Entertainment across the globe is on pause. One of the first things to go was sports and it devastated fans everywhere. Basketball took the first big hit after players in the NBA tested positive for COVID-19. Now, the sporting world is trying to figure out how to get back to business and fútbol is leading the way.
Fútbol leagues around the world are in talks about how to restart their season.
According to FIFA, more than 200 million people are involved in professional soccer around the world. Roughly 4 percent of the world’s population is involved with the global sport. The pandemic brought a sudden stop to the season that was 11 matches shy of ending.
Team coaches are eager to get their players back on the field, even if it means no fans.
Asian sporting leagues have already started to experiment with using cutouts of fans in the stands. Barcelona FC is implementing the same strategy because it is still not safe for people to gather in large numbers for sporting events, concerts, etc. To continue the fight against COIVD-19 while restarting the economy, sports leagues are trying to figure out the best way to do it. Some leagues are doing mass testing of all of the athletes involved and it is already showing some sobering results.
Coronavirus tests are concerning some athletes in the soccer leagues.
Spain’s La Liga tested their major and second league players to join other soccer teams from around the world in opening up. Five total players tested positive for COVID-19 showing the lengths to which this virus has spread. La Liga has said that those players will have to quarantine and cannot join their teams in individual and small group exercises until they show two negative tests 72 hours apart.
“Between the clubs of [the first and second divisions], five positive cases have been detected among players, all of them asymptomatic and in the final stage of the illness,” read a statement from La Liga.
There is pushback from fans and non-soccer fans alike over the move to restart the leagues.
There are reports around the world of test shortages. In the U.S., people without symptoms are essentially blocked from taking tests to see if they have COVID-19. The U.S. government has forgone testing kits from health organizations and it has led to an abysmal testing rate and response in the U.S. Los Angeles became the first major city in the U.S. to offer free testing to all residents by appointment. Some people think that the soccer leagues fighting to reopen and use tests to maintain a form of entertainment is reckless and hurting those who need the tests most.
Fútbol teams have already started bringing their players in for practice individually to get the league up and running again despite fears.
Barcelona FC is the first team to show up to practices on staggered schedules. Training, which just started, is slowly going to be ramped up over the course of four weeks to make sure that the leagues can get up and running to play games in empty stadiums to protect fans from spreading COVID-19.
The COVID-19 pandemic is far from over. Cases continue to increase around the world showing that the fight if far from won.
The U.S. currently has more than 1.3 million cases of COVID-19. Th\e overall total of cases in the world is over 4.1 million. The U.S. currently has the largest number of infections and death from COVID-19 than anywhere else in the world. More than 70,000 people in the U.S. have died of COVID-19 and without a national plan in place, some states are rushing to reopen their economies.
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