Impact of COVID-19 pandemic on
sports events around the world
Send a link to a friend
[May 23, 2020]
(Reuters) - Major sports events around the world that are in
the process of re-starting or which have been rescheduled due to the
COVID-19 pandemic:
SOCCER
For an overview of the state of play in Europe's soccer leagues amid
the coronavirus outbreak click here:
* Major League Soccer players returned to voluntary training on May
6.
* The 2020 K-League season kicked off on May 8 behind closed doors.
* Euro 2020 and Copa America were postponed. The two tournaments
will now be staged from June 11 to July 11, 2021.
* The Euro 2021 Women's Championship has been pushed back to July
6-31, 2022.
* Asian Champions League: The start of the knockout rounds was moved
back to September.
* The Chinese Football Association (CFA) has drawn up three plans to
complete the 2020 Chinese Super League (CSL) season, one of which
would see the campaign begin in late June and finish in December.
* The women's Bundesliga season will resume from May 29.
* The Portuguese league approved nine stadiums for the league's
restart.
* Costa Rica became the first country in the Americas to restart
their professional league.
* The women's Under-20 World Cup in Costa Rica and Panama, postponed
from August-September, has been rescheduled for Jan. 20-Feb. 6,
2021.
OLYMPICS
* The postponed Tokyo Olympic Games will now begin on July 23, 2021
and run until Aug. 8.
* World Athletics has suspended Olympic qualification until
December.
PARALYMPICS
The postponed Paralympic Games will run from Aug. 24-Sep. 5, 2021.
WORLD BEACH GAMES
The 2021 World Beach Games were moved to 2023.
WORLD GAMES
* The 2021 World Games have been pushed back by a year to avoid
clashing with the Olympics.
OTHER SPORTS
ATHLETICS
* The World Athletics Championships scheduled for 2021 in Eugene,
Oregon have been moved to the summer of 2022 because of the Olympic
Games rescheduling.
* The World Athletics Indoor Championships (Nanjing, March 13-15)
were postponed to March 19-21, 2021.
* Boston Marathon organisers have postponed the race from April 20
to Sept. 14.
* The London Marathon which was due to take place on April 26 has
been postponed to Oct. 4.
* The Diamond League plans to hold three meetings in August in
Monaco, Gateshead and Stockholm followed by September events in
Lausanne, Brussels, Paris, Shanghai and possibly Rome or Naples.
Meetings in Eugene, Doha and China have been scheduled for October.
* World Athletics released its calendar for the international season
beginning with a Continental Tour Gold event in Finland on Aug. 11
and ending with a Diamond League meeting in China.
* This year's Biathle/Triathle World Championships in Weiden have
been moved to 2021.
* The World Triathlon Series (WTS) event and Mixed Relay World
Championships in Hamburg have been rescheduled for the weekend of
Sept. 5-6.
* The Ironman triathlon has been pushed back to Sept. 6 from its
original June 21 start.
AUSTRALIAN RULES
* The Australian Football League season will resume on June 11, with
four clubs moving to the Gold Coast due to tighter COVID-19
restrictions in their home states.
BADMINTON
* The Thomas and Uber Cup will be held from Oct. 3-11.
* The 2021 World Championships will begin in late November instead
of August to avoid clashing with the rescheduled Tokyo Olympics.
* The BWF announced a new 2020 calendar with the World Tour set to
return with the Taipei Open from Sept. 1-6.
BASEBALL
* The South Korean league started on May 5 without fans.
* Taiwan's baseball season resumed in April behind closed doors. On
May 9, fans were allowed in for the first time, with 1,000
spectators watching games in New Taipei and Taichung.
* Major League Baseball team owners on May 11 agreed a plan to start
playing in empty stadiums in early July.
BOXING
* Dillian Whyte's heavyweight fight against Alexander Povetkin has
been rescheduled for July 4.
CANOEING
* Canoe Slalom World Cups in France and Czech Republic have been
tentatively rescheduled to October or November.
* The Canoe Slalom World Cup Final and non-Olympic World
Championships in Germany have been moved from September to October.
* Canoe Polo World Championships in Rome have been pushed back until
April 2021.
CRICKET
* English cricket's The Hundred, originally scheduled to begin on
July 17, was pushed back to 2021.
CYCLING
* Giro d'Italia will begin on Oct. 3, while the Spanish Vuelta will
be held from Oct. 20.
* Milan-Sanremo will be held on Aug. 8, Liege-Bastogne-Liege on Oct.
4, the Tour des Flandres on Oct. 18, Paris-Roubaix on Oct. 25 and
the Tour of Lombardy on Oct. 31.
* The Tour de France that was due to be held from June 27-July 19
has been postponed to Aug. 29-Sept 20.
* The European Road Cycling Championships, scheduled for Sept. 9-13,
have been postponed by a year.
