Oliver Kahn said : “For football, the pandemic is an immense challenge. Since 8 March 2020, we have had very few matches with spectators in the Allianz Arena,”

punchng Saturday, November 27, 2021 12:26:00 AM EAT

Oliver Kahn sagte : „klare Kriterien, an denen wir Partnerschaften ausrichten“

ostbelgiendirekt Friday, November 26, 2021 7:57:00 PM EAT

Oliver Kahn said : “For football, the pandemic is an immense challenge. Since March 8, 2020, we have had very few matches with spectators in the Allianz Arena,”

themalaymailonline Friday, November 26, 2021 6:09:00 PM EAT

Oliver Kahn said : "For football, the pandemic is an immense challenge. Since 8 March 2020, we have had very few matches with spectators in the Allianz Arena,"

afp-en Friday, November 26, 2021 1:15:00 PM EAT

Oliver Kahn told : "We are at the moment experiencing the most fundamental change that football has ever experienced,"

nampa Friday, November 26, 2021 12:56:00 AM EAT

Oliver Kahn said : “As chairman, Karl-Heinz Rummenigge has done great work for Bayern for over 20 years,”

guardian-ng Tuesday, June 1, 2021 8:39:00 PM EAT

Oliver Kahn said : “In the past 18 months, I have become acquainted with all facets of the club and know very well how FC Bayern works and what challenges lie ahead,”

expressindia Tuesday, June 1, 2021 6:19:00 PM EAT

Oliver Kahn said : “As chairman, Karl-Heinz Rummenigge has done great work for Bayern for over 20 years,”

guardian-ng Tuesday, June 1, 2021 3:48:00 PM EAT

Oliver Kahn said : “In the past 18 months, I have become acquainted with all facets of the club and know very well how FC Bayern works and what challenges lie ahead,”

eagletribune Tuesday, June 1, 2021 3:26:00 PM EAT

Oliver Kahn disse ( about Karl Heinz Rummenigge ) : "Rummenigge fez um grande trabalho no Bayern durante mais de 20 anos. Durante este período, o clube ganhou tudo o que havia para ganhar. Agora é a minha vez de assumir essa responsabilidade. Nos últimos 18 meses tive de conhecer todas as facetas do clube e conheço muito bem como trabalha o Bayern e que desafios vamos enfrentar"

bemparana Tuesday, June 1, 2021 3:25:00 PM EAT

Oliver Kahn said : "As chairman, Karl-Heinz Rummenigge has done great work for Bayern for over 20 years,"

afp-en Tuesday, June 1, 2021 1:30:00 PM EAT

Oliver Kahn said : "He set up a monument for himself and the entire team"

sinacom-en Sunday, May 16, 2021 5:19:00 AM EAT

Oliver Kahn said : "I have to admit, I’m partial," "Winning the cup before you come to Munich isn’t such a bad idea"

deutschewelle-en Friday, May 14, 2021 1:24:00 PM EAT

Oliver Kahn told : “Sorry, but those who are talking about (Haaland’s transfer) still haven’t understood the situation,”

thestarkenya Friday, May 14, 2021 12:59:00 AM EAT

Oliver Kahn added ( about Robert Lewandowski ) : “Robert still has a two-year contract here. His performances cannot be questioned,” “He can keep his level for a few more years. That’s enough reason not to think of Haaland”

thestarkenya Friday, May 14, 2021 12:59:00 AM EAT

Oliver Kahn وقال : “روبرت لا يزال يرتبط بعقد لمدة عامين هنا. مستواه لا يمكن التشكيك فيه. إنه يستطيع الحفاظ على مستواه لسنوات مقبلة. هذا سبب يكفي لعدم التفكير في هالاند”

mangish Thursday, May 13, 2021 6:21:00 PM EAT

Oliver Kahn told : "Sorry, but those who are talking about (Haaland's transfer) still haven't understood the situation,"

thepeninsulaqatar Thursday, May 13, 2021 11:05:00 AM EAT

Oliver Kahn added ( about Robert Lewandowski ) : "Robert still has a two-year contract here. His performances cannot be questioned," "He can keep his level for a few more years. That's enough reason not to think of Haaland"

thepeninsulaqatar Thursday, May 13, 2021 11:05:00 AM EAT

Oliver Kahn explicou : «Sinto muito, quem fala nisso é que ainda não percebeu a situação. O pacote completo custa, em nosso entender, mais de 100 milhões de euros. Para o Bayern é algo inimaginável»

abola Wednesday, May 12, 2021 12:52:00 PM EAT

Oliver Kahn commenté : «C'est une performance extraordinaire. On ne s'y habitue pas»

lesoirdalgerie Monday, May 10, 2021 2:12:00 PM EAT

Oliver Kahn said : “We watched the Leipzig game together, the atmosphere was great,” “You don’t get used to it, it’s an incredible achievement. Now we can do something next season that no team in the world has ever done: become champions 10 times in a row”

kuwaittimes Sunday, May 9, 2021 6:16:00 PM EAT

Oliver Kahn وأوضح : "نحن دائما في مرحلة جلد الذات ودائما نطرح الأسئلة"

shorouknews Saturday, May 8, 2021 10:46:00 PM EAT

Oliver Kahn said : "We watched the Leipzig game together, the atmosphere was great,"

afp-en Saturday, May 8, 2021 9:44:00 PM EAT

Oliver Kahn estimé ( about Julian Nagelsmann ) : "La durée du contrat de Julian, qui est de cinq ans, montre à elle seule à quel point il s'identifie au FC Bayern. Je suis convaincu que nous allons façonner l'avenir sportif du Bayern avec Julian Nagelsmann avec beaucoup de succès"

libe Thursday, April 29, 2021 7:51:00 PM EAT

Oliver Kahn estimé ( about Julian Nagelsmann ) : "La durée du contrat de Julian, qui est de cinq ans, montre à elle seule à quel point il s'identifie au FC Bayern. Je suis convaincu que nous allons façonner l'avenir sportif du Bayern avec Julian Nagelsmann avec beaucoup de succès"

tv5 Tuesday, April 27, 2021 8:09:00 PM EAT

Oliver Kahn estimé ( about Julian Nagelsmann ) : "La durée du contrat de Julian, qui est de cinq ans, montre à elle seule à quel point il s'identifie au FC Bayern. Je suis convaincu que nous allons façonner l'avenir sportif du Bayern avec Julian Nagelsmann avec beaucoup de succès"

afp-fr Tuesday, April 27, 2021 7:06:00 PM EAT

Oliver Kahn added ( about Julian Nagelsmann ) : “Julian’s contract length of five years alone shows how committed he is to FC Bayern. I am convinced that FC Bayern’s sporting future will be a very successful one with Julian Nagelsmann,”

dailytrust Tuesday, April 27, 2021 4:14:00 PM EAT

Oliver Kahn told : “Sir Alex Ferguson is still mad at me today,”

irishmirror Friday, February 19, 2021 6:50:00 PM EAT

Oliver Kahn said ( about Alphonso Davies ) : “Alphonso Davies is a player who has already achieved a high level of performance at a young age and at the same time still has great potential for development,”

barrie Tuesday, December 29, 2020 7:04:00 PM EAT

Oliver Kahn prédit : "C'est un modèle absolu de professionnalisme, une condition pour rester très longtemps au plus haut niveau"

france24 Friday, December 18, 2020 1:11:00 AM EAT

Oliver Kahn said : "for more than ten years with great football"

ahram-EN Tuesday, November 24, 2020 11:59:00 AM EAT

Oliver Kahn said : “for more than ten years with great football”

themalaymailonline Tuesday, November 24, 2020 8:54:00 AM EAT

Oliver Kahn said : "for more than ten years with great football"

afp-en Tuesday, November 24, 2020 5:15:00 AM EAT

Oliver Kahn told : "You have to look at the situation, we no longer live in the same football world as it was before the coronavirus. It's completely different,"

ahram-EN Saturday, September 19, 2020 6:14:00 PM EAT

Oliver Kahn added : "We are well advised to keep calm,"

ahram-EN Saturday, September 19, 2020 6:14:00 PM EAT

Oliver Kahn told : "You have to look at the situation, we no longer live in the same football world as it was before the coronavirus. It's completely different,"

polandsun Saturday, September 19, 2020 5:54:00 PM EAT

Oliver Kahn added : "We are well advised to keep calm,"

polandsun Saturday, September 19, 2020 5:54:00 PM EAT

Oliver Kahn told : "You have to look at the situation, we no longer live in the same football world as it was before the coronavirus. It's completely different,"

yahoo-au Saturday, September 19, 2020 4:51:00 PM EAT

Oliver Kahn added : "We are well advised to keep calm,"

yahoo-au Saturday, September 19, 2020 4:51:00 PM EAT

Oliver Kahn told : "You have to look at the situation, we no longer live in the same football world as it was before the coronavirus. It's completely different,"

afp-en Saturday, September 19, 2020 4:33:00 PM EAT

Oliver Kahn added : "We are well advised to keep calm,"

afp-en Saturday, September 19, 2020 4:33:00 PM EAT

Oliver Kahn said : “Just take a look at his achievements,”

independent-UG Tuesday, August 25, 2020 3:38:00 PM EAT

Oliver Kahn said : "Just take a look at his achievements,"

timesofoman Tuesday, August 25, 2020 10:24:00 AM EAT

Oliver Kahn said : “He is a player who has developed in the last few months,”

vanguardngr Friday, August 21, 2020 4:35:00 AM EAT

Oliver Kahn أضاف : “الفريق يستمد قوته من الرغبة في التحسن دائما، هذا ما يخلق فريقا رائعا. لن يشعروا بالرضا أبدا، دائما ما يريدون التطور والبقاء على القمة”

mangish Thursday, August 20, 2020 9:52:00 PM EAT

Oliver Kahn said : “He knows Neuer and Müller from the national team,”

nytimes Sunday, August 16, 2020 5:07:00 AM EAT

Oliver Kahn said : “He knows Neuer and Müller from the national team,”

nytimes Friday, August 14, 2020 9:23:00 AM EAT

Oliver Kahn said : “I have a feeling that whichever team handles all of these fears and responsibilities the best has a big chance to win,”

expressindia Wednesday, August 12, 2020 11:05:00 AM EAT

Oliver Kahn said : “I have a feeling that whichever team handles all of these fears and responsibilities the best has a big chance to win,”

nytimes Monday, August 10, 2020 10:25:00 PM EAT

Oliver Kahn told : “In excess of 200 players have undergone multiple testing. A total of 11 of these players have tested positive. All players who have tested positive have been self-isolated". June 17. -- Fans may be allowed at German Cup final. German football association (DFB) president Fritz Keller has said up to 1,000 people, including some fans, may be allowed in to the Olympic Stadium in Berlin to watch the German Cup final on July 4. Bundesliga matches are currently being played without fans but Keller said there may be some wriggle room for the clash between newly-crowned champions Bayern Munich and Bayer Leverkusen. "The (Berlin) Senate is responsible. In Berlin events with up to 1,000 people are allowed. If the Senate says, 'Yes, we can do it,' then let's have 1,000," Keller told German public TV late on Tuesday. June 16. -- US Open set to go ahead. Despite the coronavirus epidemic, Andrew Cuomo, the governor of New York, has said that the major tennis tournament the US Open will go ahead behind closed doors from August 31. Fans will not be permitted at the Flushing Meadows venue. Rashford grabs big win off the field A campaign launched by Manchester United forward Marcus Rashford has helped convince the British government to reverse a plan to cease funding meals for underprivileged children. The 22-year-old Rashford, who has already made 38 appearances for England, had written an open letter to parliamentarians on Sunday urging them to maintain the food-voucher program through the summer school holidays. In it, Rashford wrote of his own childhood experience of relying on free school lunches and food banks. His campaign drew support from numerous celebrities, the opposition, and even some members of the ruling Conservative Party. On Tuesday, Prime Minister Boris Johnson's spokesman announced that the government had backtracked on its plan to end the food-voucher program when the summer break begins. "Owing to the coronavirus pandemic, the prime minister fully understands that children and parents face an entirely unprecedented situation over the summer, to reflect this we will be providing a COVID summer food fund," the spokesman said. The program had been set up back in March when British schools were shut as part of a nationwide lockdown aimed at flattening the curve in the coronavirus outbreak in the country. June 13. New Zealand celebrated the return of top-level rugby with thousands of fans attending the country's first big match since the coronavirus lockdown. Bryan Gatland scored a last-minute drop-goal to hand the Otago Highlanders victory over the Waikato Chiefs. About 20,000 fans enjoyed the spectacle. The newly formed Super Rugby Aotearoa competition has replaced the normal Super Rugby season, which was suspended because of the pandemic. Super Rugby usually pits New Zealand teams against those from Australia, South Africa, Japan, and Argentina. June 12. Professional football returned in Italy on Friday night as Juventus drew 0-0 with AC Milan in the second leg of the Coppa Italia semifinal, a result which saw Juventus progress to the final. The match was the first to be played in Italy since the coronavirus pandemic halted the season on March 9 and took place behind closed doors. More than eight million people watched on television, the biggest audience for any match in Italy this season. The other semifinal tie between Napoli and Inter Milan will take place on Saturday evening (June 13) and the final will take place on Wednesday. The Italian top flight, Serie A, is due to return next weekend. June 11. The derby clash between Sevilla and Real Betis on Thursday evening will make Spain's La Liga the second major European league to resume play, after the Bundesliga. But the experience is set to be a little different. La Liga hopes to compensate for the enforced empty stadiums with virtual crowd visuals and noise, with TV viewers able to see to-scale images of seated fans wearing the home club's colours in "virtualized" stands. The audio technology will reportedly work in a similar way to a laughter track on a sitcom and some fan groups have expressed their displeasure. However, league president Javier Tebas has said he's hoping to see real fans back in the stadiums before the season ends, with grounds 10-15 percent full to accomodate social distancing. June 9. -- Madrid want to host rescheduled Champions League Final. The mayor of Madrid has claimed the city is being considered as a host for this season's Champions League final amid the possibility that original host Istanbul won't be able to fulfill its obligations due to the coronavirus pandemic. The final was due to be played at the Ataturk Stadium on May 30 until the tournament was postponed and Uefa's executive committee will meet on June 17 to determine a new plan. "I know steps are being taken in this regard and on behalf of the city council, I want to show my total and absolute support for the Champions League final being held in Madrid," Madrid mayor Jose Luis Martinez-Almeida told Spanish television station Trece. Reports suggest Uefa will explore options to host all remaining games in both the Champions and Europa leagues within the same cities. Lisbon, Moscow, and Frankfurt are three other cities that have reportedly made pitches to host the European club tournaments. While Lisbon appeared to be the favorite for the Champions League fixtures, prior to Madrid's interest, Frankfurt could be in line to host the remaining Europa League games, according to German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung. -- Höwedes terminates Lokomotiv Moscow contract to remain in Germany. 2014 World Cup winner Benedikt Höwedes has thanked Lokomotiv Moscow on his Twitter account for terminating his contract to allow him to remain in Germany. Lokomotiv said in their Twitter announcement that Höwedes' contract was terminated by mutual consent due to family reasons. "Thank you, [Lokomotiv]! it has been a pleasure," the 32-year-old defender said. Höwedes does not have a new team lined up in Germany, but there is speculation that he could return to Schalke, where he spent the first 10 years of his professional football career. The Russian Premier League is set to resume from its coronavirus hiatus on June 21 despite thousands of new cases per day. Höwedes has been critical of Russia's handling of the pandemic. -- Zero positive tests in Basketball Bundesliga. The BBL, Germany's top basketball league, said that all coronavirus tests it conducted after the start of its end-of-season tournament came back negative. Brose Bamberg, the final team to be tested, "tested completely negative," BBL hygiene officer Florian Kainzinger said on Twitter on Tuesday. The BBL began its 10-team Final Tournament over the weekend, scrapping the results of its regular season. All games are taking place in Munich's Audi Dome. -- Cricket ex-pros pressure ICC to ban ball saliva. Former cricket players Brett Lee of Australia and Sachin Tendulkar of India have stepped-up pressure to ban bowlers from applying saliva on cricket balls. The International Cricket Council is expected to order a temporary ban on using spit during matches as a way to combat the spread of the new coronavirus. Fast blowers sometimes use saliva or sweat to shine one side of the ball when bowling, making the ball swing in the air. Sweat, which is considered less effective, could still be allowed. "Maybe there are other ways that ICC needs to look in, assisting the bowler maybe in giving them something," Lee, a former Australian pace bowler, said on Tendulkar's 100MB online app. -- Relief fund for Brazilian clubs. Brazil's football federation (CBF) has established a relief fund of worth 100 million Brazilian real (€18.4 million, $20.7 million) to help top-flight clubs overcome the financial impact of the coronavirus pandemic. The CBF has also allocated 15 million Brazilian real for second division clubs. Football in Brazil has been suspended since march due to the pandemic. The country has more than 700,000 confirmed cases, second most in the world behind the United States, and more than 37,000 virus-related deaths, third behind the US and Britain. June 8. -- Champions League final in Lisbon, not Frankfurt. Reports in Germany suggest that UEFA are set to select Lisbon as the location for a possible Champions League final tournament in order to bring the 2019/20 competition to a close. German cities Munich and Frankfurt had been touted as options to host a mini-tournament, having already hosted Bundesliga "ghost games" and successfully implemented the German Football League's hygiene concept. Bayern Munich board member Oliver Kahn had signalled Munich's readiness, while Eintracht Frankfurt's director of sport Fredi Bobic said such an event, including stadia in Frankfurt, Mainz and Hoffenheim, would have been "a great chance". But, according to the Bild am Sonntag newspaper, UEFA appear to favor the Portuguese capital for financial reasons, although the fact that there are no Portuguese sides left in the tournament is also important. Speaking to Sky90 , Bobic hinted: "It's not just a sporting issue, it's a question of finances, too. And taxes can be a problem in Germany". A final decision is expected when UEFA's executive committee meets on June 17 and 18. The Champions League was originally due to take place in Istanbul on May 30, but the Turkish city is now out of the running. The competition was suspended indefinitely on March 13, with four last-16 second legs still to play, including Bayern's home game against Chelsea. UEFA now hopes to fulfil those fixtures, plus four quarterfinal matches, two semifinals (all one-legged) and the final, in a mini-tournament in one location - likely Lisbon, pictured above. June 7. -- Fans to return in November? Chief executive of England's governing body for rugby union, Bill Sweeney, is looking for clarity on whether the physical distancing rule can be reduced from two metres to one in order to allow 40,000 fans to attend England's international games in November. England are scheduled to host New Zealand, Argentina, Tonga and Australia at Twickenham Stadium, which has a capacity of 82,000. Elite sport in England was given approval to return this month, but without spectators in attendance. June 6. -- Premier League has zero positives. Following the latest batch of tests in the Premier League for COVID-19, the sixth round in total, there were zero positives from 1,195 tests taken on June 4 and 5. This now means a total of 6,274 tests have now been carried out with 13 positive results. All players and staff at Premier League clubs have been tested twice a week and teams are back in full training with the league set to return on June 17. June 4. -- NBA to return in July at Disney World — reports. The National Basketball Association's board of governors has approved a plan to resume its season amid the coronavirus pandemic, according to ESPN and the Athletic. The 22 teams still in contention for the playoffs will play eight regular season games for seeding purposes for the playoffs. The games will take place at the ESPN Wide World of Sports complex inside the Disney World resort in Orlando, Florida. The NBA has been on hiatus since June 11 after Utah Jazz center and French international Rudy Gobert tested positive for COVID-19. -- Dortmund sporting director criticizes players for breaking quarantine. Borussia Dortmund sporting director Michael Zorc said he held private discussions with players who broke hygiene rules by getting haircuts at home. "We talked to the players again and made it very clear to them how they should behave," Zorc said. Photos post on social media depicted Dortmund players, including England international Jadon Sancho, posing with a barber after a haircut at home. The players and the barber did not have masks on. Zorc said the players told him they had masks on during the haircut and only took them off for the photo. June 3. -- Tottenham confirm positive coronavirus test. Premier League side Tottenham Hotspur have confirmed that one individual at the club has tested positive for COVID-19. The unnamed person must now self-isolate for a period of seven days. In the latest round of testing across all 20 clubs in England's top flight, a total of 1,197 people were tested for the virus, with just the one test at Tottenham coming back positive. "[The person is] currently asymptomatic and will now self-isolate for seven days, in line with Premier League protocol, before undergoing further testing," the North London club said in a statement. There have been five rounds of testing in the Premier League, with the total of positive results now at 13 from 5,079 tests. The league is aiming to restart on June 17. June 2. -- Formula 1 season starts with Austrian double header. The curtailed Formula 1 season will start with two races behind closed doors in Austria on July 5 and July 12 followed by six other grands prix in Europe, the organizers said on Tuesday. "While we currently expect the season to commence without fans at our races we hope that over the coming months the situation will allow us to welcome them back once it is safe to do," said F1 chief executive Chase Carey. "But we know the return of Formula 1 will be a welcome boost to sports fans around the world". June 1. -- Bundesliga: thoughts turning to fans‘ return. Bayern Munich board member Oliver Kahn has said that the club has already begun considering concepts to allow supporters to return to Bundesliga stadia. "Of course we’ve had a look [at the options],”

