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Football: OM hit by Covid, Ligue 1 postpones kick-off

The confirmation on Tuesday of three new cases of players positive for Covid-19 at Olympique de Marseille, bringing the affected numbers to four, resulted in the postponement of the opening match of Ligue 1 on Friday against Saint-Etienne.

The Stade Vélodrome will not host the meeting scheduled for Friday between OM and ASSE.

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This blow is harsh and raises many questions about the harmonious holding of a French championship that the Covid had definitively stopped in March.

It will therefore restart on Saturday, groping, between affected players and disillusioned supporters.

“In view of the medical results transmitted by Olympique de Marseille this Tuesday, August 18, the national Covid commission indicates to the LFP Competitions Commission that the virus is circulating within the Marseille club”, which implies the postponement of the match against Saint-Étienne, announced the Professional Football League (LFP) at midday.

Earlier, the OM had indicated that “the 3 suspected cases of Sunday have been confirmed”, in addition to a previous contamination announced Thursday.

According to the regional daily La Provence, “it would be Olympian goalkeeper Steve Mandanda and two midfielders Maxime Lopez and Valentin Rongier”, information that the club has not confirmed or denied to AFP, in the name of medical confidentiality.

Regarding the first case announced Thursday, the press delivered the name of Jordan Amavi, which the defender confirmed half-heartedly on social networks.

The OM-Saint-Etienne poster at the Stade Vélodrome will therefore not serve as a launching pad for the L1 version 2020/21. The meeting will be played on Wednesday 16 or Thursday 17 September “subject to changes in health conditions within the club of Olympique de Marseille”, according to the League.

According to the protocol of its very recent Covid Commission, the League considers that the virus is “circulating” in a club from the moment a team has “more than 3 players or supervisors (from 4) isolated over 8 days slippery ”. From four cases, it can decide to postpone the match.

Suspected cases in Nîmes

ASSE for its part also revealed a new positive case in its workforce on Friday, after the cancellation of a friendly match against Hertha Berlin due to a case the previous week.

On Twitter, the Nîmes club (L1), host of OM for a friendly match on August 9, also announced Tuesday morning “two new suspicions” within the “professional group”. Nîmes is due to host Brest on Sunday for the first day of L1.

In total, some 40 players from eleven L1 clubs have tested positive for Covid-19 in recent weeks. The vast majority of them contracted the virus after resuming training in June, resulting in more or less solitary confinement depending on the case and cascading cancellations of friendly matches.

Because of the health crisis, a maximum of 5,000 spectators is allowed in French stadiums. Several ultras groups of French supporters (Nantes, Lens, Nîmes, Lorient and Reims) have announced that they will not return to the stadium as is. Because if they do not dispute the health measures, they believe that they are incompatible with their lifestyles in the stands.

In the same way, the Collective Ultras Paris, main group of supporters of Paris SG, will organize “no rally” Tuesday night on the sidelines of Leipzig-PSG in the semi-final of the Champions League in Lisbon. “We have not found any place that can accommodate our fervor while respecting sanitary conditions,” wrote the CUP on social networks.

OM had asked the Bouches-du-Rhône prefecture for an exemption to play in front of 20,000 spectators against Saint-Etienne. A request rejected by the prefecture, while the department has gone into “red” vigilance due to active circulation of the virus in recent weeks.

On this sensitive subject, the executive president of Stade Rennes acknowledged on Monday that “there are economic reasons behind it but also the need to give the population moments of social bond”. “But it’s the virus that decides and right now it’s not very good,” said Nicolas Holvecke.

(AFP)

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