GOLF
* Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, Tom Brady and Peyton Manning will
compete in a charity match on May 24 at Medalist Golf Club in Hobe
Sound, Florida.
* The Harding Park golf course which is scheduled to host the PGA
Championship in August re-opened on May 4.
* The Masters at Augusta National Golf Club has been rescheduled for
Nov. 12-15 from April 9-12.
* The PGA Championships at TPC Harding Park San Francisco, has been
rescheduled for Aug. 6-9 from May 14-17.
* The U.S. Open at Winged Foot Golf Club, Mamaroneck, New York, was
rescheduled to Sept. 17-20 from June 8-21.
* The Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) is hoping to get
the 2020 season underway with the Dow Great Lakes Bay Invitational
from July 15-18.
* The Women's PGA Championship has been postponed from late June to
Oct. 8-11.
* The Australian PGA Championship will take place at the Royal
Queensland Golf Club from Dec. 3-6.
* The first major of the 2020 golf season got underway on May 14
when South Korea hosted the Korea Ladies Professional Golf
Association (KLPGA) Championship. Park Hyun-kyung won the title.
* World number one Ko Jin-young will take on No. 3 Park Sung-hyun in
a charity skins match on May 24 at the Sky 72 Golf & Resort in
Incheon.
HORSE RACING
* Racing in France began without spectators at ParisLongchamp on May
11.
* Horse racing resumed in Germany on May 7 with a limited number of
races in front of empty stands in Hanover. Races were also scheduled
for May 8 in Cologne.
* The Kentucky Derby, the first jewel in North American horse
racing's Triple Crown (May 2) was postponed to Sept. 5.
* Churchill Downs, the home of the Kentucky Derby, opened for
spectator-free racing on May 16.
* The British Horseracing Authority (BHA) has said it is planning to
resume the season on June 1.
* Horse racing will be allowed to resume in Ireland without
spectators on June 8.
* The shortened Belmont Stakes will be run on June 20 without
spectators.
MOTOR SPORTS
* The NASCAR season resumed with races at the Darlington Raceway in
South Carolina on May 17 and May 20.
* The Le Mans 24 hours race was postponed from June 13-14 to Sept.
19-20.
* The Indianapolis 500 has been postponed until Aug. 23.
* MotoGP intends to start its season with races on July 19 and 26 at
the Jerez circuit in southern Spain.
* IndyCar will open its delayed season on June 6 with the Genesys
300 at Texas Motor Speedway (TMS) without fans in attendance. The
race at St. Petersburg, Florida scheduled for March 15 has been
pushed back to Oct. 25.
* Formula One hopes to start the delayed season in Austria in July
without spectators before ending in Abu Dhabi in December.
Silverstone have agreed terms for two races without spectators at
the circuit this season.
NBA
Teams were notified they could reopen practice facilities on May 8
under strict guidelines. Reigning NBA champions Toronto Raptors
allowed players access to their training facilities last week.
NFL
* The NFL season will begin on Sept. 10 with a game between Super
Bowl champions Kansas City Chiefs and Houston Texans.
NHL
The National Hockey League has scrapped plans to play regular-season
games in the Czech Republic and Finland this year. The NHL suspended
play in mid-March, but hopes to reopen training facilities by late
May.
RUGBY
* Australia's National Rugby League is set for a May 28 restart
after players agreed to 20% pay-cuts for the abridged 2020 season.
* Rugby Australia hopes to get players back in training in June for
matches in July.
* New Zealand's five Super Rugby teams will play each other in a
10-week domestic competition from June 13.
* The Mitre 10 Cup, New Zealand's annual provincial competition,
will start with a full 14-team championship from Sept. 11.
* Rugby Australia are looking at potentially including both the
Western Force and Japan's Sunwolves in a competition with their four
Super Rugby sides to start in early July.
SNOOKER
* The World Snooker Championship, originally scheduled to begin on
April 18, will start on July 31 at the Crucible Theatre in
Sheffield.
* Snooker will resume in the United Kingdom on June 1 with the
Championship League event which will be held without fans at the
Marshall Arena in Milton Keynes.
SWIMMING
* The 2020 European Aquatics Championships scheduled to take place
from May 11-24 in Budapest, Hungary, have been postponed to next
year.
* The World Aquatics Championships, scheduled for July 16-Aug. 1,
2021, were pushed back to May 13-29, 2022.
* The World Swimming Championships in Abu Dhabi, scheduled to take
place in December, have been pushed back by a year.
TENNIS
* The French Open was postponed until Sept. 20-Oct. 4.
* The women's Rogers Cup tournament in Montreal was postponed until
2021.
* Professional tennis returned with the Tennis Point Exhibition
Series event in Germany on May 1.
