy is due to decide on Thursday if and when its top-flight Serie A soccer league can resume after the coronavirus stoppage.
Possibly encouraged by seeing how Germany's Bundesliga has restarted without problems so far, the Italian government appears to have relaxed its position recently.