The outbreak of a new disease Covid-19, has affected everyone around the world. Covid-19 is an infectious disease caused by a new strain of the corona virus.
The first case of the virus was recorded in Wuhan, China, in 2019. The virus has now infected over 4.3 million people and has killed over 295,000 people worldwide.
With no vaccine for the pandemic now, the death toll keeps rising. The pandemic has had a negative effect on everyone around the world.
In countries like Venezuela and Nigeria for example, people are finding it difficult to get food to feed themselves.
The pandemic has also halted all kinds of development around the world. In sports, football is one of the major activities that has being affected by this pandemic.
In Ghana, it has now become a problem for people to get money and be able to feed their families. This has caused many businesses to collapse which has left many people jobless and has increased the number of unemployed people in Africa.
The pandemic has also halted all kinds of development around the world. In sports, football is one of the major activities that has being affected by this pandemic.
Footballers like British international Callum Hudson-Odoi (Chelsea FC), and Argentinian striker Paulo Dybala (Juventus) tested positive for the virus in early March but are currently undergoing treatment. Arsenal manager, Unai Emery, also tested positive for the virus in early March and is also receiving treatment.
Some competitions and events like the UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa League, English Premier League and the Spanish La Liga Santander have all been stopped because of the pandemic.
However, other European competitions such as the German Bundesliga is set to resume later in May and teams like Shalke 04 have already started training. The Italian Serie A is also scheduled to resume in June.
All these competitions will go on behind closed doors because of some lock down restrictions that have been put in place to reduce the spread of the virus. Other measures include changing kits during half time and avoiding the usual handshakes before matches. It is believed that these measures will help to reduce the spread of the virus.
There have also been suggestions that the decision to resume the game in certain countries is being driven by business interests and that the welfare of the players should also be given priority.
In England, an ePremier League Invitational has just ended, where Premier League players put their EA SPORTS FIFA 20 skills to the test in the inaugural ePremier League Invitational tournament League 2020.
This had players like Ghanaian international Christian Atsu representing his club, Newcastle United; Alexander Arnold representing his team, Liverpool FC, the club that is on top of the EPL table and other teams.
The competition was won by Leicester City after their player James Maddison trashed John Egan who represented Bournemouth in the final match. The match ended in a 4-1 win for Leicester City.
Despite the fact that no leagues are playing, there have also been transfer rumors about Lionel Messi, Paul Pogba, Gareth Bale, Sancho, Ighalo, Ndombele and others.
We eagerly await the start of full scale soccer to tell how damaging the pandemic has been to the game.
Ocansey Gideon (Student)