deutschewelle-en Monday, June 29, 2020 5:45:00 PM EAT

Oliver Kahn told : “In excess of 200 players have undergone multiple testing. A total of 11 of these players have tested positive. All players who have tested positive have been self-isolated". June 17. -- Fans may be allowed at German Cup final. German football association (DFB) president Fritz Keller has said up to 1,000 people, including some fans, may be allowed in to the Olympic Stadium in Berlin to watch the German Cup final on July 4. Bundesliga matches are currently being played without fans but Keller said there may be some wriggle room for the clash between newly-crowned champions Bayern Munich and Bayer Leverkusen. "The (Berlin) Senate is responsible. In Berlin events with up to 1,000 people are allowed. If the Senate says, 'Yes, we can do it,' then let's have 1,000," Keller told German public TV late on Tuesday. June 16. -- US Open set to go ahead. Despite the coronavirus epidemic, Andrew Cuomo, the governor of New York, has said that the major tennis tournament the US Open will go ahead behind closed doors from August 31. Fans will not be permitted at the Flushing Meadows venue. Rashford grabs big win off the field A campaign launched by Manchester United forward Marcus Rashford has helped convince the British government to reverse a plan to cease funding meals for underprivileged children. The 22-year-old Rashford, who has already made 38 appearances for England, had written an open letter to parliamentarians on Sunday urging them to maintain the food-voucher program through the summer school holidays. In it, Rashford wrote of his own childhood experience of relying on free school lunches and food banks. His campaign drew support from numerous celebrities, the opposition, and even some members of the ruling Conservative Party. On Tuesday, Prime Minister Boris Johnson's spokesman announced that the government had backtracked on its plan to end the food-voucher program when the summer break begins. "Owing to the coronavirus pandemic, the prime minister fully understands that children and parents face an entirely unprecedented situation over the summer, to reflect this we will be providing a COVID summer food fund," the spokesman said. The program had been set up back in March when British schools were shut as part of a nationwide lockdown aimed at flattening the curve in the coronavirus outbreak in the country. June 13. New Zealand celebrated the return of top-level rugby with thousands of fans attending the country's first big match since the coronavirus lockdown. Bryan Gatland scored a last-minute drop-goal to hand the Otago Highlanders victory over the Waikato Chiefs. About 20,000 fans enjoyed the spectacle. The newly formed Super Rugby Aotearoa competition has replaced the normal Super Rugby season, which was suspended because of the pandemic. Super Rugby usually pits New Zealand teams against those from Australia, South Africa, Japan, and Argentina. June 12. Professional football returned in Italy on Friday night as Juventus drew 0-0 with AC Milan in the second leg of the Coppa Italia semifinal, a result which saw Juventus progress to the final. The match was the first to be played in Italy since the coronavirus pandemic halted the season on March 9 and took place behind closed doors. More than eight million people watched on television, the biggest audience for any match in Italy this season. The other semifinal tie between Napoli and Inter Milan will take place on Saturday evening (June 13) and the final will take place on Wednesday. The Italian top flight, Serie A, is due to return next weekend. June 11. The derby clash between Sevilla and Real Betis on Thursday evening will make Spain's La Liga the second major European league to resume play, after the Bundesliga. But the experience is set to be a little different. La Liga hopes to compensate for the enforced empty stadiums with virtual crowd visuals and noise, with TV viewers able to see to-scale images of seated fans wearing the home club's colours in "virtualized" stands. The audio technology will reportedly work in a similar way to a laughter track on a sitcom and some fan groups have expressed their displeasure. However, league president Javier Tebas has said he's hoping to see real fans back in the stadiums before the season ends, with grounds 10-15 percent full to accomodate social distancing. June 9. -- Madrid want to host rescheduled Champions League Final. The mayor of Madrid has claimed the city is being considered as a host for this season's Champions League final amid the possibility that original host Istanbul won't be able to fulfill its obligations due to the coronavirus pandemic. The final was due to be played at the Ataturk Stadium on May 30 until the tournament was postponed and Uefa's executive committee will meet on June 17 to determine a new plan. "I know steps are being taken in this regard and on behalf of the city council, I want to show my total and absolute support for the Champions League final being held in Madrid," Madrid mayor Jose Luis Martinez-Almeida told Spanish television station Trece. Reports suggest Uefa will explore options to host all remaining games in both the Champions and Europa leagues within the same cities. Lisbon, Moscow, and Frankfurt are three other cities that have reportedly made pitches to host the European club tournaments. While Lisbon appeared to be the favorite for the Champions League fixtures, prior to Madrid's interest, Frankfurt could be in line to host the remaining Europa League games, according to German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung. -- Höwedes terminates Lokomotiv Moscow contract to remain in Germany. 2014 World Cup winner Benedikt Höwedes has thanked Lokomotiv Moscow on his Twitter account for terminating his contract to allow him to remain in Germany. Lokomotiv said in their Twitter announcement that Höwedes' contract was terminated by mutual consent due to family reasons. "Thank you, [Lokomotiv]! it has been a pleasure," the 32-year-old defender said. Höwedes does not have a new team lined up in Germany, but there is speculation that he could return to Schalke, where he spent the first 10 years of his professional football career. The Russian Premier League is set to resume from its coronavirus hiatus on June 21 despite thousands of new cases per day. Höwedes has been critical of Russia's handling of the pandemic. -- Zero positive tests in Basketball Bundesliga. The BBL, Germany's top basketball league, said that all coronavirus tests it conducted after the start of its end-of-season tournament came back negative. Brose Bamberg, the final team to be tested, "tested completely negative," BBL hygiene officer Florian Kainzinger said on Twitter on Tuesday. The BBL began its 10-team Final Tournament over the weekend, scrapping the results of its regular season. All games are taking place in Munich's Audi Dome. -- Cricket ex-pros pressure ICC to ban ball saliva. Former cricket players Brett Lee of Australia and Sachin Tendulkar of India have stepped-up pressure to ban bowlers from applying saliva on cricket balls. The International Cricket Council is expected to order a temporary ban on using spit during matches as a way to combat the spread of the new coronavirus. Fast blowers sometimes use saliva or sweat to shine one side of the ball when bowling, making the ball swing in the air. Sweat, which is considered less effective, could still be allowed. "Maybe there are other ways that ICC needs to look in, assisting the bowler maybe in giving them something," Lee, a former Australian pace bowler, said on Tendulkar's 100MB online app. -- Relief fund for Brazilian clubs. Brazil's football federation (CBF) has established a relief fund of worth 100 million Brazilian real (€18.4 million, $20.7 million) to help top-flight clubs overcome the financial impact of the coronavirus pandemic. The CBF has also allocated 15 million Brazilian real for second division clubs. Football in Brazil has been suspended since march due to the pandemic. The country has more than 700,000 confirmed cases, second most in the world behind the United States, and more than 37,000 virus-related deaths, third behind the US and Britain. June 8. -- Champions League final in Lisbon, not Frankfurt. Reports in Germany suggest that UEFA are set to select Lisbon as the location for a possible Champions League final tournament in order to bring the 2019/20 competition to a close. German cities Munich and Frankfurt had been touted as options to host a mini-tournament, having already hosted Bundesliga "ghost games" and successfully implemented the German Football League's hygiene concept. Bayern Munich board member Oliver Kahn had signalled Munich's readiness, while Eintracht Frankfurt's director of sport Fredi Bobic said such an event, including stadia in Frankfurt, Mainz and Hoffenheim, would have been "a great chance". But, according to the Bild am Sonntag newspaper, UEFA appear to favor the Portuguese capital for financial reasons, although the fact that there are no Portuguese sides left in the tournament is also important. Speaking to Sky90 , Bobic hinted: "It's not just a sporting issue, it's a question of finances, too. And taxes can be a problem in Germany". A final decision is expected when UEFA's executive committee meets on June 17 and 18. The Champions League was originally due to take place in Istanbul on May 30, but the Turkish city is now out of the running. The competition was suspended indefinitely on March 13, with four last-16 second legs still to play, including Bayern's home game against Chelsea. UEFA now hopes to fulfil those fixtures, plus four quarterfinal matches, two semifinals (all one-legged) and the final, in a mini-tournament in one location - likely Lisbon, pictured above. June 7. -- Fans to return in November? Chief executive of England's governing body for rugby union, Bill Sweeney, is looking for clarity on whether the physical distancing rule can be reduced from two metres to one in order to allow 40,000 fans to attend England's international games in November. England are scheduled to host New Zealand, Argentina, Tonga and Australia at Twickenham Stadium, which has a capacity of 82,000. Elite sport in England was given approval to return this month, but without spectators in attendance. June 6. -- Premier League has zero positives. Following the latest batch of tests in the Premier League for COVID-19, the sixth round in total, there were zero positives from 1,195 tests taken on June 4 and 5. This now means a total of 6,274 tests have now been carried out with 13 positive results. All players and staff at Premier League clubs have been tested twice a week and teams are back in full training with the league set to return on June 17. June 4. -- NBA to return in July at Disney World — reports. The National Basketball Association's board of governors has approved a plan to resume its season amid the coronavirus pandemic, according to ESPN and the Athletic. The 22 teams still in contention for the playoffs will play eight regular season games for seeding purposes for the playoffs. The games will take place at the ESPN Wide World of Sports complex inside the Disney World resort in Orlando, Florida. The NBA has been on hiatus since June 11 after Utah Jazz center and French international Rudy Gobert tested positive for COVID-19. -- Dortmund sporting director criticizes players for breaking quarantine. Borussia Dortmund sporting director Michael Zorc said he held private discussions with players who broke hygiene rules by getting haircuts at home. "We talked to the players again and made it very clear to them how they should behave," Zorc said. Photos post on social media depicted Dortmund players, including England international Jadon Sancho, posing with a barber after a haircut at home. The players and the barber did not have masks on. Zorc said the players told him they had masks on during the haircut and only took them off for the photo. June 3. -- Tottenham confirm positive coronavirus test. Premier League side Tottenham Hotspur have confirmed that one individual at the club has tested positive for COVID-19. The unnamed person must now self-isolate for a period of seven days. In the latest round of testing across all 20 clubs in England's top flight, a total of 1,197 people were tested for the virus, with just the one test at Tottenham coming back positive. "[The person is] currently asymptomatic and will now self-isolate for seven days, in line with Premier League protocol, before undergoing further testing," the North London club said in a statement. There have been five rounds of testing in the Premier League, with the total of positive results now at 13 from 5,079 tests. The league is aiming to restart on June 17. June 2. -- Formula 1 season starts with Austrian double header. The curtailed Formula 1 season will start with two races behind closed doors in Austria on July 5 and July 12 followed by six other grands prix in Europe, the organizers said on Tuesday. "While we currently expect the season to commence without fans at our races we hope that over the coming months the situation will allow us to welcome them back once it is safe to do," said F1 chief executive Chase Carey. "But we know the return of Formula 1 will be a welcome boost to sports fans around the world". June 1. -- Bundesliga: thoughts turning to fans‘ return. Bayern Munich board member Oliver Kahn has said that the club has already begun considering concepts to allow supporters to return to Bundesliga stadia. "Of course we’ve had a look [at the options],”

deutschewelle-en Thursday, June 25, 2020 12:57:00 PM EAT

Oliver Kahn told : “In excess of 200 players have undergone multiple testing. A total of 11 of these players have tested positive. All players who have tested positive have been self-isolated". June 17. -- Fans may be allowed at German Cup final. German football association (DFB) president Fritz Keller has said up to 1,000 people, including some fans, may be allowed in to the Olympic Stadium in Berlin to watch the German Cup final on July 4. Bundesliga matches are currently being played without fans but Keller said there may be some wriggle room for the clash between newly-crowned champions Bayern Munich and Bayer Leverkusen. "The (Berlin) Senate is responsible. In Berlin events with up to 1,000 people are allowed. If the Senate says, 'Yes, we can do it,' then let's have 1,000," Keller told German public TV late on Tuesday. June 16. -- US Open set to go ahead. Despite the coronavirus epidemic, Andrew Cuomo, the governor of New York, has said that the major tennis tournament the US Open will go ahead behind closed doors from August 31. Fans will not be permitted at the Flushing Meadows venue. Rashford grabs big win off the field A campaign launched by Manchester United forward Marcus Rashford has helped convince the British government to reverse a plan to cease funding meals for underprivileged children. The 22-year-old Rashford, who has already made 38 appearances for England, had written an open letter to parliamentarians on Sunday urging them to maintain the food-voucher program through the summer school holidays. In it, Rashford wrote of his own childhood experience of relying on free school lunches and food banks. His campaign drew support from numerous celebrities, the opposition, and even some members of the ruling Conservative Party. On Tuesday, Prime Minister Boris Johnson's spokesman announced that the government had backtracked on its plan to end the food-voucher program when the summer break begins. "Owing to the coronavirus pandemic, the prime minister fully understands that children and parents face an entirely unprecedented situation over the summer, to reflect this we will be providing a COVID summer food fund," the spokesman said. The program had been set up back in March when British schools were shut as part of a nationwide lockdown aimed at flattening the curve in the coronavirus outbreak in the country. June 13. New Zealand celebrated the return of top-level rugby with thousands of fans attending the country's first big match since the coronavirus lockdown. Bryan Gatland scored a last-minute drop-goal to hand the Otago Highlanders victory over the Waikato Chiefs. About 20,000 fans enjoyed the spectacle. The newly formed Super Rugby Aotearoa competition has replaced the normal Super Rugby season, which was suspended because of the pandemic. Super Rugby usually pits New Zealand teams against those from Australia, South Africa, Japan, and Argentina. June 12. Professional football returned in Italy on Friday night as Juventus drew 0-0 with AC Milan in the second leg of the Coppa Italia semifinal, a result which saw Juventus progress to the final. The match was the first to be played in Italy since the coronavirus pandemic halted the season on March 9 and took place behind closed doors. More than eight million people watched on television, the biggest audience for any match in Italy this season. The other semifinal tie between Napoli and Inter Milan will take place on Saturday evening (June 13) and the final will take place on Wednesday. The Italian top flight, Serie A, is due to return next weekend. June 11. The derby clash between Sevilla and Real Betis on Thursday evening will make Spain's La Liga the second major European league to resume play, after the Bundesliga. But the experience is set to be a little different. La Liga hopes to compensate for the enforced empty stadiums with virtual crowd visuals and noise, with TV viewers able to see to-scale images of seated fans wearing the home club's colours in "virtualized" stands. The audio technology will reportedly work in a similar way to a laughter track on a sitcom and some fan groups have expressed their displeasure. However, league president Javier Tebas has said he's hoping to see real fans back in the stadiums before the season ends, with grounds 10-15 percent full to accomodate social distancing. June 9. -- Madrid want to host rescheduled Champions League Final. The mayor of Madrid has claimed the city is being considered as a host for this season's Champions League final amid the possibility that original host Istanbul won't be able to fulfill its obligations due to the coronavirus pandemic. The final was due to be played at the Ataturk Stadium on May 30 until the tournament was postponed and Uefa's executive committee will meet on June 17 to determine a new plan. "I know steps are being taken in this regard and on behalf of the city council, I want to show my total and absolute support for the Champions League final being held in Madrid," Madrid mayor Jose Luis Martinez-Almeida told Spanish television station Trece. Reports suggest Uefa will explore options to host all remaining games in both the Champions and Europa leagues within the same cities. Lisbon, Moscow, and Frankfurt are three other cities that have reportedly made pitches to host the European club tournaments. While Lisbon appeared to be the favorite for the Champions League fixtures, prior to Madrid's interest, Frankfurt could be in line to host the remaining Europa League games, according to German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung. -- Höwedes terminates Lokomotiv Moscow contract to remain in Germany. 2014 World Cup winner Benedikt Höwedes has thanked Lokomotiv Moscow on his Twitter account for terminating his contract to allow him to remain in Germany. Lokomotiv said in their Twitter announcement that Höwedes' contract was terminated by mutual consent due to family reasons. "Thank you, [Lokomotiv]! it has been a pleasure," the 32-year-old defender said. Höwedes does not have a new team lined up in Germany, but there is speculation that he could return to Schalke, where he spent the first 10 years of his professional football career. The Russian Premier League is set to resume from its coronavirus hiatus on June 21 despite thousands of new cases per day. Höwedes has been critical of Russia's handling of the pandemic. -- Zero positive tests in Basketball Bundesliga. The BBL, Germany's top basketball league, said that all coronavirus tests it conducted after the start of its end-of-season tournament came back negative. Brose Bamberg, the final team to be tested, "tested completely negative," BBL hygiene officer Florian Kainzinger said on Twitter on Tuesday. The BBL began its 10-team Final Tournament over the weekend, scrapping the results of its regular season. All games are taking place in Munich's Audi Dome. -- Cricket ex-pros pressure ICC to ban ball saliva. Former cricket players Brett Lee of Australia and Sachin Tendulkar of India have stepped-up pressure to ban bowlers from applying saliva on cricket balls. The International Cricket Council is expected to order a temporary ban on using spit during matches as a way to combat the spread of the new coronavirus. Fast blowers sometimes use saliva or sweat to shine one side of the ball when bowling, making the ball swing in the air. Sweat, which is considered less effective, could still be allowed. "Maybe there are other ways that ICC needs to look in, assisting the bowler maybe in giving them something," Lee, a former Australian pace bowler, said on Tendulkar's 100MB online app. -- Relief fund for Brazilian clubs. Brazil's football federation (CBF) has established a relief fund of worth 100 million Brazilian real (€18.4 million, $20.7 million) to help top-flight clubs overcome the financial impact of the coronavirus pandemic. The CBF has also allocated 15 million Brazilian real for second division clubs. Football in Brazil has been suspended since march due to the pandemic. The country has more than 700,000 confirmed cases, second most in the world behind the United States, and more than 37,000 virus-related deaths, third behind the US and Britain. June 8. -- Champions League final in Lisbon, not Frankfurt. Reports in Germany suggest that UEFA are set to select Lisbon as the location for a possible Champions League final tournament in order to bring the 2019/20 competition to a close. German cities Munich and Frankfurt had been touted as options to host a mini-tournament, having already hosted Bundesliga "ghost games" and successfully implemented the German Football League's hygiene concept. Bayern Munich board member Oliver Kahn had signalled Munich's readiness, while Eintracht Frankfurt's director of sport Fredi Bobic said such an event, including stadia in Frankfurt, Mainz and Hoffenheim, would have been "a great chance". But, according to the Bild am Sonntag newspaper, UEFA appear to favor the Portuguese capital for financial reasons, although the fact that there are no Portuguese sides left in the tournament is also important. Speaking to Sky90 , Bobic hinted: "It's not just a sporting issue, it's a question of finances, too. And taxes can be a problem in Germany". A final decision is expected when UEFA's executive committee meets on June 17 and 18. The Champions League was originally due to take place in Istanbul on May 30, but the Turkish city is now out of the running. The competition was suspended indefinitely on March 13, with four last-16 second legs still to play, including Bayern's home game against Chelsea. UEFA now hopes to fulfil those fixtures, plus four quarterfinal matches, two semifinals (all one-legged) and the final, in a mini-tournament in one location - likely Lisbon, pictured above. June 7. -- Fans to return in November? Chief executive of England's governing body for rugby union, Bill Sweeney, is looking for clarity on whether the physical distancing rule can be reduced from two metres to one in order to allow 40,000 fans to attend England's international games in November. England are scheduled to host New Zealand, Argentina, Tonga and Australia at Twickenham Stadium, which has a capacity of 82,000. Elite sport in England was given approval to return this month, but without spectators in attendance. June 6. -- Premier League has zero positives. Following the latest batch of tests in the Premier League for COVID-19, the sixth round in total, there were zero positives from 1,195 tests taken on June 4 and 5. This now means a total of 6,274 tests have now been carried out with 13 positive results. All players and staff at Premier League clubs have been tested twice a week and teams are back in full training with the league set to return on June 17. June 4. -- NBA to return in July at Disney World — reports. The National Basketball Association's board of governors has approved a plan to resume its season amid the coronavirus pandemic, according to ESPN and the Athletic. The 22 teams still in contention for the playoffs will play eight regular season games for seeding purposes for the playoffs. The games will take place at the ESPN Wide World of Sports complex inside the Disney World resort in Orlando, Florida. The NBA has been on hiatus since June 11 after Utah Jazz center and French international Rudy Gobert tested positive for COVID-19. -- Dortmund sporting director criticizes players for breaking quarantine. Borussia Dortmund sporting director Michael Zorc said he held private discussions with players who broke hygiene rules by getting haircuts at home. "We talked to the players again and made it very clear to them how they should behave," Zorc said. Photos post on social media depicted Dortmund players, including England international Jadon Sancho, posing with a barber after a haircut at home. The players and the barber did not have masks on. Zorc said the players told him they had masks on during the haircut and only took them off for the photo. June 3. -- Tottenham confirm positive coronavirus test. Premier League side Tottenham Hotspur have confirmed that one individual at the club has tested positive for COVID-19. The unnamed person must now self-isolate for a period of seven days. In the latest round of testing across all 20 clubs in England's top flight, a total of 1,197 people were tested for the virus, with just the one test at Tottenham coming back positive. "[The person is] currently asymptomatic and will now self-isolate for seven days, in line with Premier League protocol, before undergoing further testing," the North London club said in a statement. There have been five rounds of testing in the Premier League, with the total of positive results now at 13 from 5,079 tests. The league is aiming to restart on June 17. June 2. -- Formula 1 season starts with Austrian double header. The curtailed Formula 1 season will start with two races behind closed doors in Austria on July 5 and July 12 followed by six other grands prix in Europe, the organizers said on Tuesday. "While we currently expect the season to commence without fans at our races we hope that over the coming months the situation will allow us to welcome them back once it is safe to do," said F1 chief executive Chase Carey. "But we know the return of Formula 1 will be a welcome boost to sports fans around the world". June 1. -- Bundesliga: thoughts turning to fans‘ return. Bayern Munich board member Oliver Kahn has said that the club has already begun considering concepts to allow supporters to return to Bundesliga stadia. "Of course we’ve had a look [at the options],”

