The Latest on the effects of the coronavirus outbreak on sports around the world:
___
The American Athletic Conference says Houston at SMU and Navy at South Florida scheduled for Saturday have been postponed because of COVID-19 issues.
It is the fourth game Houston has had called off this season because of the coronavirus but the first to be wiped out because the Cougars were unable to play.
Navy has now had three straight games postponed, though this time the opponent was the problem. USF said it could not play because of the impact of COVID-19 on its team.
No make-up dates were immediately announced. The schools said they will work with the conference to reschedule.
The two postponements raise the number of games disrupted this week by the virus across major college football to 10 after 15 were called off last week.
___
The Union of European Football Associations has decided that Norway was responsible for not being able to field a side against Romania, so it has forfeited the Nations League game as a 3-0 loss.
The urgent disciplinary verdict on Sundays canceled game was announced hours before Norway was to field an under-strength team for a decisive game in its group against leader Austria on Wednesday.
At the weekend, public health officials in Norway ordered the players to quarantine and not fly to Bucharest after defender Omar Elabdellaoui tested positive for COVID-19. The Norwegian soccer body said it could not defy the government decision.
It was the first Nations League game canceled since the current edition started in September during the coronavirus pandemic.
A second UEFA disciplinary verdict is due within days. Ukraine was unable to play host Switzerland on Tuesday because the squad was quarantined by public health officials after several COVID-19 infections in the squad.
Ukraine risks forfeiting the game as a 3-0 loss for failing to ensure replacement players were available. The squad had been hit with virus cases before arriving in Switzerland.
___ The Cleveland Browns are placing starting right tackle Jack Conklin, kicker Cody Parkey, and long snapper Charley Hughlett on the COVID-19 list.
Its the latest development with the virus for the team, which previously placed offensive lineman Chris Hubbard and fullback Andy Janovich on the list and had a staffer test positive for the novel coronavirus last week.
The NFL created the list for players who have either tested positive for COVID-19 or have been quarantined after having been in close contact with an infected person.
The Browns have had to close their facility twice in the past six days to do contact tracing after receiving results of a positive test.
Conklin signed with Cleveland as a free agent in March and has solidified a troublesome position.
Cleveland hosts Philadelphia on Sunday.
___
Arsenal and Bosnia defender Sead Kolasinac has tested positive for the novel coronavirus, adding to Bosnias woes ahead of a Nations League match against Italy.
The Bosnian soccer federation said Wednesday that besides Kolasinac, another national team player, Ibrahim Sehic, also tested positive.
Bosnia also will be without another six players in the home match on Wednesday, including its main striker, Edin Dzeko, because of positive tests for COVID-19 and league quarantine guidelines.
___
Professional soccer and hockey clubs in Switzerland can get federal funds to compensate for lost ticket sales if they cut salaries.
The Swiss Federal Council says it wants to compensate clubs for up to two thirds of their lost ticket sales revenue during the coronavirus pandemic.
The federal aid will come with the requirement of permanently reducing top salaries and paying no shareholder dividends, maintaining investment in youth and womens sport and being transparent about their spending.
The government says the majority of a $192 million fund kept for loans to sports clubs in 2021 could be allocated in non-repayable contributions.
Swiss soccer and hockey officials have said that clubs risk bankruptcy after months playing in front of no or few paying spectators.
___
Iowa State says only families and guests of athletes and staff will be allowed to attend the Cyclones football game against Kansas State on Saturday and mens and womens basketball games through November.
The marching band and spirit squad also will attend the football game.
Athletic director Jamie Pollard says the decision was based on discussions with university and community leaders as the state has seen a surge in COVID-19 cases.
Pollard says the fan base has been compliant with mitigation measures this fall and there are no known cases of COVID resulting from fans attending football games. He says its in the best interest of the community for Iowa State to be a leader in limiting social gatherings at this time.
Iowa State had been limiting attendance to 15,000 for football games and originally planned to allow 10% capacity for basketball games at Hilton Coliseum.
___
The Serbian soccer federation says three national team players have tested positive for the coronavirus ahead of a match against Russia in the Nations League.
Lazio midfielder Sergej Milinkovic-Savic, Verona midfielder Darko Lazovic and Basel goalkeeper Djordje Nikolic have been isolated from the rest of the squad.
Serbia players Luka Milojevic and Aleksandar Kolarov have previously tested positive for COVID-19.
___
More AP sports: https://apnews.com/apf-sports and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports
Disclaimer: This post has been auto-published from an agency feed without any modifications to the text and has not been reviewed by an editor
Read all the Latest News, Breaking News and Coronavirus News here
Comments
0 comment