The Latest on the effects of the coronavirus outbreak on sports around the world:
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Two players at German second division side Dynamo Dresden have tested positive for the coronavirus, putting on hold the club’s planned return to soccer next weekend.
Dresden was to play Hannover away on May 17 when the league resumes after a two-month suspension, but the entire squad, coaching and supervisory staff must go into 14 days of quarantine at home.
“We are in contact with the responsible health authorities and the league to coordinate all further steps. The fact is that we can neither train nor participate in any games over the next 14 days,” Dynamo sporting director Ralf Minge says.
The players have not been identified. Their positive results for COVID-19 were found in a third wave of tests conducted at the club on Friday as part of the league’s hygiene protocol to get soccer back underway in Germany.
One player tested positive for COVID-19 in the first wave of tests last weekend. He has been in quarantine since May 3. There were no positive cases in the second wave on May 4. The team returned to full training on Thursday.
Chancellor Angela Merkel had announced the day before that the top two divisions could resume without spectators. Teams were to spend time training in isolation before the games could resume. The Bundesliga and second division are due to return on May 16.
Dynamo says the two players who tested positive on Friday did not and are still not showing any symptoms of the virus.
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Wisconsin athletic director Barry Alvarez, football coach Paul Chryst and men’s basketball coach Greg Gard are being asked to take a 15% pay cut over the next six months as part of the school’s response to the pandemic.
School officials say Alvarez, Chryst and Gard are among 25 of the athletic department’s highest-earning employees who are being asked to take that voluntary cut. There will be no reduction in that group’s work hours.
“Reducing compensation and work hours is obviously not something I want to see for any of our Badger Athletics family,” Alvarez said in a statement. “But we are facing the same financial challenges that other organizations across the country are. We are working hard to minimize the impact on our employees while responding to the realities of the situation created by the pandemic.”
The pay cuts were announced as part of what the athletic department described as a “compensation and work reduction plan” that will impact most of its employees as it deals with budget problems resulting from the coronavirus. The plan tentatively takes effect May 18 and runs through July 25.
Officials said most employees will participate in a state work-share program that will have their work hours reduced by either 20% or 50%. School officials said about 350 employees will be able to apply for expanded unemployment benefits that in most cases can offset lost wages through July 25.
Wisconsin officials believe this plan should help save the athletic department about $2.8 million.
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Spain’s association of soccer players has complained about the publication of the identity of an Atlético Madrid defender who tested positive for COVID-19.
Spanish media reported Friday that Atlético's Renan Lodi had tested positive for coronavirus. On Saturday, Atlético posted a message on an official club social media channel with a picture of the Brazilian. The message said: “Renan Lodi says hello from his home. We will see you very soon on the field, Renan!”
The players’ association said in a statement Saturday that the revelation of Lodi’s identity violated Spanish law protecting his privacy.
“The legislation in our country makes it clear that under normal circumstances a company cannot obligate a worker who is on medical leave to make public his or her illness,” the association said.
It is not clear how Lodi’s name was first reported.
Over the last week professional soccer players in Spain have been allowed to return to their clubs for individual training while waiting for the competition to restart at a still to be determined date.
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Canada’s gymnastics federation laid off 70% of its staff this week.
The organization’s chief executive officer hopes the emergency funding announced Friday by the federal government allows him to recall people soon.
“It’s harsh. This hasn’t been a pleasant week,” Ian Moss told The Canadian Press on Friday. “I would love to be able to phone some of our staff tomorrow and say ‘you’re back.’”
Canada’s amateur sports system will receive nearly $52 million to alleviate the financial pain from the COVID-19 pandemic. Athletes whose monthly Sport Canada checks are affected by the postponement of the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics to 2021 also receive financial aid.
The Canadian Football League, soccer’s Canadian Premier League and the Canadian Elite Basketball League have asked for millions in relief, but professional leagues were not eligible in the latest funding.
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The president of French soccer club Lyon says players in the men’s and women’s teams all tested negative for the coronavirus.
The squads were tested by club doctors at Lyon's training center and “there were no positive cases,” Lyon president Jean-Michel Aulas told regional newspaper Le Progrès.
The men’s French league was canceled with 10 rounds of matches remaining amid coronavirus concerns, with Paris Saint-Germain declared champion and Lyon finishing outside the European places in seventh.
Aulas had argued fervently for it to be completed in late August with a playoff system, but with PSG staying the champion given its large lead before play was stopped.
Lyon’s women’s team reached the French Cup semifinals before women’s matches were canceled.
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The president of France Galop says horse racing will resume in France on Monday.
Édouard de Rothschild tweeted that “the resumption of races is accepted” and thanked the French government for allowing it to go ahead.
France is coming out of lockdown on Monday amid the coronavirus epidemic, with the nation confined since March 17.
Races will be held at the famed Longchamp Racecourse in western Paris, which hosts the prestigious Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe in the first weekend of October, and at Compiègne in northern France.
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Watford chairman Scott Duxbury says at least six of the 20 English Premier League clubs are concerned about the plan to use neutral stadiums to finish the season.
Duxbury says “there is no altruism in the Premier League” and that “there are 20 different vested interests, which sometimes align but more often than not work purely to protect each individual club.”
Ahead of Monday’s crunch meeting of topflight clubs, the Hornets have joined Brighton and Aston Villa in making clear their opposition to the current “Project Restart” plans.
With nine rounds left, Watford is 17th in the league and looking to fight off relegation amid a challenging backdrop brought on by the coronavirus outbreak.
Duxbury says “some clubs are happy to sign up to ‘Project Restart’ because arguably there is only an upside in participating in this compromised format. It means Liverpool can win the title, other clubs can book their place in Europe next season or potentially fight their way up the table from a position of safety.”
But he adds "when at least six clubs - and I suspect more - are concerned about the clear downside and the devastating effects of playing in this kind of distorted nine-game mini-league, then I believe the Premier League has a duty of care to address those concerns."
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