dw-en Wednesday, June 24, 2020 3:08:00 PM EAT

Oliver Kahn told : “In excess of 200 players have undergone multiple testing. A total of 11 of these players have tested positive. All players who have tested positive have been self-isolated". June 17. -- Fans may be allowed at German Cup final. German football association (DFB) president Fritz Keller has said up to 1,000 people, including some fans, may be allowed in to the Olympic Stadium in Berlin to watch the German Cup final on July 4. Bundesliga matches are currently being played without fans but Keller said there may be some wriggle room for the clash between newly-crowned champions Bayern Munich and Bayer Leverkusen. "The (Berlin) Senate is responsible. In Berlin events with up to 1,000 people are allowed. If the Senate says, 'Yes, we can do it,' then let's have 1,000," Keller told German public TV late on Tuesday. June 16. -- US Open set to go ahead. Despite the coronavirus epidemic, Andrew Cuomo, the governor of New York, has said that the major tennis tournament the US Open will go ahead behind closed doors from August 31. Fans will not be permitted at the Flushing Meadows venue. Rashford grabs big win off the field A campaign launched by Manchester United forward Marcus Rashford has helped convince the British government to reverse a plan to cease funding meals for underprivileged children. The 22-year-old Rashford, who has already made 38 appearances for England, had written an open letter to parliamentarians on Sunday urging them to maintain the food-voucher program through the summer school holidays. In it, Rashford wrote of his own childhood experience of relying on free school lunches and food banks. His campaign drew support from numerous celebrities, the opposition, and even some members of the ruling Conservative Party. On Tuesday, Prime Minister Boris Johnson's spokesman announced that the government had backtracked on its plan to end the food-voucher program when the summer break begins. "Owing to the coronavirus pandemic, the prime minister fully understands that children and parents face an entirely unprecedented situation over the summer, to reflect this we will be providing a COVID summer food fund," the spokesman said. The program had been set up back in March when British schools were shut as part of a nationwide lockdown aimed at flattening the curve in the coronavirus outbreak in the country. June 13. New Zealand celebrated the return of top-level rugby with thousands of fans attending the country's first big match since the coronavirus lockdown. Bryan Gatland scored a last-minute drop-goal to hand the Otago Highlanders victory over the Waikato Chiefs. About 20,000 fans enjoyed the spectacle. The newly formed Super Rugby Aotearoa competition has replaced the normal Super Rugby season, which was suspended because of the pandemic. Super Rugby usually pits New Zealand teams against those from Australia, South Africa, Japan, and Argentina. June 12. Professional football returned in Italy on Friday night as Juventus drew 0-0 with AC Milan in the second leg of the Coppa Italia semifinal, a result which saw Juventus progress to the final. The match was the first to be played in Italy since the coronavirus pandemic halted the season on March 9 and took place behind closed doors. More than eight million people watched on television, the biggest audience for any match in Italy this season. The other semifinal tie between Napoli and Inter Milan will take place on Saturday evening (June 13) and the final will take place on Wednesday. The Italian top flight, Serie A, is due to return next weekend. June 11. The derby clash between Sevilla and Real Betis on Thursday evening will make Spain's La Liga the second major European league to resume play, after the Bundesliga. But the experience is set to be a little different. La Liga hopes to compensate for the enforced empty stadiums with virtual crowd visuals and noise, with TV viewers able to see to-scale images of seated fans wearing the home club's colours in "virtualized" stands. The audio technology will reportedly work in a similar way to a laughter track on a sitcom and some fan groups have expressed their displeasure. However, league president Javier Tebas has said he's hoping to see real fans back in the stadiums before the season ends, with grounds 10-15 percent full to accomodate social distancing. June 9. -- Madrid want to host rescheduled Champions League Final. The mayor of Madrid has claimed the city is being considered as a host for this season's Champions League final amid the possibility that original host Istanbul won't be able to fulfill its obligations due to the coronavirus pandemic. The final was due to be played at the Ataturk Stadium on May 30 until the tournament was postponed and Uefa's executive committee will meet on June 17 to determine a new plan. "I know steps are being taken in this regard and on behalf of the city council, I want to show my total and absolute support for the Champions League final being held in Madrid," Madrid mayor Jose Luis Martinez-Almeida told Spanish television station Trece. Reports suggest Uefa will explore options to host all remaining games in both the Champions and Europa leagues within the same cities. Lisbon, Moscow, and Frankfurt are three other cities that have reportedly made pitches to host the European club tournaments. While Lisbon appeared to be the favorite for the Champions League fixtures, prior to Madrid's interest, Frankfurt could be in line to host the remaining Europa League games, according to German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung. -- Höwedes terminates Lokomotiv Moscow contract to remain in Germany. 2014 World Cup winner Benedikt Höwedes has thanked Lokomotiv Moscow on his Twitter account for terminating his contract to allow him to remain in Germany. Lokomotiv said in their Twitter announcement that Höwedes' contract was terminated by mutual consent due to family reasons. "Thank you, [Lokomotiv]! it has been a pleasure," the 32-year-old defender said. Höwedes does not have a new team lined up in Germany, but there is speculation that he could return to Schalke, where he spent the first 10 years of his professional football career. The Russian Premier League is set to resume from its coronavirus hiatus on June 21 despite thousands of new cases per day. Höwedes has been critical of Russia's handling of the pandemic. -- Zero positive tests in Basketball Bundesliga. The BBL, Germany's top basketball league, said that all coronavirus tests it conducted after the start of its end-of-season tournament came back negative. Brose Bamberg, the final team to be tested, "tested completely negative," BBL hygiene officer Florian Kainzinger said on Twitter on Tuesday. The BBL began its 10-team Final Tournament over the weekend, scrapping the results of its regular season. All games are taking place in Munich's Audi Dome. -- Cricket ex-pros pressure ICC to ban ball saliva. Former cricket players Brett Lee of Australia and Sachin Tendulkar of India have stepped-up pressure to ban bowlers from applying saliva on cricket balls. The International Cricket Council is expected to order a temporary ban on using spit during matches as a way to combat the spread of the new coronavirus. Fast blowers sometimes use saliva or sweat to shine one side of the ball when bowling, making the ball swing in the air. Sweat, which is considered less effective, could still be allowed. "Maybe there are other ways that ICC needs to look in, assisting the bowler maybe in giving them something," Lee, a former Australian pace bowler, said on Tendulkar's 100MB online app. -- Relief fund for Brazilian clubs. Brazil's football federation (CBF) has established a relief fund of worth 100 million Brazilian real (€18.4 million, $20.7 million) to help top-flight clubs overcome the financial impact of the coronavirus pandemic. The CBF has also allocated 15 million Brazilian real for second division clubs. Football in Brazil has been suspended since march due to the pandemic. The country has more than 700,000 confirmed cases, second most in the world behind the United States, and more than 37,000 virus-related deaths, third behind the US and Britain. June 8. -- Champions League final in Lisbon, not Frankfurt. Reports in Germany suggest that UEFA are set to select Lisbon as the location for a possible Champions League final tournament in order to bring the 2019/20 competition to a close. German cities Munich and Frankfurt had been touted as options to host a mini-tournament, having already hosted Bundesliga "ghost games" and successfully implemented the German Football League's hygiene concept. Bayern Munich board member Oliver Kahn had signalled Munich's readiness, while Eintracht Frankfurt's director of sport Fredi Bobic said such an event, including stadia in Frankfurt, Mainz and Hoffenheim, would have been "a great chance". But, according to the Bild am Sonntag newspaper, UEFA appear to favor the Portuguese capital for financial reasons, although the fact that there are no Portuguese sides left in the tournament is also important. Speaking to Sky90 , Bobic hinted: "It's not just a sporting issue, it's a question of finances, too. And taxes can be a problem in Germany". A final decision is expected when UEFA's executive committee meets on June 17 and 18. The Champions League was originally due to take place in Istanbul on May 30, but the Turkish city is now out of the running. The competition was suspended indefinitely on March 13, with four last-16 second legs still to play, including Bayern's home game against Chelsea. UEFA now hopes to fulfil those fixtures, plus four quarterfinal matches, two semifinals (all one-legged) and the final, in a mini-tournament in one location - likely Lisbon, pictured above. June 7. -- Fans to return in November? Chief executive of England's governing body for rugby union, Bill Sweeney, is looking for clarity on whether the physical distancing rule can be reduced from two metres to one in order to allow 40,000 fans to attend England's international games in November. England are scheduled to host New Zealand, Argentina, Tonga and Australia at Twickenham Stadium, which has a capacity of 82,000. Elite sport in England was given approval to return this month, but without spectators in attendance. June 6. -- Premier League has zero positives. Following the latest batch of tests in the Premier League for COVID-19, the sixth round in total, there were zero positives from 1,195 tests taken on June 4 and 5. This now means a total of 6,274 tests have now been carried out with 13 positive results. All players and staff at Premier League clubs have been tested twice a week and teams are back in full training with the league set to return on June 17. June 4. -- NBA to return in July at Disney World — reports. The National Basketball Association's board of governors has approved a plan to resume its season amid the coronavirus pandemic, according to ESPN and the Athletic. The 22 teams still in contention for the playoffs will play eight regular season games for seeding purposes for the playoffs. The games will take place at the ESPN Wide World of Sports complex inside the Disney World resort in Orlando, Florida. The NBA has been on hiatus since June 11 after Utah Jazz center and French international Rudy Gobert tested positive for COVID-19. -- Dortmund sporting director criticizes players for breaking quarantine. Borussia Dortmund sporting director Michael Zorc said he held private discussions with players who broke hygiene rules by getting haircuts at home. "We talked to the players again and made it very clear to them how they should behave," Zorc said. Photos post on social media depicted Dortmund players, including England international Jadon Sancho, posing with a barber after a haircut at home. The players and the barber did not have masks on. Zorc said the players told him they had masks on during the haircut and only took them off for the photo. June 3. -- Tottenham confirm positive coronavirus test. Premier League side Tottenham Hotspur have confirmed that one individual at the club has tested positive for COVID-19. The unnamed person must now self-isolate for a period of seven days. In the latest round of testing across all 20 clubs in England's top flight, a total of 1,197 people were tested for the virus, with just the one test at Tottenham coming back positive. "[The person is] currently asymptomatic and will now self-isolate for seven days, in line with Premier League protocol, before undergoing further testing," the North London club said in a statement. There have been five rounds of testing in the Premier League, with the total of positive results now at 13 from 5,079 tests. The league is aiming to restart on June 17. June 2. -- Formula 1 season starts with Austrian double header. The curtailed Formula 1 season will start with two races behind closed doors in Austria on July 5 and July 12 followed by six other grands prix in Europe, the organizers said on Tuesday. "While we currently expect the season to commence without fans at our races we hope that over the coming months the situation will allow us to welcome them back once it is safe to do," said F1 chief executive Chase Carey. "But we know the return of Formula 1 will be a welcome boost to sports fans around the world". June 1. -- Bundesliga: thoughts turning to fans‘ return. Bayern Munich board member Oliver Kahn has said that the club has already begun considering concepts to allow supporters to return to Bundesliga stadia. "Of course we’ve had a look [at the options],”

