The clubs of Rio, Fluminense and Botafogo, remain on break. The mayor of the Brazilian city made an announcement in this direction after having decreed wrongly the end of the carioca championship because of coronavirus. But only these two major clubs are ultimately affected.
In a video released by his cabinet, Mayor Marcelo Crivella said: "In fact, it is the matches of Fluminense and Botafogo that are suspended, and we ask for the understanding of all".
Games behind closed doors despite the epidemic
The mayor's office added in an email that the decree that had been published a few hours earlier in the Rio Official Gazette would be "republished with adjustments". In the initial version of this decree, the mayor announced the suspension of all sports competitions in Rio until June 25 in order to adapt "the health protocols presented by the sports federations to the municipal health protocol".
The Rio State football championship was the first to resume in a South America hard hit by the Covid-19 pandemic. The carioca championship, which opposes professional teams from the State of Rio de Janeiro, resumed with closed-door meetings Thursday and Friday, although Brazil is the second country most affected in the world by the new coronavirus.
Fluminense and Botafogo opposed to takeover
The resumption of the carioca championship has aroused opposition from several clubs, including Fluminense and Botafogo who have taken legal action to demand the suspension. These two clubs had not even resumed training when the competition was restarted, and the Rio State Federation threatened them with defeats on the green carpet if they refused to play.
The first game of the carioca championship, Thursday between Flamengo and Bangu, was played at the Maracana ... within which is a field hospital for patients with Covid-19.
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