French football season suspended 'until further notice'

Paris (AFP) – The French football season has been suspended “until further notice” because of the coronavirus outbreak, a source close to the LFP, which runs the elite Ligue 1 and Ligue 2, told AFP on Friday.

The source said that the league had taken a “unanimous” decision to stop playing with immediate effect following an emergency meeting on Friday, having previously said games would continue to be played behind closed doors until mid-April.

The move means France follows other leading European leagues in closing down the season, with all sport in Italy stopped until early April and the next two rounds of matches in La Liga in Spain postponed.

In addition, the Dutch and Swiss domestic leagues have been put on hold until the end of the month, while Portugal has announced its top two divisions will be suspended “indefinitely”.

Paris Sant-Germain’s Ligue 1 match at Strasbourg last weekend was the one game in France to be postponed due to the extent of the outbreak in the east of the country, but the situation has since deteriorated.

President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday announced schools in France would close indefinitely to curb the spread of the coronavirus, and urged people over 70 and the infirm to stay home.

COVID-19 has already killed 61 people and infected almost 2,900 in France.