dw-en Tuesday, June 23, 2020 7:49:00 PM EAT

Oliver Kahn told : “In excess of 200 players have undergone multiple testing. A total of 11 of these players have tested positive. All players who have tested positive have been self-isolated". June 17. -- Fans may be allowed at German Cup final. German football association (DFB) president Fritz Keller has said up to 1,000 people, including some fans, may be allowed in to the Olympic Stadium in Berlin to watch the German Cup final on July 4. Bundesliga matches are currently being played without fans but Keller said there may be some wriggle room for the clash between newly-crowned champions Bayern Munich and Bayer Leverkusen. "The (Berlin) Senate is responsible. In Berlin events with up to 1,000 people are allowed. If the Senate says, 'Yes, we can do it,' then let's have 1,000," Keller told German public TV late on Tuesday. June 16. -- US Open set to go ahead. Despite the coronavirus epidemic, Andrew Cuomo, the governor of New York, has said that the major tennis tournament the US Open will go ahead behind closed doors from August 31. Fans will not be permitted at the Flushing Meadows venue. The 2020 Wimbledon tournament was cancelled this year, while the French Open has rearranged to take place from September 20, just a week after the US Open's conclusion. Rashford grabs big win off the field A campaign launched by Manchester United forward Marcus Rashford has helped convince the British government to reverse a plan to cease funding meals for underprivileged children. The 22-year-old Rashford, who has already made 38 appearances for England, had written an open letter to parliamentarians on Sunday urging them to maintain the food-voucher program through the summer school holidays. In it, Rashford wrote of his own childhood experience of relying on free school lunches and food banks. His campaign drew support from numerous celebrities, the opposition, and even some members of the ruling Conservative Party. On Tuesday, Prime Minister Boris Johnson's spokesman announced that the government had backtracked on its plan to end the food-voucher program when the summer break begins. "Owing to the coronavirus pandemic, the prime minister fully understands that children and parents face an entirely unprecedented situation over the summer, to reflect this we will be providing a COVID summer food fund," the spokesman said. The program had been set up back in March when British schools were shut as part of a nationwide lockdown aimed at flattening the curve in the coronavirus outbreak in the country. June 13. New Zealand celebrated the return of top-level rugby with thousands of fans attending the country's first big match since the coronavirus lockdown. Bryan Gatland scored a last-minute drop-goal to hand the Otago Highlanders victory over the Waikato Chiefs. About 20,000 fans enjoyed the spectacle. The newly formed Super Rugby Aotearoa competition has replaced the normal Super Rugby season, which was suspended because of the pandemic. Super Rugby usually pits New Zealand teams against those from Australia, South Africa, Japan, and Argentina. June 12. Professional football returned in Italy on Friday night as Juventus drew 0-0 with AC Milan in the second leg of the Coppa Italia semifinal, a result which saw Juventus progress to the final. The match was the first to be played in Italy since the coronavirus pandemic halted the season on March 9 and took place behind closed doors. More than eight million people watched on television, the biggest audience for any match in Italy this season. The other semifinal tie between Napoli and Inter Milan will take place on Saturday evening (June 13) and the final will take place on Wednesday. The Italian top flight, Serie A, is due to return next weekend. June 11. The derby clash between Sevilla and Real Betis on Thursday evening will make Spain's La Liga the second major European league to resume play, after the Bundesliga. But the experience is set to be a little different. La Liga hopes to compensate for the enforced empty stadiums with virtual crowd visuals and noise, with TV viewers able to see to-scale images of seated fans wearing the home club's colours in "virtualized" stands. The audio technology will reportedly work in a similar way to a laughter track on a sitcom and some fan groups have expressed their displeasure. However, league president Javier Tebas has said he's hoping to see real fans back in the stadiums before the season ends, with grounds 10-15 percent full to accomodate social distancing. June 9. -- Madrid want to host rescheduled Champions League Final. The mayor of Madrid has claimed the city is being considered as a host for this season's Champions League final amid the possibility that original host Istanbul won't be able to fulfill its obligations due to the coronavirus pandemic. The final was due to be played at the Ataturk Stadium on May 30 until the tournament was postponed and Uefa's executive committee will meet on June 17 to determine a new plan. "I know steps are being taken in this regard and on behalf of the city council, I want to show my total and absolute support for the Champions League final being held in Madrid," Madrid mayor Jose Luis Martinez-Almeida told Spanish television station Trece. Reports suggest Uefa will explore options to host all remaining games in both the Champions and Europa leagues within the same cities. Lisbon, Moscow, and Frankfurt are three other cities that have reportedly made pitches to host the European club tournaments. While Lisbon appeared to be the favorite for the Champions League fixtures, prior to Madrid's interest, Frankfurt could be in line to host the remaining Europa League games, according to German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung. -- Höwedes terminates Lokomotiv Moscow contract to remain in Germany. 2014 World Cup winner Benedikt Höwedes has thanked Lokomotiv Moscow on his Twitter account for terminating his contract to allow him to remain in Germany. Lokomotiv said in their Twitter announcement that Höwedes' contract was terminated by mutual consent due to family reasons. "Thank you, [Lokomotiv]! it has been a pleasure," the 32-year-old defender said. Höwedes does not have a new team lined up in Germany, but there is speculation that he could return to Schalke, where he spent the first 10 years of his professional football career. The Russian Premier League is set to resume from its coronavirus hiatus on June 21 despite thousands of new cases per day. Höwedes has been critical of Russia's handling of the pandemic. -- Zero positive tests in Basketball Bundesliga. The BBL, Germany's top basketball league, said that all coronavirus tests it conducted after the start of its end-of-season tournament came back negative. Brose Bamberg, the final team to be tested, "tested completely negative," BBL hygiene officer Florian Kainzinger said on Twitter on Tuesday. The BBL began its 10-team Final Tournament over the weekend, scrapping the results of its regular season. All games are taking place in Munich's Audi Dome. -- Cricket ex-pros pressure ICC to ban ball saliva. Former cricket players Brett Lee of Australia and Sachin Tendulkar of India have stepped-up pressure to ban bowlers from applying saliva on cricket balls. The International Cricket Council is expected to order a temporary ban on using spit during matches as a way to combat the spread of the new coronavirus. Fast blowers sometimes use saliva or sweat to shine one side of the ball when bowling, making the ball swing in the air. Sweat, which is considered less effective, could still be allowed. "Maybe there are other ways that ICC needs to look in, assisting the bowler maybe in giving them something," Lee, a former Australian pace bowler, said on Tendulkar's 100MB online app. -- Relief fund for Brazilian clubs. Brazil's football federation (CBF) has established a relief fund of worth 100 million Brazilian real (€18.4 million, $20.7 million) to help top-flight clubs overcome the financial impact of the coronavirus pandemic. The CBF has also allocated 15 million Brazilian real for second division clubs. Football in Brazil has been suspended since march due to the pandemic. The country has more than 700,000 confirmed cases, second most in the world behind the United States, and more than 37,000 virus-related deaths, third behind the US and Britain. June 8. -- Champions League final in Lisbon, not Frankfurt. Reports in Germany suggest that UEFA are set to select Lisbon as the location for a possible Champions League final tournament in order to bring the 2019/20 competition to a close. German cities Munich and Frankfurt had been touted as options to host a mini-tournament, having already hosted Bundesliga "ghost games" and successfully implemented the German Football League's hygiene concept. Bayern Munich board member Oliver Kahn had signalled Munich's readiness, while Eintracht Frankfurt's director of sport Fredi Bobic said such an event, including stadia in Frankfurt, Mainz and Hoffenheim, would have been "a great chance". But, according to the Bild am Sonntag newspaper, UEFA appear to favor the Portuguese capital for financial reasons, although the fact that there are no Portuguese sides left in the tournament is also important. Speaking to Sky90 , Bobic hinted: "It's not just a sporting issue, it's a question of finances, too. And taxes can be a problem in Germany". A final decision is expected when UEFA's executive committee meets on June 17 and 18. The Champions League was originally due to take place in Istanbul on May 30, but the Turkish city is now out of the running. The competition was suspended indefinitely on March 13, with four last-16 second legs still to play, including Bayern's home game against Chelsea. UEFA now hopes to fulfil those fixtures, plus four quarterfinal matches, two semifinals (all one-legged) and the final, in a mini-tournament in one location - likely Lisbon, pictured above. June 7. -- Fans to return in November? Chief executive of England's governing body for rugby union, Bill Sweeney, is looking for clarity on whether the physical distancing rule can be reduced from two metres to one in order to allow 40,000 fans to attend England's international games in November. England are scheduled to host New Zealand, Argentina, Tonga and Australia at Twickenham Stadium, which has a capacity of 82,000. Elite sport in England was given approval to return this month, but without spectators in attendance. June 6. -- Premier League has zero positives. Following the latest batch of tests in the Premier League for COVID-19, the sixth round in total, there were zero positives from 1,195 tests taken on June 4 and 5. This now means a total of 6,274 tests have now been carried out with 13 positive results. All players and staff at Premier League clubs have been tested twice a week and teams are back in full training with the league set to return on June 17. June 4. -- NBA to return in July at Disney World — reports. The National Basketball Association's board of governors has approved a plan to resume its season amid the coronavirus pandemic, according to ESPN and the Athletic. The 22 teams still in contention for the playoffs will play eight regular season games for seeding purposes for the playoffs. The games will take place at the ESPN Wide World of Sports complex inside the Disney World resort in Orlando, Florida. The NBA has been on hiatus since June 11 after Utah Jazz center and French international Rudy Gobert tested positive for COVID-19. -- Dortmund sporting director criticizes players for breaking quarantine. Borussia Dortmund sporting director Michael Zorc said he held private discussions with players who broke hygiene rules by getting haircuts at home. "We talked to the players again and made it very clear to them how they should behave," Zorc said. Photos post on social media depicted Dortmund players, including England international Jadon Sancho, posing with a barber after a haircut at home. The players and the barber did not have masks on. Zorc said the players told him they had masks on during the haircut and only took them off for the photo. June 3. -- Tottenham confirm positive coronavirus test. Premier League side Tottenham Hotspur have confirmed that one individual at the club has tested positive for COVID-19. The unnamed person must now self-isolate for a period of seven days. In the latest round of testing across all 20 clubs in England's top flight, a total of 1,197 people were tested for the virus, with just the one test at Tottenham coming back positive. "[The person is] currently asymptomatic and will now self-isolate for seven days, in line with Premier League protocol, before undergoing further testing," the North London club said in a statement. There have been five rounds of testing in the Premier League, with the total of positive results now at 13 from 5,079 tests. The league is aiming to restart on June 17. June 2. -- Formula 1 season starts with Austrian double header. The curtailed Formula 1 season will start with two races behind closed doors in Austria on July 5 and July 12 followed by six other grands prix in Europe, the organizers said on Tuesday. "While we currently expect the season to commence without fans at our races we hope that over the coming months the situation will allow us to welcome them back once it is safe to do," said F1 chief executive Chase Carey. "But we know the return of Formula 1 will be a welcome boost to sports fans around the world". June 1. -- Bundesliga: thoughts turning to fans‘ return. Bayern Munich board member Oliver Kahn has said that the club has already begun considering concepts to allow supporters to return to Bundesliga stadia. "Of course we’ve had a look [at the options],”

deutschewelle-en Tuesday, June 23, 2020 4:26:00 PM EAT

Oliver Kahn told : “In excess of 200 players have undergone multiple testing. A total of 11 of these players have tested positive. All players who have tested positive have been self-isolated". June 17. -- Fans may be allowed at German Cup final. German football association (DFB) president Fritz Keller has said up to 1,000 people, including some fans, may be allowed in to the Olympic Stadium in Berlin to watch the German Cup final on July 4. Bundesliga matches are currently being played without fans but Keller said there may be some wriggle room for the clash between newly-crowned champions Bayern Munich and Bayer Leverkusen. "The (Berlin) Senate is responsible. In Berlin events with up to 1,000 people are allowed. If the Senate says, 'Yes, we can do it,' then let's have 1,000," Keller told German public TV late on Tuesday. June 16. -- US Open set to go ahead. Despite the coronavirus epidemic, Andrew Cuomo, the governor of New York, has said that the major tennis tournament the US Open will go ahead behind closed doors from August 31. Fans will not be permitted at the Flushing Meadows venue. Rashford grabs big win off the field A campaign launched by Manchester United forward Marcus Rashford has helped convince the British government to reverse a plan to cease funding meals for underprivileged children. The 22-year-old Rashford, who has already made 38 appearances for England, had written an open letter to parliamentarians on Sunday urging them to maintain the food-voucher program through the summer school holidays. In it, Rashford wrote of his own childhood experience of relying on free school lunches and food banks. His campaign drew support from numerous celebrities, the opposition, and even some members of the ruling Conservative Party. On Tuesday, Prime Minister Boris Johnson's spokesman announced that the government had backtracked on its plan to end the food-voucher program when the summer break begins. "Owing to the coronavirus pandemic, the prime minister fully understands that children and parents face an entirely unprecedented situation over the summer, to reflect this we will be providing a COVID summer food fund," the spokesman said. The program had been set up back in March when British schools were shut as part of a nationwide lockdown aimed at flattening the curve in the coronavirus outbreak in the country. June 13. New Zealand celebrated the return of top-level rugby with thousands of fans attending the country's first big match since the coronavirus lockdown. Bryan Gatland scored a last-minute drop-goal to hand the Otago Highlanders victory over the Waikato Chiefs. About 20,000 fans enjoyed the spectacle. The newly formed Super Rugby Aotearoa competition has replaced the normal Super Rugby season, which was suspended because of the pandemic. Super Rugby usually pits New Zealand teams against those from Australia, South Africa, Japan, and Argentina. June 12. Professional football returned in Italy on Friday night as Juventus drew 0-0 with AC Milan in the second leg of the Coppa Italia semifinal, a result which saw Juventus progress to the final. The match was the first to be played in Italy since the coronavirus pandemic halted the season on March 9 and took place behind closed doors. More than eight million people watched on television, the biggest audience for any match in Italy this season. The other semifinal tie between Napoli and Inter Milan will take place on Saturday evening (June 13) and the final will take place on Wednesday. The Italian top flight, Serie A, is due to return next weekend. June 11. The derby clash between Sevilla and Real Betis on Thursday evening will make Spain's La Liga the second major European league to resume play, after the Bundesliga. But the experience is set to be a little different. La Liga hopes to compensate for the enforced empty stadiums with virtual crowd visuals and noise, with TV viewers able to see to-scale images of seated fans wearing the home club's colours in "virtualized" stands. The audio technology will reportedly work in a similar way to a laughter track on a sitcom and some fan groups have expressed their displeasure. However, league president Javier Tebas has said he's hoping to see real fans back in the stadiums before the season ends, with grounds 10-15 percent full to accomodate social distancing. June 9. -- Madrid want to host rescheduled Champions League Final. The mayor of Madrid has claimed the city is being considered as a host for this season's Champions League final amid the possibility that original host Istanbul won't be able to fulfill its obligations due to the coronavirus pandemic. The final was due to be played at the Ataturk Stadium on May 30 until the tournament was postponed and Uefa's executive committee will meet on June 17 to determine a new plan. "I know steps are being taken in this regard and on behalf of the city council, I want to show my total and absolute support for the Champions League final being held in Madrid," Madrid mayor Jose Luis Martinez-Almeida told Spanish television station Trece. Reports suggest Uefa will explore options to host all remaining games in both the Champions and Europa leagues within the same cities. Lisbon, Moscow, and Frankfurt are three other cities that have reportedly made pitches to host the European club tournaments. While Lisbon appeared to be the favorite for the Champions League fixtures, prior to Madrid's interest, Frankfurt could be in line to host the remaining Europa League games, according to German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung. -- Höwedes terminates Lokomotiv Moscow contract to remain in Germany. 2014 World Cup winner Benedikt Höwedes has thanked Lokomotiv Moscow on his Twitter account for terminating his contract to allow him to remain in Germany. Lokomotiv said in their Twitter announcement that Höwedes' contract was terminated by mutual consent due to family reasons. "Thank you, [Lokomotiv]! it has been a pleasure," the 32-year-old defender said. Höwedes does not have a new team lined up in Germany, but there is speculation that he could return to Schalke, where he spent the first 10 years of his professional football career. The Russian Premier League is set to resume from its coronavirus hiatus on June 21 despite thousands of new cases per day. Höwedes has been critical of Russia's handling of the pandemic. -- Zero positive tests in Basketball Bundesliga. The BBL, Germany's top basketball league, said that all coronavirus tests it conducted after the start of its end-of-season tournament came back negative. Brose Bamberg, the final team to be tested, "tested completely negative," BBL hygiene officer Florian Kainzinger said on Twitter on Tuesday. The BBL began its 10-team Final Tournament over the weekend, scrapping the results of its regular season. All games are taking place in Munich's Audi Dome. -- Cricket ex-pros pressure ICC to ban ball saliva. Former cricket players Brett Lee of Australia and Sachin Tendulkar of India have stepped-up pressure to ban bowlers from applying saliva on cricket balls. The International Cricket Council is expected to order a temporary ban on using spit during matches as a way to combat the spread of the new coronavirus. Fast blowers sometimes use saliva or sweat to shine one side of the ball when bowling, making the ball swing in the air. Sweat, which is considered less effective, could still be allowed. "Maybe there are other ways that ICC needs to look in, assisting the bowler maybe in giving them something," Lee, a former Australian pace bowler, said on Tendulkar's 100MB online app. -- Relief fund for Brazilian clubs. Brazil's football federation (CBF) has established a relief fund of worth 100 million Brazilian real (€18.4 million, $20.7 million) to help top-flight clubs overcome the financial impact of the coronavirus pandemic. The CBF has also allocated 15 million Brazilian real for second division clubs. Football in Brazil has been suspended since march due to the pandemic. The country has more than 700,000 confirmed cases, second most in the world behind the United States, and more than 37,000 virus-related deaths, third behind the US and Britain. June 8. -- Champions League final in Lisbon, not Frankfurt. Reports in Germany suggest that UEFA are set to select Lisbon as the location for a possible Champions League final tournament in order to bring the 2019/20 competition to a close. German cities Munich and Frankfurt had been touted as options to host a mini-tournament, having already hosted Bundesliga "ghost games" and successfully implemented the German Football League's hygiene concept. Bayern Munich board member Oliver Kahn had signalled Munich's readiness, while Eintracht Frankfurt's director of sport Fredi Bobic said such an event, including stadia in Frankfurt, Mainz and Hoffenheim, would have been "a great chance". But, according to the Bild am Sonntag newspaper, UEFA appear to favor the Portuguese capital for financial reasons, although the fact that there are no Portuguese sides left in the tournament is also important. Speaking to Sky90 , Bobic hinted: "It's not just a sporting issue, it's a question of finances, too. And taxes can be a problem in Germany". A final decision is expected when UEFA's executive committee meets on June 17 and 18. The Champions League was originally due to take place in Istanbul on May 30, but the Turkish city is now out of the running. The competition was suspended indefinitely on March 13, with four last-16 second legs still to play, including Bayern's home game against Chelsea. UEFA now hopes to fulfil those fixtures, plus four quarterfinal matches, two semifinals (all one-legged) and the final, in a mini-tournament in one location - likely Lisbon, pictured above. June 7. -- Fans to return in November? Chief executive of England's governing body for rugby union, Bill Sweeney, is looking for clarity on whether the physical distancing rule can be reduced from two metres to one in order to allow 40,000 fans to attend England's international games in November. England are scheduled to host New Zealand, Argentina, Tonga and Australia at Twickenham Stadium, which has a capacity of 82,000. Elite sport in England was given approval to return this month, but without spectators in attendance. June 6. -- Premier League has zero positives. Following the latest batch of tests in the Premier League for COVID-19, the sixth round in total, there were zero positives from 1,195 tests taken on June 4 and 5. This now means a total of 6,274 tests have now been carried out with 13 positive results. All players and staff at Premier League clubs have been tested twice a week and teams are back in full training with the league set to return on June 17. June 4. -- NBA to return in July at Disney World — reports. The National Basketball Association's board of governors has approved a plan to resume its season amid the coronavirus pandemic, according to ESPN and the Athletic. The 22 teams still in contention for the playoffs will play eight regular season games for seeding purposes for the playoffs. The games will take place at the ESPN Wide World of Sports complex inside the Disney World resort in Orlando, Florida. The NBA has been on hiatus since June 11 after Utah Jazz center and French international Rudy Gobert tested positive for COVID-19. -- Dortmund sporting director criticizes players for breaking quarantine. Borussia Dortmund sporting director Michael Zorc said he held private discussions with players who broke hygiene rules by getting haircuts at home. "We talked to the players again and made it very clear to them how they should behave," Zorc said. Photos post on social media depicted Dortmund players, including England international Jadon Sancho, posing with a barber after a haircut at home. The players and the barber did not have masks on. Zorc said the players told him they had masks on during the haircut and only took them off for the photo. June 3. -- Tottenham confirm positive coronavirus test. Premier League side Tottenham Hotspur have confirmed that one individual at the club has tested positive for COVID-19. The unnamed person must now self-isolate for a period of seven days. In the latest round of testing across all 20 clubs in England's top flight, a total of 1,197 people were tested for the virus, with just the one test at Tottenham coming back positive. "[The person is] currently asymptomatic and will now self-isolate for seven days, in line with Premier League protocol, before undergoing further testing," the North London club said in a statement. There have been five rounds of testing in the Premier League, with the total of positive results now at 13 from 5,079 tests. The league is aiming to restart on June 17. June 2. -- Formula 1 season starts with Austrian double header. The curtailed Formula 1 season will start with two races behind closed doors in Austria on July 5 and July 12 followed by six other grands prix in Europe, the organizers said on Tuesday. "While we currently expect the season to commence without fans at our races we hope that over the coming months the situation will allow us to welcome them back once it is safe to do," said F1 chief executive Chase Carey. "But we know the return of Formula 1 will be a welcome boost to sports fans around the world". June 1. -- Bundesliga: thoughts turning to fans‘ return. Bayern Munich board member Oliver Kahn has said that the club has already begun considering concepts to allow supporters to return to Bundesliga stadia. "Of course we’ve had a look [at the options],”