* Hubert Hurkacz, Miomir Kecmanovic, Reilly Opelka and Tommy Paul
took part in the UTR Pro Match Series in Florida that began on May
8.
* Patrick Mouratoglou's tennis academy in France will host a
five-week series in May.
* Amanda Anisimova, Alison Riske, Ajla Tomljanovic, and Danielle
Collins will compete in an exhibition tournament in Florida from May
22-24.
* Bianca Andreescu and Sofia Kenin will be among 16 WTA players who
will launch the Credit One Bank Invitational in Charleston on June
23.
[to top of second column] |
ULTIMATE FIGHTING CHAMPIONSHIP
* UFC action returned with three cards on May 9, May 13 and May 16.
List of sports events that have either been cancelled or postponed
due to the outbreak:
OLYMPIC TRIALS
* U.S. trials for wrestling (April 4-5) were postponed.
* U.S. Rowing postponed its team trials.
* U.S. diving trials (April 3-5) were postponed.
NORTH AMERICA
* The MLB has further delayed its 2020 season's opening day of March
26.
* The Women's National Basketball Association postponed the start of
its 2020 regular season, originally scheduled to run from May
15-Sept. 20.
* The 2019-20 American Hockey League (AHL) regular season and the
2020 Calder Cup Playoffs were cancelled. The AHL standings at the
time of suspension will be used to determine league awards.
SOCCER
* FIFA has agreed to delay the first edition of its revamped Club
World Cup due to be held in 2021.
* UEFA put all club and national team competitions for men and women
on hold until further notice.
* The men's and women's Champions League finals and Europa League
final originally scheduled for May have been postponed.
* South America's two biggest club competitions, the Copa
Libertadores and Copa Sudamericana, are suspended.
* CONCACAF suspended all competitions, including the Champions
League and men's Olympic qualifiers.
* Asian and South American qualifying matches for 2022 World Cup
were postponed.
* Japan's J.League will not hold any games in May.
* Barcelona's women's team were declared champions of Spain's Liga
Iberdrola after the national soccer federation's executive committee
agreed to end all non-professional competitions.
* The Asian Football Confederation on April 14 postponed all matches
and competitions scheduled for May-June until further notice.
* The Brazilian football Confederation suspended all national
competitions until further notice.
* Semi-finals of the CAF Champions league (May 1-3) and CAF
Confederation Cup (May 8-10) were postponed.
* This year's International Champions Cup, a pre-season tournament
featuring Europe's top clubs, was cancelled.
* Cameroon cancelled the rest of its league season and declared
leaders PWD Bamenda as champions.
* Wales' top flight league was called off and Connah's Quay Nomads
were crowned champions.
OTHER SPORTS
ATHLETICS
* The Diamond League, the elite track and field competition, was
forced to cancel its London meeting scheduled for July 4-5. It had
previously postponed events in seven cities scheduled between April
and June.
* The Paris and Barcelona marathons were postponed.
* The 2020 European Athletics Championship due to take place from
Aug. 25-30 were cancelled.
BADMINTON
* The Badminton World Federation (BWF) cancelled the last five
tournaments in the qualification period for the Olympics.
* The Indonesia Open (June 16-21) was among a host of events that
have been cancelled while tournaments over the next three months
were also suspended in Australia, Thailand and Russia.
* The U.S. Open, set to be held from June 23-28 in California, was
suspended.
BASEBALL
* The final qualification tournament in Taiwan for the Olympics was
put back from April to June 17-21, while the March 22-26
qualification event in Arizona was postponed.
BASKETBALL
* The International Basketball Federation postponed the men's
Olympic qualifiers, European Championship and the Americas
Championship by a year.
* Turkey cancelled its basketball season on May 11.
BOXING
* Anthony Joshua's world heavyweight title defence against Bulgarian
Kubrat Pulev at Tottenham Hotspur's stadium on June 20 was
postponed.
CRICKET
* The Indian Premier League, originally suspended until April 15,
has been postponed indefinitely.
* The last two games of Australia's three-match one-day
international series against New Zealand in Sydney and Hobart were
cancelled while the limited-overs tours were postponed.
* The boards of India and South Africa agreed to reschedule a
three-match ODI series to a later date.
* England's test series against Sri Lanka and West Indies were
postponed. The England and Wales Cricket Board extended the
suspension of the professional game in the country until July 1.
* South Africa's limited-overs tour of Sri Lanka that was scheduled
to take place in June has been postponed.
* Australia's proposed test tour of Bangladesh in June has been
postponed.
* Ireland's home series against New Zealand and Pakistan scheduled
for June and July have been postponed.
CURLING
* Men's and women's world championships in Scotland and Canada
respectively were cancelled.
* World mixed doubles and senior championships in Canada, scheduled
from April 18-25 were cancelled.
CYCLING
* The final two stages of the UAE Tour were cancelled after two
Italian participants tested positive.
