Ligue 1 season is over
French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe has announced that sport in the country will not resume until September, including behind closed doors.
France has banned sporting events gathering more than 5,000 people until September and this means the end of the 2019-20 Ligue 1 and Ligue 2 football seasons.
Phillipe said: “The big sporting affairs cannot occur before September. The 2019-2020 season of professional sports, including football, will not be able to resume.
“It will be possible, on sunny days, to practice an individual sporting activity outdoors, obviously respecting the rules of social distancing. It will not be possible, neither to practice sport in covered places, nor team or contact sports.”
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Tour may need to limit fans
The start of the Tour de France could see a limit on spectators following France’s decision to ban sporting events gathering more than 5,000 people until September.
The Tour starts on 29 August and a sports ministry spokeswoman said: “It is too early to say [how this will impact the Tour] but for now this does not imply a postponement nor a cancellation, but it does not rule out arrangements notably in terms of number of spectators.”
Uefa sets 25 May decision deadline
Uefa, European football’s governing body, says football leagues across the continent will have until 25 May to decide whether to continue or cancel their seasons.
In a statement Uefa president Aleksander Ceferin and Uefa general secretary Theodore Theodoridis said: “National associations and/or leagues should be in a position to communicate to Uefa by 25 May 2020 the planned restart of their domestic competitions including the date of restart and the relevant competition format.”
Olympics will not be postponed again
Tokyo Olympic Games chief Yoshiro Mori has ruled out the possibility of the event being postponed for a second time. When asked if the Games, now in 2021, could be moved again Mori said: “No. In that case, the Olympics will be scrapped.”