dw-en Tuesday, June 23, 2020 12:25:00 PM EAT

Oliver Kahn told : “In excess of 200 players have undergone multiple testing. A total of 11 of these players have tested positive. All players who have tested positive have been self-isolated". June 17. -- Fans may be allowed at German Cup final. German football association (DFB) president Fritz Keller has said up to 1,000 people, including some fans, may be allowed in to the Olympic Stadium in Berlin to watch the German Cup final on July 4. Bundesliga matches are currently being played without fans but Keller said there may be some wriggle room for the clash between newly-crowned champions Bayern Munich and Bayer Leverkusen. "The (Berlin) Senate is responsible. In Berlin events with up to 1,000 people are allowed. If the Senate says, 'Yes, we can do it,' then let's have 1,000," Keller told German public TV late on Tuesday. June 16. -- US Open set to go ahead. Despite the coronavirus epidemic, Andrew Cuomo, the governor of New York, has said that the major tennis tournament the US Open will go ahead behind closed doors from August 31. Fans will not be permitted at the Flushing Meadows venue. Rashford grabs big win off the field A campaign launched by Manchester United forward Marcus Rashford has helped convince the British government to reverse a plan to cease funding meals for underprivileged children. The 22-year-old Rashford, who has already made 38 appearances for England, had written an open letter to parliamentarians on Sunday urging them to maintain the food-voucher program through the summer school holidays. In it, Rashford wrote of his own childhood experience of relying on free school lunches and food banks. His campaign drew support from numerous celebrities, the opposition, and even some members of the ruling Conservative Party. On Tuesday, Prime Minister Boris Johnson's spokesman announced that the government had backtracked on its plan to end the food-voucher program when the summer break begins. "Owing to the coronavirus pandemic, the prime minister fully understands that children and parents face an entirely unprecedented situation over the summer, to reflect this we will be providing a COVID summer food fund," the spokesman said. The program had been set up back in March when British schools were shut as part of a nationwide lockdown aimed at flattening the curve in the coronavirus outbreak in the country. June 13. New Zealand celebrated the return of top-level rugby with thousands of fans attending the country's first big match since the coronavirus lockdown. Bryan Gatland scored a last-minute drop-goal to hand the Otago Highlanders victory over the Waikato Chiefs. About 20,000 fans enjoyed the spectacle. The newly formed Super Rugby Aotearoa competition has replaced the normal Super Rugby season, which was suspended because of the pandemic. Super Rugby usually pits New Zealand teams against those from Australia, South Africa, Japan, and Argentina. June 12. Professional football returned in Italy on Friday night as Juventus drew 0-0 with AC Milan in the second leg of the Coppa Italia semifinal, a result which saw Juventus progress to the final. The match was the first to be played in Italy since the coronavirus pandemic halted the season on March 9 and took place behind closed doors. More than eight million people watched on television, the biggest audience for any match in Italy this season. The other semifinal tie between Napoli and Inter Milan will take place on Saturday evening (June 13) and the final will take place on Wednesday. The Italian top flight, Serie A, is due to return next weekend. June 11. The derby clash between Sevilla and Real Betis on Thursday evening will make Spain's La Liga the second major European league to resume play, after the Bundesliga. But the experience is set to be a little different. La Liga hopes to compensate for the enforced empty stadiums with virtual crowd visuals and noise, with TV viewers able to see to-scale images of seated fans wearing the home club's colours in "virtualized" stands. The audio technology will reportedly work in a similar way to a laughter track on a sitcom and some fan groups have expressed their displeasure. However, league president Javier Tebas has said he's hoping to see real fans back in the stadiums before the season ends, with grounds 10-15 percent full to accomodate social distancing. June 9. -- Madrid want to host rescheduled Champions League Final. The mayor of Madrid has claimed the city is being considered as a host for this season's Champions League final amid the possibility that original host Istanbul won't be able to fulfill its obligations due to the coronavirus pandemic. The final was due to be played at the Ataturk Stadium on May 30 until the tournament was postponed and Uefa's executive committee will meet on June 17 to determine a new plan. "I know steps are being taken in this regard and on behalf of the city council, I want to show my total and absolute support for the Champions League final being held in Madrid," Madrid mayor Jose Luis Martinez-Almeida told Spanish television station Trece. Reports suggest Uefa will explore options to host all remaining games in both the Champions and Europa leagues within the same cities. Lisbon, Moscow, and Frankfurt are three other cities that have reportedly made pitches to host the European club tournaments. While Lisbon appeared to be the favorite for the Champions League fixtures, prior to Madrid's interest, Frankfurt could be in line to host the remaining Europa League games, according to German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung. -- Höwedes terminates Lokomotiv Moscow contract to remain in Germany. 2014 World Cup winner Benedikt Höwedes has thanked Lokomotiv Moscow on his Twitter account for terminating his contract to allow him to remain in Germany. Lokomotiv said in their Twitter announcement that Höwedes' contract was terminated by mutual consent due to family reasons. "Thank you, [Lokomotiv]! it has been a pleasure," the 32-year-old defender said. Höwedes does not have a new team lined up in Germany, but there is speculation that he could return to Schalke, where he spent the first 10 years of his professional football career. The Russian Premier League is set to resume from its coronavirus hiatus on June 21 despite thousands of new cases per day. Höwedes has been critical of Russia's handling of the pandemic. -- Zero positive tests in Basketball Bundesliga. The BBL, Germany's top basketball league, said that all coronavirus tests it conducted after the start of its end-of-season tournament came back negative. Brose Bamberg, the final team to be tested, "tested completely negative," BBL hygiene officer Florian Kainzinger said on Twitter on Tuesday. The BBL began its 10-team Final Tournament over the weekend, scrapping the results of its regular season. All games are taking place in Munich's Audi Dome. -- Cricket ex-pros pressure ICC to ban ball saliva. Former cricket players Brett Lee of Australia and Sachin Tendulkar of India have stepped-up pressure to ban bowlers from applying saliva on cricket balls. The International Cricket Council is expected to order a temporary ban on using spit during matches as a way to combat the spread of the new coronavirus. Fast blowers sometimes use saliva or sweat to shine one side of the ball when bowling, making the ball swing in the air. Sweat, which is considered less effective, could still be allowed. "Maybe there are other ways that ICC needs to look in, assisting the bowler maybe in giving them something," Lee, a former Australian pace bowler, said on Tendulkar's 100MB online app. -- Relief fund for Brazilian clubs. Brazil's football federation (CBF) has established a relief fund of worth 100 million Brazilian real (€18.4 million, $20.7 million) to help top-flight clubs overcome the financial impact of the coronavirus pandemic. The CBF has also allocated 15 million Brazilian real for second division clubs. Football in Brazil has been suspended since march due to the pandemic. The country has more than 700,000 confirmed cases, second most in the world behind the United States, and more than 37,000 virus-related deaths, third behind the US and Britain. June 8. -- Champions League final in Lisbon, not Frankfurt. Reports in Germany suggest that UEFA are set to select Lisbon as the location for a possible Champions League final tournament in order to bring the 2019/20 competition to a close. German cities Munich and Frankfurt had been touted as options to host a mini-tournament, having already hosted Bundesliga "ghost games" and successfully implemented the German Football League's hygiene concept. Bayern Munich board member Oliver Kahn had signalled Munich's readiness, while Eintracht Frankfurt's director of sport Fredi Bobic said such an event, including stadia in Frankfurt, Mainz and Hoffenheim, would have been "a great chance". But, according to the Bild am Sonntag newspaper, UEFA appear to favor the Portuguese capital for financial reasons, although the fact that there are no Portuguese sides left in the tournament is also important. Speaking to Sky90 , Bobic hinted: "It's not just a sporting issue, it's a question of finances, too. And taxes can be a problem in Germany". A final decision is expected when UEFA's executive committee meets on June 17 and 18. The Champions League was originally due to take place in Istanbul on May 30, but the Turkish city is now out of the running. The competition was suspended indefinitely on March 13, with four last-16 second legs still to play, including Bayern's home game against Chelsea. UEFA now hopes to fulfil those fixtures, plus four quarterfinal matches, two semifinals (all one-legged) and the final, in a mini-tournament in one location - likely Lisbon, pictured above. June 7. -- Fans to return in November? Chief executive of England's governing body for rugby union, Bill Sweeney, is looking for clarity on whether the physical distancing rule can be reduced from two metres to one in order to allow 40,000 fans to attend England's international games in November. England are scheduled to host New Zealand, Argentina, Tonga and Australia at Twickenham Stadium, which has a capacity of 82,000. Elite sport in England was given approval to return this month, but without spectators in attendance. June 6. -- Premier League has zero positives. Following the latest batch of tests in the Premier League for COVID-19, the sixth round in total, there were zero positives from 1,195 tests taken on June 4 and 5. This now means a total of 6,274 tests have now been carried out with 13 positive results. All players and staff at Premier League clubs have been tested twice a week and teams are back in full training with the league set to return on June 17. June 4. -- NBA to return in July at Disney World — reports. The National Basketball Association's board of governors has approved a plan to resume its season amid the coronavirus pandemic, according to ESPN and the Athletic. The 22 teams still in contention for the playoffs will play eight regular season games for seeding purposes for the playoffs. The games will take place at the ESPN Wide World of Sports complex inside the Disney World resort in Orlando, Florida. The NBA has been on hiatus since June 11 after Utah Jazz center and French international Rudy Gobert tested positive for COVID-19. -- Dortmund sporting director criticizes players for breaking quarantine. Borussia Dortmund sporting director Michael Zorc said he held private discussions with players who broke hygiene rules by getting haircuts at home. "We talked to the players again and made it very clear to them how they should behave," Zorc said. Photos post on social media depicted Dortmund players, including England international Jadon Sancho, posing with a barber after a haircut at home. The players and the barber did not have masks on. Zorc said the players told him they had masks on during the haircut and only took them off for the photo. June 3. -- Tottenham confirm positive coronavirus test. Premier League side Tottenham Hotspur have confirmed that one individual at the club has tested positive for COVID-19. The unnamed person must now self-isolate for a period of seven days. In the latest round of testing across all 20 clubs in England's top flight, a total of 1,197 people were tested for the virus, with just the one test at Tottenham coming back positive. "[The person is] currently asymptomatic and will now self-isolate for seven days, in line with Premier League protocol, before undergoing further testing," the North London club said in a statement. There have been five rounds of testing in the Premier League, with the total of positive results now at 13 from 5,079 tests. The league is aiming to restart on June 17. June 2. -- Formula 1 season starts with Austrian double header. The curtailed Formula 1 season will start with two races behind closed doors in Austria on July 5 and July 12 followed by six other grands prix in Europe, the organizers said on Tuesday. "While we currently expect the season to commence without fans at our races we hope that over the coming months the situation will allow us to welcome them back once it is safe to do," said F1 chief executive Chase Carey. "But we know the return of Formula 1 will be a welcome boost to sports fans around the world". June 1. -- Bundesliga: thoughts turning to fans‘ return. Bayern Munich board member Oliver Kahn has said that the club has already begun considering concepts to allow supporters to return to Bundesliga stadia. "Of course we’ve had a look [at the options],”

deutschewelle-en Sunday, June 21, 2020 11:34:00 PM EAT

Oliver Kahn afirmou ( about Leroy Sane ) : «Sane tem contrato com o Manchester City. Não tenho mais nada a dizer sobre o assunto. Iremos falar de transferências quando chegar o momento certo. Talvez seja o momento de agir com muita prudência, particularmente em termos económicos»

abola Sunday, June 21, 2020 9:44:00 PM EAT

Oliver Kahn told : “In excess of 200 players have undergone multiple testing. A total of 11 of these players have tested positive. All players who have tested positive have been self-isolated". June 17. -- Fans may be allowed at German Cup final. German football association (DFB) president Fritz Keller has said up to 1,000 people, including some fans, may be allowed in to the Olympic Stadium in Berlin to watch the German Cup final on July 4. Bundesliga matches are currently being played without fans but Keller said there may be some wriggle room for the clash between newly-crowned champions Bayern Munich and Bayer Leverkusen. "The (Berlin) Senate is responsible. In Berlin events with up to 1,000 people are allowed. If the Senate says, 'Yes, we can do it,' then let's have 1,000," Keller told German public TV late on Tuesday. June 16. -- US Open set to go ahead. Despite the coronavirus epidemic, Andrew Cuomo, the governor of New York, has said that the major tennis tournament the US Open will go ahead behind closed doors from August 31. Fans will not be permitted at the Flushing Meadows venue. Rashford grabs big win off the field A campaign launched by Manchester United forward Marcus Rashford has helped convince the British government to reverse a plan to cease funding meals for underprivileged children. The 22-year-old Rashford, who has already made 38 appearances for England, had written an open letter to parliamentarians on Sunday urging them to maintain the food-voucher program through the summer school holidays. In it, Rashford wrote of his own childhood experience of relying on free school lunches and food banks. His campaign drew support from numerous celebrities, the opposition, and even some members of the ruling Conservative Party. On Tuesday, Prime Minister Boris Johnson's spokesman announced that the government had backtracked on its plan to end the food-voucher program when the summer break begins. "Owing to the coronavirus pandemic, the prime minister fully understands that children and parents face an entirely unprecedented situation over the summer, to reflect this we will be providing a COVID summer food fund," the spokesman said. The program had been set up back in March when British schools were shut as part of a nationwide lockdown aimed at flattening the curve in the coronavirus outbreak in the country. June 13. New Zealand celebrated the return of top-level rugby with thousands of fans attending the country's first big match since the coronavirus lockdown. Bryan Gatland scored a last-minute drop-goal to hand the Otago Highlanders victory over the Waikato Chiefs. About 20,000 fans enjoyed the spectacle. The newly formed Super Rugby Aotearoa competition has replaced the normal Super Rugby season, which was suspended because of the pandemic. Super Rugby usually pits New Zealand teams against those from Australia, South Africa, Japan, and Argentina. June 12. Professional football returned in Italy on Friday night as Juventus drew 0-0 with AC Milan in the second leg of the Coppa Italia semifinal, a result which saw Juventus progress to the final. The match was the first to be played in Italy since the coronavirus pandemic halted the season on March 9 and took place behind closed doors. More than eight million people watched on television, the biggest audience for any match in Italy this season. The other semifinal tie between Napoli and Inter Milan will take place on Saturday evening (June 13) and the final will take place on Wednesday. The Italian top flight, Serie A, is due to return next weekend. June 11. The derby clash between Sevilla and Real Betis on Thursday evening will make Spain's La Liga the second major European league to resume play, after the Bundesliga. But the experience is set to be a little different. La Liga hopes to compensate for the enforced empty stadiums with virtual crowd visuals and noise, with TV viewers able to see to-scale images of seated fans wearing the home club's colours in "virtualized" stands. The audio technology will reportedly work in a similar way to a laughter track on a sitcom and some fan groups have expressed their displeasure. However, league president Javier Tebas has said he's hoping to see real fans back in the stadiums before the season ends, with grounds 10-15 percent full to accomodate social distancing. June 9. -- Madrid want to host rescheduled Champions League Final. The mayor of Madrid has claimed the city is being considered as a host for this season's Champions League final amid the possibility that original host Istanbul won't be able to fulfill its obligations due to the coronavirus pandemic. The final was due to be played at the Ataturk Stadium on May 30 until the tournament was postponed and Uefa's executive committee will meet on June 17 to determine a new plan. "I know steps are being taken in this regard and on behalf of the city council, I want to show my total and absolute support for the Champions League final being held in Madrid," Madrid mayor Jose Luis Martinez-Almeida told Spanish television station Trece. Reports suggest Uefa will explore options to host all remaining games in both the Champions and Europa leagues within the same cities. Lisbon, Moscow, and Frankfurt are three other cities that have reportedly made pitches to host the European club tournaments. While Lisbon appeared to be the favorite for the Champions League fixtures, prior to Madrid's interest, Frankfurt could be in line to host the remaining Europa League games, according to German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung. -- Höwedes terminates Lokomotiv Moscow contract to remain in Germany. 2014 World Cup winner Benedikt Höwedes has thanked Lokomotiv Moscow on his Twitter account for terminating his contract to allow him to remain in Germany. Lokomotiv said in their Twitter announcement that Höwedes' contract was terminated by mutual consent due to family reasons. "Thank you, [Lokomotiv]! it has been a pleasure," the 32-year-old defender said. Höwedes does not have a new team lined up in Germany, but there is speculation that he could return to Schalke, where he spent the first 10 years of his professional football career. The Russian Premier League is set to resume from its coronavirus hiatus on June 21 despite thousands of new cases per day. Höwedes has been critical of Russia's handling of the pandemic. -- Zero positive tests in Basketball Bundesliga. The BBL, Germany's top basketball league, said that all coronavirus tests it conducted after the start of its end-of-season tournament came back negative. Brose Bamberg, the final team to be tested, "tested completely negative," BBL hygiene officer Florian Kainzinger said on Twitter on Tuesday. The BBL began its 10-team Final Tournament over the weekend, scrapping the results of its regular season. All games are taking place in Munich's Audi Dome. -- Cricket ex-pros pressure ICC to ban ball saliva. Former cricket players Brett Lee of Australia and Sachin Tendulkar of India have stepped-up pressure to ban bowlers from applying saliva on cricket balls. The International Cricket Council is expected to order a temporary ban on using spit during matches as a way to combat the spread of the new coronavirus. Fast blowers sometimes use saliva or sweat to shine one side of the ball when bowling, making the ball swing in the air. Sweat, which is considered less effective, could still be allowed. "Maybe there are other ways that ICC needs to look in, assisting the bowler maybe in giving them something," Lee, a former Australian pace bowler, said on Tendulkar's 100MB online app. -- Relief fund for Brazilian clubs. Brazil's football federation (CBF) has established a relief fund of worth 100 million Brazilian real (€18.4 million, $20.7 million) to help top-flight clubs overcome the financial impact of the coronavirus pandemic. The CBF has also allocated 15 million Brazilian real for second division clubs. Football in Brazil has been suspended since march due to the pandemic. The country has more than 700,000 confirmed cases, second most in the world behind the United States, and more than 37,000 virus-related deaths, third behind the US and Britain. June 8. -- Champions League final in Lisbon, not Frankfurt. Reports in Germany suggest that UEFA are set to select Lisbon as the location for a possible Champions League final tournament in order to bring the 2019/20 competition to a close. German cities Munich and Frankfurt had been touted as options to host a mini-tournament, having already hosted Bundesliga "ghost games" and successfully implemented the German Football League's hygiene concept. Bayern Munich board member Oliver Kahn had signalled Munich's readiness, while Eintracht Frankfurt's director of sport Fredi Bobic said such an event, including stadia in Frankfurt, Mainz and Hoffenheim, would have been "a great chance". But, according to the Bild am Sonntag newspaper, UEFA appear to favor the Portuguese capital for financial reasons, although the fact that there are no Portuguese sides left in the tournament is also important. Speaking to Sky90 , Bobic hinted: "It's not just a sporting issue, it's a question of finances, too. And taxes can be a problem in Germany". A final decision is expected when UEFA's executive committee meets on June 17 and 18. The Champions League was originally due to take place in Istanbul on May 30, but the Turkish city is now out of the running. The competition was suspended indefinitely on March 13, with four last-16 second legs still to play, including Bayern's home game against Chelsea. UEFA now hopes to fulfil those fixtures, plus four quarterfinal matches, two semifinals (all one-legged) and the final, in a mini-tournament in one location - likely Lisbon, pictured above. June 7. -- Fans to return in November? Chief executive of England's governing body for rugby union, Bill Sweeney, is looking for clarity on whether the physical distancing rule can be reduced from two metres to one in order to allow 40,000 fans to attend England's international games in November. England are scheduled to host New Zealand, Argentina, Tonga and Australia at Twickenham Stadium, which has a capacity of 82,000. Elite sport in England was given approval to return this month, but without spectators in attendance. June 6. -- Premier League has zero positives. Following the latest batch of tests in the Premier League for COVID-19, the sixth round in total, there were zero positives from 1,195 tests taken on June 4 and 5. This now means a total of 6,274 tests have now been carried out with 13 positive results. All players and staff at Premier League clubs have been tested twice a week and teams are back in full training with the league set to return on June 17. June 4. -- NBA to return in July at Disney World — reports. The National Basketball Association's board of governors has approved a plan to resume its season amid the coronavirus pandemic, according to ESPN and the Athletic. The 22 teams still in contention for the playoffs will play eight regular season games for seeding purposes for the playoffs. The games will take place at the ESPN Wide World of Sports complex inside the Disney World resort in Orlando, Florida. The NBA has been on hiatus since June 11 after Utah Jazz center and French international Rudy Gobert tested positive for COVID-19. -- Dortmund sporting director criticizes players for breaking quarantine. Borussia Dortmund sporting director Michael Zorc said he held private discussions with players who broke hygiene rules by getting haircuts at home. "We talked to the players again and made it very clear to them how they should behave," Zorc said. Photos post on social media depicted Dortmund players, including England international Jadon Sancho, posing with a barber after a haircut at home. The players and the barber did not have masks on. Zorc said the players told him they had masks on during the haircut and only took them off for the photo. June 3. -- Tottenham confirm positive coronavirus test. Premier League side Tottenham Hotspur have confirmed that one individual at the club has tested positive for COVID-19. The unnamed person must now self-isolate for a period of seven days. In the latest round of testing across all 20 clubs in England's top flight, a total of 1,197 people were tested for the virus, with just the one test at Tottenham coming back positive. "[The person is] currently asymptomatic and will now self-isolate for seven days, in line with Premier League protocol, before undergoing further testing," the North London club said in a statement. There have been five rounds of testing in the Premier League, with the total of positive results now at 13 from 5,079 tests. The league is aiming to restart on June 17. June 2. -- Formula 1 season starts with Austrian double header. The curtailed Formula 1 season will start with two races behind closed doors in Austria on July 5 and July 12 followed by six other grands prix in Europe, the organizers said on Tuesday. "While we currently expect the season to commence without fans at our races we hope that over the coming months the situation will allow us to welcome them back once it is safe to do," said F1 chief executive Chase Carey. "But we know the return of Formula 1 will be a welcome boost to sports fans around the world". June 1. -- Bundesliga: thoughts turning to fans‘ return. Bayern Munich board member Oliver Kahn has said that the club has already begun considering concepts to allow supporters to return to Bundesliga stadia. "Of course we’ve had a look [at the options],”

