Coronavirus fears grips Ligue 1

The French top tier football league, Ligue 1, have decided that the games will be either played behind the closed doors or the numbers fans will be reduced to 1000 numbers until the mid of the April as the French government is looking to lower down the effects of the pandemic coronavirus outbreak.

Fans limited in #Ligue1 👇 #beINLigue1 #Coronavirushttps://t.co/GayLWo6rPV

— beIN SPORTS (@beINSPORTS_EN) March 9, 2020

On Monday, the French Sports ministry head, Roxana Maracineanu announced the news of the games of Ligue 1 will be either played in an empty stadium or with a very low crowd capacity of 1000 fans. The limited fans are the government measures for sports regardless of the nature of the game.

The measure by the French government looks similar to that of the Italian government as the same is happening in Italy. In Italian top tier league, Serie A, the games will be played behind the closed doors until the next month as the government is finding it difficult to curb the number of cases.

OFFICIAL: Serie A has suspended all matches until April 3 due to the coronavirus. pic.twitter.com/PCbMFxlXZE

— FOX Soccer (@FOXSoccer) March 9, 2020

League leaders, Paris St Germain’s trip to Strasbourg has been postponed and it is the first fixture in French Ligue 1 to be postponed. The game was to be held in the Alsace region which is one of the worst-hit regions in France. Also, the French outfit will be facing Borussia Dortmund on Wednesday without their supporters in the crucial fixture of Round of 16. Dortmund led the game by 2-1 but PSG have the crucial away goal.

Apart from the above-mentioned games, the other big games which are getting affected are the title clash between Marseille and PSG and the clash between PSG and Lyon in the Coupe de la Ligue final which are to be held on March 22 and April 4 respectively.

This comes as the second major blow for the sport in France after the Six Nations clash against Ireland was postponed earlier.

However, the English Premier League secretary, Oliver Dowden said the same suit will not be followed in the league until the government directives are out. Oliver Dowden said:

‘We are guided by the facts and we are guided by the evidence. At the moment the advice is clear from the chief medical officer: there isn’t a need to cancel such events.’