* The Paris-Nice cycling race ended a day early after the eighth
stage into Nice was cancelled.
* The Women's Tour, scheduled to take place from June 8-13 was
cancelled.
* This year's Tour of Britain scheduled for September has been
cancelled.
GOLF
* The British Open Championship was cancelled.
* The European Tour cancelled the BMW International Open (June
25-28) and the Open de France (July 2-5). The Scottish Open (July
9-12) was postponed. The Tour had postponed or cancelled events
scheduled between March and May.
* The LPGA cancelled Tour qualifying "Q-schools" this year as well
as the Meijer LPGA Classic in Michigan.
HANDBALL
* The German handball season was cancelled after top clubs voted in
favour of abandoning the campaign.
* The men's and women's EHF Cup and Challenge Cup were cancelled.
* The remaining women's Euro 2020 qualifiers as well as European
playoff matches for the 2021 men's world championship were
cancelled.
HORSE RACING
* The Grand National festival (April 2-4) was cancelled.
* The Dubai World Cup, one of the world's richest horse races and a
premier annual sporting event in the United Arab Emirates, will not
go ahead this year.
* The Guineas Festival at Newmarket in May and June's Epsom Derby
have been postponed while June's Royal Ascot may be held without
spectators.
MOTOR SPORTS
* NASCAR postponed events at Kansas Speedway May 30-31, Michigan
International Speedway June 5-7, the NASCAR Xfinity Series race at
Mid-Ohio May 30, and the Gander Trucks Series race at Texas Motor
Speedway, previously scheduled for June 5.
* The Bretagne World Rallycross at Loheac, scheduled to take place
on Sept. 5-6, has been cancelled.
NETBALL
* Netball Superleague fixtures were postponed until at least May 31.
ROWING
* The 2020 US Rowing National Championships scheduled for July and
the 2020 US Rowing Masters National Championships scheduled for
August have been cancelled.
* British Rowing extended the suspension of all its events to July
31. The British Rowing Offshore Championships & Beach Sprints and
British Rowing Junior Championships have been cancelled.
RUGBY
* Four Six Nations matches were postponed.
* France's rugby federation suspended all its competitions and will
not be allowed to return until September.
* The European rugby season was suspended after European
Professional Club Rugby postponed Champions Cup and Challenge Cup
quarter-final matches (April 3-5).
* The semi-final and final of this season's Champions Cup and
Challenge Cup tournaments, which were due to take place in Marseille
in May, have been postponed.
* England's Rugby Football Union and Wales' governing body confirmed
the end of the 2019-20 season for all league, cup and county rugby,
but the English Premiership has been excluded.
* Super Rugby suspended its season.
* World Rugby has postponed all test matches scheduled for July.
* This year's Rugby League Challenge Cup final, scheduled for July
18 at Wembley Stadium, has been postponed.
SURFING
* The World Surfing League extended the postponement of events
through June while also announcing a major overhaul for future
tours, with details on a post-season surf-off to be announced in
July.
TABLE TENNIS
* The International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) scrapped all
table tennis competitions until the end of July.
TENNIS
* The Wimbledon championships were cancelled for the first time
since World War Two while professional tennis has been suspended
until July 13.
* The Fed Cup finals (Budapest; April 14-19) were postponed.
* The Sept. 25-27 Laver Cup was cancelled to avoid a clash with the
re-scheduled French Open.
* ATP events in Hamburg, Bastad, Newport, Los Cabos, Gstaad, Umag,
Atlanta and Kitzbuhel will not go ahead as scheduled while WTA
events in Bastad, Lausanne, Bucharest and Jurmala scheduled for July
will not be held.
VOLLEYBALL
* The international volleyball federation (FIVB) cancelled this
year's Volleyball Nations League, which was scheduled to begin on
May 19 for the women's competition and May 22 for the men's event.
* Turkey cancelled its volleyball season on May 11.
WINTER SPORTS
* The International Ski Federation cancelled the final races of the
men's Alpine skiing World Cup.
* The World Cup finals in Cortina were cancelled along with the last
three women's races in Are.
* The women's world ice hockey championships in Canada were
cancelled.
* The Ice Hockey World Championship scheduled for Switzerland in May
was cancelled.
* The speed skating world championships in Seoul were postponed
until at least October.
* The March 16-22 world figure skating championships in Montreal
were cancelled.
* The Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) has cancelled the remainder of
its season after temporarily suspending its playoffs.
(Compiled by Shrivathsa Sridhar, Rohith Nair, Hardik Vyas, Arvind
Sriram and Simon Jennings in Bengaluru, Amy Tennery in New York,
Andrew Both in Cary, Robert Muller in Prague, Gene Cherry in Raleigh
and Frank Pingue in Toronto; Editing by London editing team)
[© 2020 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2020 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content. |