deutschewelle-en Saturday, June 20, 2020 11:23:00 PM EAT

Oliver Kahn said : "He knows that Bayern Munich are measured by maximum success,"

dw-en Wednesday, June 17, 2020 12:38:00 AM EAT

Oliver Kahn alisema : "Kwa urahisi sana naweza kujiweka katika hali ambayo Neuer yuko sasa hivi,"

deutschewelle-kisiwahili Thursday, May 21, 2020 4:55:00 PM EAT

Oliver Kahn aliongeza : "Tunaelewa mwelekeo anaotaka kuchukua Manuel katika kipindi hiki cha taaluma yake na kile kilicho muhimu kwake. Ametuma ujumbe mzito na nyongeza hii ya kandarasi,"

deutschewelle-kisiwahili Thursday, May 21, 2020 4:55:00 PM EAT

Oliver Kahn said ( about Alphonso Davies ) : "Alphonso Davies is a player who has already achieved a high level of performance at a young age and at the same time still has great potential for development," "Anyone who can consistently play at the top level at FC Bayern at such a young age can have a great career ahead of them"

CBC Tuesday, April 21, 2020 1:04:00 AM EAT

Oliver Kahn said ( about Alphonso Davies ) : “Alphonso Davies is a player who has already achieved a high level of performance at a young age and at the same time still has great potential for development,” “Anyone who can consistently play at the top level at FC Bayern at such a young age can have a great career ahead of them”

barrie Monday, April 20, 2020 9:06:00 PM EAT

Oliver Kahn souligné : «Pour le FC Bayern, il est important que l'entraîneur comprenne aussi la philosophie du club»

la-croix Friday, April 3, 2020 9:07:00 PM EAT

Oliver Kahn souligné : "Pour le FC Bayern, il est important que l'entraîneur comprenne aussi la philosophie du club"

tv5 Friday, April 3, 2020 8:11:00 PM EAT

Oliver Kahn souligné : "Pour le FC Bayern, il est important que l'entraîneur comprenne aussi la philosophie du club"

afp-fr Friday, April 3, 2020 7:18:00 PM EAT

Oliver Kahn وأوضح : "بالتعاقد مع ألكسندر نوبل، نضم بذلك حارس مرمى يتمتع بموهبة كبيرة، وستكون لديه فرصة التطور خلف نوير والتعلم منه. فلا يحظى الكثيرون بفرصة العمل كل يوم مع أفضل حارس مرمى في العالم"

elmogaz Wednesday, April 1, 2020 3:13:00 PM EAT

Oliver Kahn said : “Bayern is deep in my DNA,”

forbes Friday, February 21, 2020 2:10:00 PM EAT

Oliver Kahn said : “Bayern is deep in my DNA,”

forbes Friday, February 21, 2020 2:10:00 PM EAT

Oliver Kahn said ( about Manuel Neuer ) : “We all know what a talent Nübel is” “It was a very shrewd, wise and strategic decision to sign such a fantastic goalkeeper when he became available. He’s ready to learn from Manuel Neuer, about whose qualities we need not say anything more”

forbes Wednesday, January 15, 2020 11:38:00 AM EAT

Oliver Kahn said ( about Manuel Neuer ) : “We all know what a talent Nübel is” “It was a very shrewd, wise and strategic decision to sign such a fantastic goalkeeper when he became available. He’s ready to learn from Manuel Neuer, about whose qualities we need not say anything more”

forbes Wednesday, January 15, 2020 11:38:00 AM EAT

Oliver Kahn said ( about Manuel Neuer ) : “If Alexander Nübel is available, we have to sign such an outstanding goalkeeper,” “He showed that he is ready to step back and learn from Manuel Neuer”

firstpost Tuesday, January 7, 2020 7:02:00 PM EAT

Oliver Kahn sagte : „Die Erfolgsgeschichte weiter- und fortzuschreiben, das ist schon ziemlich reizvoll, und vielleicht noch eine Schippe draufzulegen“

ostbelgiendirekt Tuesday, January 7, 2020 6:04:00 PM EAT

Oliver Kahn sagte : „sich in einigen Jahren als absolute Nummer eins. Seinen Weg gilt es zu akzeptieren“

ostbelgiendirekt Tuesday, January 7, 2020 6:04:00 PM EAT

Oliver Kahn sagte : „Dieses Paket lässt mich diese Aufgabe mit großem Selbstbewusstsein angehen“

ostbelgiendirekt Tuesday, January 7, 2020 6:04:00 PM EAT

Oliver Kahn alisema : "Ni heshima kubwa kwangu kwamba nitaaminiwa kushika wadhifa katika ofisi kama mwanachama wa bodi ya bayern Munich na baadaye katika ofisi ya mtendaji mkuu CEO na mwenyekiti wa bodi ya utendaji ya Bayern Munich,"

deutschewelle-kisiwahili Friday, August 30, 2019 4:57:00 PM EAT

Oliver Kahn amesema : "Nina mahusiano ya karibu na klabu hii na imejenga maisha yangu," "Mafanikio ya kimichezo na kifedha, mshikamano na mashabiki, uendeshaji wenye kuwajibika kuelekea katika historia ya klabu hiyo na maadili, hivi ndivyo Bayern inavyovisimamia"

deutschewelle-kisiwahili Friday, August 30, 2019 4:57:00 PM EAT

Oliver Kahn said : “For football, the pandemic is an immense challenge. Since 8 March 2020, we have had very few matches with spectators in the Allianz Arena,”

punchng Saturday, November 27, 2021 12:26:00 AM EAT

Oliver Kahn sagte : „klare Kriterien, an denen wir Partnerschaften ausrichten“

ostbelgiendirekt Friday, November 26, 2021 7:57:00 PM EAT

Oliver Kahn said : “For football, the pandemic is an immense challenge. Since March 8, 2020, we have had very few matches with spectators in the Allianz Arena,”

themalaymailonline Friday, November 26, 2021 6:09:00 PM EAT

Oliver Kahn said : "For football, the pandemic is an immense challenge. Since 8 March 2020, we have had very few matches with spectators in the Allianz Arena,"

afp-en Friday, November 26, 2021 1:15:00 PM EAT

Oliver Kahn told : "We are at the moment experiencing the most fundamental change that football has ever experienced,"

nampa Friday, November 26, 2021 12:56:00 AM EAT

Oliver Kahn said : “As chairman, Karl-Heinz Rummenigge has done great work for Bayern for over 20 years,”

guardian-ng Tuesday, June 1, 2021 8:39:00 PM EAT

Oliver Kahn said : “In the past 18 months, I have become acquainted with all facets of the club and know very well how FC Bayern works and what challenges lie ahead,”

expressindia Tuesday, June 1, 2021 6:19:00 PM EAT

Oliver Kahn said : “As chairman, Karl-Heinz Rummenigge has done great work for Bayern for over 20 years,”

guardian-ng Tuesday, June 1, 2021 3:48:00 PM EAT

Oliver Kahn said : “In the past 18 months, I have become acquainted with all facets of the club and know very well how FC Bayern works and what challenges lie ahead,”

eagletribune Tuesday, June 1, 2021 3:26:00 PM EAT

Oliver Kahn disse ( about Karl Heinz Rummenigge ) : "Rummenigge fez um grande trabalho no Bayern durante mais de 20 anos. Durante este período, o clube ganhou tudo o que havia para ganhar. Agora é a minha vez de assumir essa responsabilidade. Nos últimos 18 meses tive de conhecer todas as facetas do clube e conheço muito bem como trabalha o Bayern e que desafios vamos enfrentar"

bemparana Tuesday, June 1, 2021 3:25:00 PM EAT

Oliver Kahn said : "As chairman, Karl-Heinz Rummenigge has done great work for Bayern for over 20 years,"

afp-en Tuesday, June 1, 2021 1:30:00 PM EAT

Oliver Kahn said : "He set up a monument for himself and the entire team"

sinacom-en Sunday, May 16, 2021 5:19:00 AM EAT

Oliver Kahn said : "I have to admit, I’m partial," "Winning the cup before you come to Munich isn’t such a bad idea"

deutschewelle-en Friday, May 14, 2021 1:24:00 PM EAT

Oliver Kahn told : “Sorry, but those who are talking about (Haaland’s transfer) still haven’t understood the situation,”

thestarkenya Friday, May 14, 2021 12:59:00 AM EAT

Oliver Kahn added ( about Robert Lewandowski ) : “Robert still has a two-year contract here. His performances cannot be questioned,” “He can keep his level for a few more years. That’s enough reason not to think of Haaland”

thestarkenya Friday, May 14, 2021 12:59:00 AM EAT

Oliver Kahn وقال : “روبرت لا يزال يرتبط بعقد لمدة عامين هنا. مستواه لا يمكن التشكيك فيه. إنه يستطيع الحفاظ على مستواه لسنوات مقبلة. هذا سبب يكفي لعدم التفكير في هالاند”

mangish Thursday, May 13, 2021 6:21:00 PM EAT

Oliver Kahn told : "Sorry, but those who are talking about (Haaland's transfer) still haven't understood the situation,"

thepeninsulaqatar Thursday, May 13, 2021 11:05:00 AM EAT

Oliver Kahn added ( about Robert Lewandowski ) : "Robert still has a two-year contract here. His performances cannot be questioned," "He can keep his level for a few more years. That's enough reason not to think of Haaland"

thepeninsulaqatar Thursday, May 13, 2021 11:05:00 AM EAT

Oliver Kahn explicou : «Sinto muito, quem fala nisso é que ainda não percebeu a situação. O pacote completo custa, em nosso entender, mais de 100 milhões de euros. Para o Bayern é algo inimaginável»

abola Wednesday, May 12, 2021 12:52:00 PM EAT

Oliver Kahn commenté : «C'est une performance extraordinaire. On ne s'y habitue pas»

lesoirdalgerie Monday, May 10, 2021 2:12:00 PM EAT

Oliver Kahn said : “We watched the Leipzig game together, the atmosphere was great,” “You don’t get used to it, it’s an incredible achievement. Now we can do something next season that no team in the world has ever done: become champions 10 times in a row”

kuwaittimes Sunday, May 9, 2021 6:16:00 PM EAT

Oliver Kahn وأوضح : "نحن دائما في مرحلة جلد الذات ودائما نطرح الأسئلة"

shorouknews Saturday, May 8, 2021 10:46:00 PM EAT

Oliver Kahn said : "We watched the Leipzig game together, the atmosphere was great,"

afp-en Saturday, May 8, 2021 9:44:00 PM EAT

Oliver Kahn estimé ( about Julian Nagelsmann ) : "La durée du contrat de Julian, qui est de cinq ans, montre à elle seule à quel point il s'identifie au FC Bayern. Je suis convaincu que nous allons façonner l'avenir sportif du Bayern avec Julian Nagelsmann avec beaucoup de succès"

libe Thursday, April 29, 2021 7:51:00 PM EAT

Oliver Kahn estimé ( about Julian Nagelsmann ) : "La durée du contrat de Julian, qui est de cinq ans, montre à elle seule à quel point il s'identifie au FC Bayern. Je suis convaincu que nous allons façonner l'avenir sportif du Bayern avec Julian Nagelsmann avec beaucoup de succès"

tv5 Tuesday, April 27, 2021 8:09:00 PM EAT

Oliver Kahn estimé ( about Julian Nagelsmann ) : "La durée du contrat de Julian, qui est de cinq ans, montre à elle seule à quel point il s'identifie au FC Bayern. Je suis convaincu que nous allons façonner l'avenir sportif du Bayern avec Julian Nagelsmann avec beaucoup de succès"

afp-fr Tuesday, April 27, 2021 7:06:00 PM EAT

Oliver Kahn added ( about Julian Nagelsmann ) : “Julian’s contract length of five years alone shows how committed he is to FC Bayern. I am convinced that FC Bayern’s sporting future will be a very successful one with Julian Nagelsmann,”

dailytrust Tuesday, April 27, 2021 4:14:00 PM EAT

Oliver Kahn told : “Sir Alex Ferguson is still mad at me today,”

irishmirror Friday, February 19, 2021 6:50:00 PM EAT

Oliver Kahn said ( about Alphonso Davies ) : “Alphonso Davies is a player who has already achieved a high level of performance at a young age and at the same time still has great potential for development,”

barrie Tuesday, December 29, 2020 7:04:00 PM EAT

Oliver Kahn prédit : "C'est un modèle absolu de professionnalisme, une condition pour rester très longtemps au plus haut niveau"

france24 Friday, December 18, 2020 1:11:00 AM EAT

Oliver Kahn said : "for more than ten years with great football"

ahram-EN Tuesday, November 24, 2020 11:59:00 AM EAT

Oliver Kahn said : “for more than ten years with great football”

themalaymailonline Tuesday, November 24, 2020 8:54:00 AM EAT

Oliver Kahn said : "for more than ten years with great football"

afp-en Tuesday, November 24, 2020 5:15:00 AM EAT

Oliver Kahn told : "You have to look at the situation, we no longer live in the same football world as it was before the coronavirus. It's completely different,"

ahram-EN Saturday, September 19, 2020 6:14:00 PM EAT

Oliver Kahn added : "We are well advised to keep calm,"

ahram-EN Saturday, September 19, 2020 6:14:00 PM EAT

Oliver Kahn told : "You have to look at the situation, we no longer live in the same football world as it was before the coronavirus. It's completely different,"

polandsun Saturday, September 19, 2020 5:54:00 PM EAT

Oliver Kahn added : "We are well advised to keep calm,"

polandsun Saturday, September 19, 2020 5:54:00 PM EAT

Oliver Kahn told : "You have to look at the situation, we no longer live in the same football world as it was before the coronavirus. It's completely different,"

yahoo-au Saturday, September 19, 2020 4:51:00 PM EAT

Oliver Kahn added : "We are well advised to keep calm,"

yahoo-au Saturday, September 19, 2020 4:51:00 PM EAT

Oliver Kahn told : "You have to look at the situation, we no longer live in the same football world as it was before the coronavirus. It's completely different,"

afp-en Saturday, September 19, 2020 4:33:00 PM EAT

Oliver Kahn added : "We are well advised to keep calm,"

afp-en Saturday, September 19, 2020 4:33:00 PM EAT

Oliver Kahn said : “Just take a look at his achievements,”

independent-UG Tuesday, August 25, 2020 3:38:00 PM EAT

Oliver Kahn said : "Just take a look at his achievements,"

timesofoman Tuesday, August 25, 2020 10:24:00 AM EAT

Oliver Kahn said : “He is a player who has developed in the last few months,”

vanguardngr Friday, August 21, 2020 4:35:00 AM EAT

Oliver Kahn أضاف : “الفريق يستمد قوته من الرغبة في التحسن دائما، هذا ما يخلق فريقا رائعا. لن يشعروا بالرضا أبدا، دائما ما يريدون التطور والبقاء على القمة”

mangish Thursday, August 20, 2020 9:52:00 PM EAT

Oliver Kahn said : “He knows Neuer and Müller from the national team,”

nytimes Sunday, August 16, 2020 5:07:00 AM EAT

Oliver Kahn said : “He knows Neuer and Müller from the national team,”

nytimes Friday, August 14, 2020 9:23:00 AM EAT

Oliver Kahn said : “I have a feeling that whichever team handles all of these fears and responsibilities the best has a big chance to win,”

