Sports Minister Roxana Maracineanu took stock of the sports calendar on Monday at noon after the government's announcement on Sunday to ban the gathering of more than 1,000 people across the country due to the coronavirus epidemic.
It's official, the PSG-Dortmund match will take place behind closed doors via @ 20minutesSport https://t.co/F2IgkifXxo
- 20 Minutes Sport (@ 20minutesSport) March 9, 2020"In this period, the camera can become our doctrine for the organization of competitions and professional sport," said the minister, while PSG-Dortmund, Wednesday in the knockout stages of the Champions League, will go without spectator.
"What I recommend is sporting continuity, especially for the qualifying competitions at the Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games," added Roxana Maracineanu, while the 29th day of Ligue 1, scheduled for next weekend, will be subject to the 1000 people gauge announced on Sunday evening by the Minister of Health Olivier Véran.
Interdepartmental meeting Monday afternoon
Roxana Maracineanu also announced that the matches of the Tournoi de France, the friendly women's football tournament which is currently taking place in the North, will take place behind closed doors (France-Netherlands in Valenciennes on Tuesday and Brazil-Canada on Tuesday in Calais) , as well as the L2 Lens-Orleans match, this Monday evening.
It is the prefects who will have the last word for all other sporting events, which are already prohibited in the Oise and Haut-Rhin, two “cluster” zones of the epidemic. But now, the possibility of imposing empty stands for football matches in L1, L2 and even in National takes a little more weight. An interdepartmental meeting is scheduled for Monday early in the afternoon.
Towards closed doors in Top 14 too
Rugby also sees a little more clearly. The last meeting of the Blues in the VI Nations Tournament scheduled for Saturday at the Stade de France against Ireland was part of the events in the sights since Sunday evening. The match was finally postponed to midday on Monday, the third match postponed since the start of the Tournament.
Inevitably, all sports risk being impacted by the latest government measures. The Top 14 rugby is likely to be played with empty stands next weekend, just like the basketball or handball championship games, because all are concerned by the lowering of the prohibition gauge.
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- Roxana Maracineanu
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