expressindia Wednesday, August 12, 2020 11:05:00 AM EAT

Oliver Kahn said : “I have a feeling that whichever team handles all of these fears and responsibilities the best has a big chance to win,”

nytimes Monday, August 10, 2020 10:25:00 PM EAT

Oliver Kahn told : “In excess of 200 players have undergone multiple testing. A total of 11 of these players have tested positive. All players who have tested positive have been self-isolated". June 17. -- Fans may be allowed at German Cup final. German football association (DFB) president Fritz Keller has said up to 1,000 people, including some fans, may be allowed in to the Olympic Stadium in Berlin to watch the German Cup final on July 4. Bundesliga matches are currently being played without fans but Keller said there may be some wriggle room for the clash between newly-crowned champions Bayern Munich and Bayer Leverkusen. "The (Berlin) Senate is responsible. In Berlin events with up to 1,000 people are allowed. If the Senate says, 'Yes, we can do it,' then let's have 1,000," Keller told German public TV late on Tuesday. June 16. -- US Open set to go ahead. Despite the coronavirus epidemic, Andrew Cuomo, the governor of New York, has said that the major tennis tournament the US Open will go ahead behind closed doors from August 31. Fans will not be permitted at the Flushing Meadows venue. Rashford grabs big win off the field A campaign launched by Manchester United forward Marcus Rashford has helped convince the British government to reverse a plan to cease funding meals for underprivileged children. The 22-year-old Rashford, who has already made 38 appearances for England, had written an open letter to parliamentarians on Sunday urging them to maintain the food-voucher program through the summer school holidays. In it, Rashford wrote of his own childhood experience of relying on free school lunches and food banks. His campaign drew support from numerous celebrities, the opposition, and even some members of the ruling Conservative Party. On Tuesday, Prime Minister Boris Johnson's spokesman announced that the government had backtracked on its plan to end the food-voucher program when the summer break begins. "Owing to the coronavirus pandemic, the prime minister fully understands that children and parents face an entirely unprecedented situation over the summer, to reflect this we will be providing a COVID summer food fund," the spokesman said. The program had been set up back in March when British schools were shut as part of a nationwide lockdown aimed at flattening the curve in the coronavirus outbreak in the country. June 13. New Zealand celebrated the return of top-level rugby with thousands of fans attending the country's first big match since the coronavirus lockdown. Bryan Gatland scored a last-minute drop-goal to hand the Otago Highlanders victory over the Waikato Chiefs. About 20,000 fans enjoyed the spectacle. The newly formed Super Rugby Aotearoa competition has replaced the normal Super Rugby season, which was suspended because of the pandemic. Super Rugby usually pits New Zealand teams against those from Australia, South Africa, Japan, and Argentina. June 12. Professional football returned in Italy on Friday night as Juventus drew 0-0 with AC Milan in the second leg of the Coppa Italia semifinal, a result which saw Juventus progress to the final. The match was the first to be played in Italy since the coronavirus pandemic halted the season on March 9 and took place behind closed doors. More than eight million people watched on television, the biggest audience for any match in Italy this season. The other semifinal tie between Napoli and Inter Milan will take place on Saturday evening (June 13) and the final will take place on Wednesday. The Italian top flight, Serie A, is due to return next weekend. June 11. The derby clash between Sevilla and Real Betis on Thursday evening will make Spain's La Liga the second major European league to resume play, after the Bundesliga. But the experience is set to be a little different. La Liga hopes to compensate for the enforced empty stadiums with virtual crowd visuals and noise, with TV viewers able to see to-scale images of seated fans wearing the home club's colours in "virtualized" stands. The audio technology will reportedly work in a similar way to a laughter track on a sitcom and some fan groups have expressed their displeasure. However, league president Javier Tebas has said he's hoping to see real fans back in the stadiums before the season ends, with grounds 10-15 percent full to accomodate social distancing. June 9. -- Madrid want to host rescheduled Champions League Final. The mayor of Madrid has claimed the city is being considered as a host for this season's Champions League final amid the possibility that original host Istanbul won't be able to fulfill its obligations due to the coronavirus pandemic. The final was due to be played at the Ataturk Stadium on May 30 until the tournament was postponed and Uefa's executive committee will meet on June 17 to determine a new plan. "I know steps are being taken in this regard and on behalf of the city council, I want to show my total and absolute support for the Champions League final being held in Madrid," Madrid mayor Jose Luis Martinez-Almeida told Spanish television station Trece. Reports suggest Uefa will explore options to host all remaining games in both the Champions and Europa leagues within the same cities. Lisbon, Moscow, and Frankfurt are three other cities that have reportedly made pitches to host the European club tournaments. While Lisbon appeared to be the favorite for the Champions League fixtures, prior to Madrid's interest, Frankfurt could be in line to host the remaining Europa League games, according to German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung. -- Höwedes terminates Lokomotiv Moscow contract to remain in Germany. 2014 World Cup winner Benedikt Höwedes has thanked Lokomotiv Moscow on his Twitter account for terminating his contract to allow him to remain in Germany. Lokomotiv said in their Twitter announcement that Höwedes' contract was terminated by mutual consent due to family reasons. "Thank you, [Lokomotiv]! it has been a pleasure," the 32-year-old defender said. Höwedes does not have a new team lined up in Germany, but there is speculation that he could return to Schalke, where he spent the first 10 years of his professional football career. The Russian Premier League is set to resume from its coronavirus hiatus on June 21 despite thousands of new cases per day. Höwedes has been critical of Russia's handling of the pandemic. -- Zero positive tests in Basketball Bundesliga. The BBL, Germany's top basketball league, said that all coronavirus tests it conducted after the start of its end-of-season tournament came back negative. Brose Bamberg, the final team to be tested, "tested completely negative," BBL hygiene officer Florian Kainzinger said on Twitter on Tuesday. The BBL began its 10-team Final Tournament over the weekend, scrapping the results of its regular season. All games are taking place in Munich's Audi Dome. -- Cricket ex-pros pressure ICC to ban ball saliva. Former cricket players Brett Lee of Australia and Sachin Tendulkar of India have stepped-up pressure to ban bowlers from applying saliva on cricket balls. The International Cricket Council is expected to order a temporary ban on using spit during matches as a way to combat the spread of the new coronavirus. Fast blowers sometimes use saliva or sweat to shine one side of the ball when bowling, making the ball swing in the air. Sweat, which is considered less effective, could still be allowed. "Maybe there are other ways that ICC needs to look in, assisting the bowler maybe in giving them something," Lee, a former Australian pace bowler, said on Tendulkar's 100MB online app. -- Relief fund for Brazilian clubs. Brazil's football federation (CBF) has established a relief fund of worth 100 million Brazilian real (€18.4 million, $20.7 million) to help top-flight clubs overcome the financial impact of the coronavirus pandemic. The CBF has also allocated 15 million Brazilian real for second division clubs. Football in Brazil has been suspended since march due to the pandemic. The country has more than 700,000 confirmed cases, second most in the world behind the United States, and more than 37,000 virus-related deaths, third behind the US and Britain. June 8. -- Champions League final in Lisbon, not Frankfurt. Reports in Germany suggest that UEFA are set to select Lisbon as the location for a possible Champions League final tournament in order to bring the 2019/20 competition to a close. German cities Munich and Frankfurt had been touted as options to host a mini-tournament, having already hosted Bundesliga "ghost games" and successfully implemented the German Football League's hygiene concept. Bayern Munich board member Oliver Kahn had signalled Munich's readiness, while Eintracht Frankfurt's director of sport Fredi Bobic said such an event, including stadia in Frankfurt, Mainz and Hoffenheim, would have been "a great chance". But, according to the Bild am Sonntag newspaper, UEFA appear to favor the Portuguese capital for financial reasons, although the fact that there are no Portuguese sides left in the tournament is also important. Speaking to Sky90 , Bobic hinted: "It's not just a sporting issue, it's a question of finances, too. And taxes can be a problem in Germany". A final decision is expected when UEFA's executive committee meets on June 17 and 18. The Champions League was originally due to take place in Istanbul on May 30, but the Turkish city is now out of the running. The competition was suspended indefinitely on March 13, with four last-16 second legs still to play, including Bayern's home game against Chelsea. UEFA now hopes to fulfil those fixtures, plus four quarterfinal matches, two semifinals (all one-legged) and the final, in a mini-tournament in one location - likely Lisbon, pictured above. June 7. -- Fans to return in November? Chief executive of England's governing body for rugby union, Bill Sweeney, is looking for clarity on whether the physical distancing rule can be reduced from two metres to one in order to allow 40,000 fans to attend England's international games in November. England are scheduled to host New Zealand, Argentina, Tonga and Australia at Twickenham Stadium, which has a capacity of 82,000. Elite sport in England was given approval to return this month, but without spectators in attendance. June 6. -- Premier League has zero positives. Following the latest batch of tests in the Premier League for COVID-19, the sixth round in total, there were zero positives from 1,195 tests taken on June 4 and 5. This now means a total of 6,274 tests have now been carried out with 13 positive results. All players and staff at Premier League clubs have been tested twice a week and teams are back in full training with the league set to return on June 17. June 4. -- NBA to return in July at Disney World — reports. The National Basketball Association's board of governors has approved a plan to resume its season amid the coronavirus pandemic, according to ESPN and the Athletic. The 22 teams still in contention for the playoffs will play eight regular season games for seeding purposes for the playoffs. The games will take place at the ESPN Wide World of Sports complex inside the Disney World resort in Orlando, Florida. The NBA has been on hiatus since June 11 after Utah Jazz center and French international Rudy Gobert tested positive for COVID-19. -- Dortmund sporting director criticizes players for breaking quarantine. Borussia Dortmund sporting director Michael Zorc said he held private discussions with players who broke hygiene rules by getting haircuts at home. "We talked to the players again and made it very clear to them how they should behave," Zorc said. Photos post on social media depicted Dortmund players, including England international Jadon Sancho, posing with a barber after a haircut at home. The players and the barber did not have masks on. Zorc said the players told him they had masks on during the haircut and only took them off for the photo. June 3. -- Tottenham confirm positive coronavirus test. Premier League side Tottenham Hotspur have confirmed that one individual at the club has tested positive for COVID-19. The unnamed person must now self-isolate for a period of seven days. In the latest round of testing across all 20 clubs in England's top flight, a total of 1,197 people were tested for the virus, with just the one test at Tottenham coming back positive. "[The person is] currently asymptomatic and will now self-isolate for seven days, in line with Premier League protocol, before undergoing further testing," the North London club said in a statement. There have been five rounds of testing in the Premier League, with the total of positive results now at 13 from 5,079 tests. The league is aiming to restart on June 17. June 2. -- Formula 1 season starts with Austrian double header. The curtailed Formula 1 season will start with two races behind closed doors in Austria on July 5 and July 12 followed by six other grands prix in Europe, the organizers said on Tuesday. "While we currently expect the season to commence without fans at our races we hope that over the coming months the situation will allow us to welcome them back once it is safe to do," said F1 chief executive Chase Carey. "But we know the return of Formula 1 will be a welcome boost to sports fans around the world". June 1. -- Bundesliga: thoughts turning to fans‘ return. Bayern Munich board member Oliver Kahn has said that the club has already begun considering concepts to allow supporters to return to Bundesliga stadia. "Of course we’ve had a look [at the options],”

deutschewelle-en Monday, June 29, 2020 5:45:00 PM EAT

Oliver Kahn told : “In excess of 200 players have undergone multiple testing. A total of 11 of these players have tested positive. All players who have tested positive have been self-isolated". June 17. -- Fans may be allowed at German Cup final. German football association (DFB) president Fritz Keller has said up to 1,000 people, including some fans, may be allowed in to the Olympic Stadium in Berlin to watch the German Cup final on July 4. Bundesliga matches are currently being played without fans but Keller said there may be some wriggle room for the clash between newly-crowned champions Bayern Munich and Bayer Leverkusen. "The (Berlin) Senate is responsible. In Berlin events with up to 1,000 people are allowed. If the Senate says, 'Yes, we can do it,' then let's have 1,000," Keller told German public TV late on Tuesday. June 16. -- US Open set to go ahead. Despite the coronavirus epidemic, Andrew Cuomo, the governor of New York, has said that the major tennis tournament the US Open will go ahead behind closed doors from August 31. Fans will not be permitted at the Flushing Meadows venue. Rashford grabs big win off the field A campaign launched by Manchester United forward Marcus Rashford has helped convince the British government to reverse a plan to cease funding meals for underprivileged children. The 22-year-old Rashford, who has already made 38 appearances for England, had written an open letter to parliamentarians on Sunday urging them to maintain the food-voucher program through the summer school holidays. In it, Rashford wrote of his own childhood experience of relying on free school lunches and food banks. His campaign drew support from numerous celebrities, the opposition, and even some members of the ruling Conservative Party. On Tuesday, Prime Minister Boris Johnson's spokesman announced that the government had backtracked on its plan to end the food-voucher program when the summer break begins. "Owing to the coronavirus pandemic, the prime minister fully understands that children and parents face an entirely unprecedented situation over the summer, to reflect this we will be providing a COVID summer food fund," the spokesman said. The program had been set up back in March when British schools were shut as part of a nationwide lockdown aimed at flattening the curve in the coronavirus outbreak in the country. June 13. New Zealand celebrated the return of top-level rugby with thousands of fans attending the country's first big match since the coronavirus lockdown. Bryan Gatland scored a last-minute drop-goal to hand the Otago Highlanders victory over the Waikato Chiefs. About 20,000 fans enjoyed the spectacle. The newly formed Super Rugby Aotearoa competition has replaced the normal Super Rugby season, which was suspended because of the pandemic. Super Rugby usually pits New Zealand teams against those from Australia, South Africa, Japan, and Argentina. June 12. Professional football returned in Italy on Friday night as Juventus drew 0-0 with AC Milan in the second leg of the Coppa Italia semifinal, a result which saw Juventus progress to the final. The match was the first to be played in Italy since the coronavirus pandemic halted the season on March 9 and took place behind closed doors. More than eight million people watched on television, the biggest audience for any match in Italy this season. The other semifinal tie between Napoli and Inter Milan will take place on Saturday evening (June 13) and the final will take place on Wednesday. The Italian top flight, Serie A, is due to return next weekend. June 11. The derby clash between Sevilla and Real Betis on Thursday evening will make Spain's La Liga the second major European league to resume play, after the Bundesliga. But the experience is set to be a little different. La Liga hopes to compensate for the enforced empty stadiums with virtual crowd visuals and noise, with TV viewers able to see to-scale images of seated fans wearing the home club's colours in "virtualized" stands. The audio technology will reportedly work in a similar way to a laughter track on a sitcom and some fan groups have expressed their displeasure. However, league president Javier Tebas has said he's hoping to see real fans back in the stadiums before the season ends, with grounds 10-15 percent full to accomodate social distancing. June 9. -- Madrid want to host rescheduled Champions League Final. The mayor of Madrid has claimed the city is being considered as a host for this season's Champions League final amid the possibility that original host Istanbul won't be able to fulfill its obligations due to the coronavirus pandemic. The final was due to be played at the Ataturk Stadium on May 30 until the tournament was postponed and Uefa's executive committee will meet on June 17 to determine a new plan. "I know steps are being taken in this regard and on behalf of the city council, I want to show my total and absolute support for the Champions League final being held in Madrid," Madrid mayor Jose Luis Martinez-Almeida told Spanish television station Trece. Reports suggest Uefa will explore options to host all remaining games in both the Champions and Europa leagues within the same cities. Lisbon, Moscow, and Frankfurt are three other cities that have reportedly made pitches to host the European club tournaments. While Lisbon appeared to be the favorite for the Champions League fixtures, prior to Madrid's interest, Frankfurt could be in line to host the remaining Europa League games, according to German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung. -- Höwedes terminates Lokomotiv Moscow contract to remain in Germany. 2014 World Cup winner Benedikt Höwedes has thanked Lokomotiv Moscow on his Twitter account for terminating his contract to allow him to remain in Germany. Lokomotiv said in their Twitter announcement that Höwedes' contract was terminated by mutual consent due to family reasons. "Thank you, [Lokomotiv]! it has been a pleasure," the 32-year-old defender said. Höwedes does not have a new team lined up in Germany, but there is speculation that he could return to Schalke, where he spent the first 10 years of his professional football career. The Russian Premier League is set to resume from its coronavirus hiatus on June 21 despite thousands of new cases per day. Höwedes has been critical of Russia's handling of the pandemic. -- Zero positive tests in Basketball Bundesliga. The BBL, Germany's top basketball league, said that all coronavirus tests it conducted after the start of its end-of-season tournament came back negative. Brose Bamberg, the final team to be tested, "tested completely negative," BBL hygiene officer Florian Kainzinger said on Twitter on Tuesday. The BBL began its 10-team Final Tournament over the weekend, scrapping the results of its regular season. All games are taking place in Munich's Audi Dome. -- Cricket ex-pros pressure ICC to ban ball saliva. Former cricket players Brett Lee of Australia and Sachin Tendulkar of India have stepped-up pressure to ban bowlers from applying saliva on cricket balls. The International Cricket Council is expected to order a temporary ban on using spit during matches as a way to combat the spread of the new coronavirus. Fast blowers sometimes use saliva or sweat to shine one side of the ball when bowling, making the ball swing in the air. Sweat, which is considered less effective, could still be allowed. "Maybe there are other ways that ICC needs to look in, assisting the bowler maybe in giving them something," Lee, a former Australian pace bowler, said on Tendulkar's 100MB online app. -- Relief fund for Brazilian clubs. Brazil's football federation (CBF) has established a relief fund of worth 100 million Brazilian real (€18.4 million, $20.7 million) to help top-flight clubs overcome the financial impact of the coronavirus pandemic. The CBF has also allocated 15 million Brazilian real for second division clubs. Football in Brazil has been suspended since march due to the pandemic. The country has more than 700,000 confirmed cases, second most in the world behind the United States, and more than 37,000 virus-related deaths, third behind the US and Britain. June 8. -- Champions League final in Lisbon, not Frankfurt. Reports in Germany suggest that UEFA are set to select Lisbon as the location for a possible Champions League final tournament in order to bring the 2019/20 competition to a close. German cities Munich and Frankfurt had been touted as options to host a mini-tournament, having already hosted Bundesliga "ghost games" and successfully implemented the German Football League's hygiene concept. Bayern Munich board member Oliver Kahn had signalled Munich's readiness, while Eintracht Frankfurt's director of sport Fredi Bobic said such an event, including stadia in Frankfurt, Mainz and Hoffenheim, would have been "a great chance". But, according to the Bild am Sonntag newspaper, UEFA appear to favor the Portuguese capital for financial reasons, although the fact that there are no Portuguese sides left in the tournament is also important. Speaking to Sky90 , Bobic hinted: "It's not just a sporting issue, it's a question of finances, too. And taxes can be a problem in Germany". A final decision is expected when UEFA's executive committee meets on June 17 and 18. The Champions League was originally due to take place in Istanbul on May 30, but the Turkish city is now out of the running. The competition was suspended indefinitely on March 13, with four last-16 second legs still to play, including Bayern's home game against Chelsea. UEFA now hopes to fulfil those fixtures, plus four quarterfinal matches, two semifinals (all one-legged) and the final, in a mini-tournament in one location - likely Lisbon, pictured above. June 7. -- Fans to return in November? Chief executive of England's governing body for rugby union, Bill Sweeney, is looking for clarity on whether the physical distancing rule can be reduced from two metres to one in order to allow 40,000 fans to attend England's international games in November. England are scheduled to host New Zealand, Argentina, Tonga and Australia at Twickenham Stadium, which has a capacity of 82,000. Elite sport in England was given approval to return this month, but without spectators in attendance. June 6. -- Premier League has zero positives. Following the latest batch of tests in the Premier League for COVID-19, the sixth round in total, there were zero positives from 1,195 tests taken on June 4 and 5. This now means a total of 6,274 tests have now been carried out with 13 positive results. All players and staff at Premier League clubs have been tested twice a week and teams are back in full training with the league set to return on June 17. June 4. -- NBA to return in July at Disney World — reports. The National Basketball Association's board of governors has approved a plan to resume its season amid the coronavirus pandemic, according to ESPN and the Athletic. The 22 teams still in contention for the playoffs will play eight regular season games for seeding purposes for the playoffs. The games will take place at the ESPN Wide World of Sports complex inside the Disney World resort in Orlando, Florida. The NBA has been on hiatus since June 11 after Utah Jazz center and French international Rudy Gobert tested positive for COVID-19. -- Dortmund sporting director criticizes players for breaking quarantine. Borussia Dortmund sporting director Michael Zorc said he held private discussions with players who broke hygiene rules by getting haircuts at home. "We talked to the players again and made it very clear to them how they should behave," Zorc said. Photos post on social media depicted Dortmund players, including England international Jadon Sancho, posing with a barber after a haircut at home. The players and the barber did not have masks on. Zorc said the players told him they had masks on during the haircut and only took them off for the photo. June 3. -- Tottenham confirm positive coronavirus test. Premier League side Tottenham Hotspur have confirmed that one individual at the club has tested positive for COVID-19. The unnamed person must now self-isolate for a period of seven days. In the latest round of testing across all 20 clubs in England's top flight, a total of 1,197 people were tested for the virus, with just the one test at Tottenham coming back positive. "[The person is] currently asymptomatic and will now self-isolate for seven days, in line with Premier League protocol, before undergoing further testing," the North London club said in a statement. There have been five rounds of testing in the Premier League, with the total of positive results now at 13 from 5,079 tests. The league is aiming to restart on June 17. June 2. -- Formula 1 season starts with Austrian double header. The curtailed Formula 1 season will start with two races behind closed doors in Austria on July 5 and July 12 followed by six other grands prix in Europe, the organizers said on Tuesday. "While we currently expect the season to commence without fans at our races we hope that over the coming months the situation will allow us to welcome them back once it is safe to do," said F1 chief executive Chase Carey. "But we know the return of Formula 1 will be a welcome boost to sports fans around the world". June 1. -- Bundesliga: thoughts turning to fans‘ return. Bayern Munich board member Oliver Kahn has said that the club has already begun considering concepts to allow supporters to return to Bundesliga stadia. "Of course we’ve had a look [at the options],”

deutschewelle-en Thursday, June 25, 2020 12:57:00 PM EAT

Oliver Kahn told : “In excess of 200 players have undergone multiple testing. A total of 11 of these players have tested positive. All players who have tested positive have been self-isolated". June 17. -- Fans may be allowed at German Cup final. German football association (DFB) president Fritz Keller has said up to 1,000 people, including some fans, may be allowed in to the Olympic Stadium in Berlin to watch the German Cup final on July 4. Bundesliga matches are currently being played without fans but Keller said there may be some wriggle room for the clash between newly-crowned champions Bayern Munich and Bayer Leverkusen. "The (Berlin) Senate is responsible. In Berlin events with up to 1,000 people are allowed. If the Senate says, 'Yes, we can do it,' then let's have 1,000," Keller told German public TV late on Tuesday. June 16. -- US Open set to go ahead. Despite the coronavirus epidemic, Andrew Cuomo, the governor of New York, has said that the major tennis tournament the US Open will go ahead behind closed doors from August 31. Fans will not be permitted at the Flushing Meadows venue. Rashford grabs big win off the field A campaign launched by Manchester United forward Marcus Rashford has helped convince the British government to reverse a plan to cease funding meals for underprivileged children. The 22-year-old Rashford, who has already made 38 appearances for England, had written an open letter to parliamentarians on Sunday urging them to maintain the food-voucher program through the summer school holidays. In it, Rashford wrote of his own childhood experience of relying on free school lunches and food banks. His campaign drew support from numerous celebrities, the opposition, and even some members of the ruling Conservative Party. On Tuesday, Prime Minister Boris Johnson's spokesman announced that the government had backtracked on its plan to end the food-voucher program when the summer break begins. "Owing to the coronavirus pandemic, the prime minister fully understands that children and parents face an entirely unprecedented situation over the summer, to reflect this we will be providing a COVID summer food fund," the spokesman said. The program had been set up back in March when British schools were shut as part of a nationwide lockdown aimed at flattening the curve in the coronavirus outbreak in the country. June 13. New Zealand celebrated the return of top-level rugby with thousands of fans attending the country's first big match since the coronavirus lockdown. Bryan Gatland scored a last-minute drop-goal to hand the Otago Highlanders victory over the Waikato Chiefs. About 20,000 fans enjoyed the spectacle. The newly formed Super Rugby Aotearoa competition has replaced the normal Super Rugby season, which was suspended because of the pandemic. Super Rugby usually pits New Zealand teams against those from Australia, South Africa, Japan, and Argentina. June 12. Professional football returned in Italy on Friday night as Juventus drew 0-0 with AC Milan in the second leg of the Coppa Italia semifinal, a result which saw Juventus progress to the final. The match was the first to be played in Italy since the coronavirus pandemic halted the season on March 9 and took place behind closed doors. More than eight million people watched on television, the biggest audience for any match in Italy this season. The other semifinal tie between Napoli and Inter Milan will take place on Saturday evening (June 13) and the final will take place on Wednesday. The Italian top flight, Serie A, is due to return next weekend. June 11. The derby clash between Sevilla and Real Betis on Thursday evening will make Spain's La Liga the second major European league to resume play, after the Bundesliga. But the experience is set to be a little different. La Liga hopes to compensate for the enforced empty stadiums with virtual crowd visuals and noise, with TV viewers able to see to-scale images of seated fans wearing the home club's colours in "virtualized" stands. The audio technology will reportedly work in a similar way to a laughter track on a sitcom and some fan groups have expressed their displeasure. However, league president Javier Tebas has said he's hoping to see real fans back in the stadiums before the season ends, with grounds 10-15 percent full to accomodate social distancing. June 9. -- Madrid want to host rescheduled Champions League Final. The mayor of Madrid has claimed the city is being considered as a host for this season's Champions League final amid the possibility that original host Istanbul won't be able to fulfill its obligations due to the coronavirus pandemic. The final was due to be played at the Ataturk Stadium on May 30 until the tournament was postponed and Uefa's executive committee will meet on June 17 to determine a new plan. "I know steps are being taken in this regard and on behalf of the city council, I want to show my total and absolute support for the Champions League final being held in Madrid," Madrid mayor Jose Luis Martinez-Almeida told Spanish television station Trece. Reports suggest Uefa will explore options to host all remaining games in both the Champions and Europa leagues within the same cities. Lisbon, Moscow, and Frankfurt are three other cities that have reportedly made pitches to host the European club tournaments. While Lisbon appeared to be the favorite for the Champions League fixtures, prior to Madrid's interest, Frankfurt could be in line to host the remaining Europa League games, according to German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung. -- Höwedes terminates Lokomotiv Moscow contract to remain in Germany. 2014 World Cup winner Benedikt Höwedes has thanked Lokomotiv Moscow on his Twitter account for terminating his contract to allow him to remain in Germany. Lokomotiv said in their Twitter announcement that Höwedes' contract was terminated by mutual consent due to family reasons. "Thank you, [Lokomotiv]! it has been a pleasure," the 32-year-old defender said. Höwedes does not have a new team lined up in Germany, but there is speculation that he could return to Schalke, where he spent the first 10 years of his professional football career. The Russian Premier League is set to resume from its coronavirus hiatus on June 21 despite thousands of new cases per day. Höwedes has been critical of Russia's handling of the pandemic. -- Zero positive tests in Basketball Bundesliga. The BBL, Germany's top basketball league, said that all coronavirus tests it conducted after the start of its end-of-season tournament came back negative. Brose Bamberg, the final team to be tested, "tested completely negative," BBL hygiene officer Florian Kainzinger said on Twitter on Tuesday. The BBL began its 10-team Final Tournament over the weekend, scrapping the results of its regular season. All games are taking place in Munich's Audi Dome. -- Cricket ex-pros pressure ICC to ban ball saliva. Former cricket players Brett Lee of Australia and Sachin Tendulkar of India have stepped-up pressure to ban bowlers from applying saliva on cricket balls. The International Cricket Council is expected to order a temporary ban on using spit during matches as a way to combat the spread of the new coronavirus. Fast blowers sometimes use saliva or sweat to shine one side of the ball when bowling, making the ball swing in the air. Sweat, which is considered less effective, could still be allowed. "Maybe there are other ways that ICC needs to look in, assisting the bowler maybe in giving them something," Lee, a former Australian pace bowler, said on Tendulkar's 100MB online app. -- Relief fund for Brazilian clubs. Brazil's football federation (CBF) has established a relief fund of worth 100 million Brazilian real (€18.4 million, $20.7 million) to help top-flight clubs overcome the financial impact of the coronavirus pandemic. The CBF has also allocated 15 million Brazilian real for second division clubs. Football in Brazil has been suspended since march due to the pandemic. The country has more than 700,000 confirmed cases, second most in the world behind the United States, and more than 37,000 virus-related deaths, third behind the US and Britain. June 8. -- Champions League final in Lisbon, not Frankfurt. Reports in Germany suggest that UEFA are set to select Lisbon as the location for a possible Champions League final tournament in order to bring the 2019/20 competition to a close. German cities Munich and Frankfurt had been touted as options to host a mini-tournament, having already hosted Bundesliga "ghost games" and successfully implemented the German Football League's hygiene concept. Bayern Munich board member Oliver Kahn had signalled Munich's readiness, while Eintracht Frankfurt's director of sport Fredi Bobic said such an event, including stadia in Frankfurt, Mainz and Hoffenheim, would have been "a great chance". But, according to the Bild am Sonntag newspaper, UEFA appear to favor the Portuguese capital for financial reasons, although the fact that there are no Portuguese sides left in the tournament is also important. Speaking to Sky90 , Bobic hinted: "It's not just a sporting issue, it's a question of finances, too. And taxes can be a problem in Germany". A final decision is expected when UEFA's executive committee meets on June 17 and 18. The Champions League was originally due to take place in Istanbul on May 30, but the Turkish city is now out of the running. The competition was suspended indefinitely on March 13, with four last-16 second legs still to play, including Bayern's home game against Chelsea. UEFA now hopes to fulfil those fixtures, plus four quarterfinal matches, two semifinals (all one-legged) and the final, in a mini-tournament in one location - likely Lisbon, pictured above. June 7. -- Fans to return in November? Chief executive of England's governing body for rugby union, Bill Sweeney, is looking for clarity on whether the physical distancing rule can be reduced from two metres to one in order to allow 40,000 fans to attend England's international games in November. England are scheduled to host New Zealand, Argentina, Tonga and Australia at Twickenham Stadium, which has a capacity of 82,000. Elite sport in England was given approval to return this month, but without spectators in attendance. June 6. -- Premier League has zero positives. Following the latest batch of tests in the Premier League for COVID-19, the sixth round in total, there were zero positives from 1,195 tests taken on June 4 and 5. This now means a total of 6,274 tests have now been carried out with 13 positive results. All players and staff at Premier League clubs have been tested twice a week and teams are back in full training with the league set to return on June 17. June 4. -- NBA to return in July at Disney World — reports. The National Basketball Association's board of governors has approved a plan to resume its season amid the coronavirus pandemic, according to ESPN and the Athletic. The 22 teams still in contention for the playoffs will play eight regular season games for seeding purposes for the playoffs. The games will take place at the ESPN Wide World of Sports complex inside the Disney World resort in Orlando, Florida. The NBA has been on hiatus since June 11 after Utah Jazz center and French international Rudy Gobert tested positive for COVID-19. -- Dortmund sporting director criticizes players for breaking quarantine. Borussia Dortmund sporting director Michael Zorc said he held private discussions with players who broke hygiene rules by getting haircuts at home. "We talked to the players again and made it very clear to them how they should behave," Zorc said. Photos post on social media depicted Dortmund players, including England international Jadon Sancho, posing with a barber after a haircut at home. The players and the barber did not have masks on. Zorc said the players told him they had masks on during the haircut and only took them off for the photo. June 3. -- Tottenham confirm positive coronavirus test. Premier League side Tottenham Hotspur have confirmed that one individual at the club has tested positive for COVID-19. The unnamed person must now self-isolate for a period of seven days. In the latest round of testing across all 20 clubs in England's top flight, a total of 1,197 people were tested for the virus, with just the one test at Tottenham coming back positive. "[The person is] currently asymptomatic and will now self-isolate for seven days, in line with Premier League protocol, before undergoing further testing," the North London club said in a statement. There have been five rounds of testing in the Premier League, with the total of positive results now at 13 from 5,079 tests. The league is aiming to restart on June 17. June 2. -- Formula 1 season starts with Austrian double header. The curtailed Formula 1 season will start with two races behind closed doors in Austria on July 5 and July 12 followed by six other grands prix in Europe, the organizers said on Tuesday. "While we currently expect the season to commence without fans at our races we hope that over the coming months the situation will allow us to welcome them back once it is safe to do," said F1 chief executive Chase Carey. "But we know the return of Formula 1 will be a welcome boost to sports fans around the world". June 1. -- Bundesliga: thoughts turning to fans‘ return. Bayern Munich board member Oliver Kahn has said that the club has already begun considering concepts to allow supporters to return to Bundesliga stadia. "Of course we’ve had a look [at the options],”

dw-en Wednesday, June 24, 2020 3:08:00 PM EAT

Oliver Kahn told : “In excess of 200 players have undergone multiple testing. A total of 11 of these players have tested positive. All players who have tested positive have been self-isolated". June 17. -- Fans may be allowed at German Cup final. German football association (DFB) president Fritz Keller has said up to 1,000 people, including some fans, may be allowed in to the Olympic Stadium in Berlin to watch the German Cup final on July 4. Bundesliga matches are currently being played without fans but Keller said there may be some wriggle room for the clash between newly-crowned champions Bayern Munich and Bayer Leverkusen. "The (Berlin) Senate is responsible. In Berlin events with up to 1,000 people are allowed. If the Senate says, 'Yes, we can do it,' then let's have 1,000," Keller told German public TV late on Tuesday. June 16. -- US Open set to go ahead. Despite the coronavirus epidemic, Andrew Cuomo, the governor of New York, has said that the major tennis tournament the US Open will go ahead behind closed doors from August 31. Fans will not be permitted at the Flushing Meadows venue. Rashford grabs big win off the field A campaign launched by Manchester United forward Marcus Rashford has helped convince the British government to reverse a plan to cease funding meals for underprivileged children. The 22-year-old Rashford, who has already made 38 appearances for England, had written an open letter to parliamentarians on Sunday urging them to maintain the food-voucher program through the summer school holidays. In it, Rashford wrote of his own childhood experience of relying on free school lunches and food banks. His campaign drew support from numerous celebrities, the opposition, and even some members of the ruling Conservative Party. On Tuesday, Prime Minister Boris Johnson's spokesman announced that the government had backtracked on its plan to end the food-voucher program when the summer break begins. "Owing to the coronavirus pandemic, the prime minister fully understands that children and parents face an entirely unprecedented situation over the summer, to reflect this we will be providing a COVID summer food fund," the spokesman said. The program had been set up back in March when British schools were shut as part of a nationwide lockdown aimed at flattening the curve in the coronavirus outbreak in the country. June 13. New Zealand celebrated the return of top-level rugby with thousands of fans attending the country's first big match since the coronavirus lockdown. Bryan Gatland scored a last-minute drop-goal to hand the Otago Highlanders victory over the Waikato Chiefs. About 20,000 fans enjoyed the spectacle. The newly formed Super Rugby Aotearoa competition has replaced the normal Super Rugby season, which was suspended because of the pandemic. Super Rugby usually pits New Zealand teams against those from Australia, South Africa, Japan, and Argentina. June 12. Professional football returned in Italy on Friday night as Juventus drew 0-0 with AC Milan in the second leg of the Coppa Italia semifinal, a result which saw Juventus progress to the final. The match was the first to be played in Italy since the coronavirus pandemic halted the season on March 9 and took place behind closed doors. More than eight million people watched on television, the biggest audience for any match in Italy this season. The other semifinal tie between Napoli and Inter Milan will take place on Saturday evening (June 13) and the final will take place on Wednesday. The Italian top flight, Serie A, is due to return next weekend. June 11. The derby clash between Sevilla and Real Betis on Thursday evening will make Spain's La Liga the second major European league to resume play, after the Bundesliga. But the experience is set to be a little different. La Liga hopes to compensate for the enforced empty stadiums with virtual crowd visuals and noise, with TV viewers able to see to-scale images of seated fans wearing the home club's colours in "virtualized" stands. The audio technology will reportedly work in a similar way to a laughter track on a sitcom and some fan groups have expressed their displeasure. However, league president Javier Tebas has said he's hoping to see real fans back in the stadiums before the season ends, with grounds 10-15 percent full to accomodate social distancing. June 9. -- Madrid want to host rescheduled Champions League Final. The mayor of Madrid has claimed the city is being considered as a host for this season's Champions League final amid the possibility that original host Istanbul won't be able to fulfill its obligations due to the coronavirus pandemic. The final was due to be played at the Ataturk Stadium on May 30 until the tournament was postponed and Uefa's executive committee will meet on June 17 to determine a new plan. "I know steps are being taken in this regard and on behalf of the city council, I want to show my total and absolute support for the Champions League final being held in Madrid," Madrid mayor Jose Luis Martinez-Almeida told Spanish television station Trece. Reports suggest Uefa will explore options to host all remaining games in both the Champions and Europa leagues within the same cities. Lisbon, Moscow, and Frankfurt are three other cities that have reportedly made pitches to host the European club tournaments. While Lisbon appeared to be the favorite for the Champions League fixtures, prior to Madrid's interest, Frankfurt could be in line to host the remaining Europa League games, according to German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung. -- Höwedes terminates Lokomotiv Moscow contract to remain in Germany. 2014 World Cup winner Benedikt Höwedes has thanked Lokomotiv Moscow on his Twitter account for terminating his contract to allow him to remain in Germany. Lokomotiv said in their Twitter announcement that Höwedes' contract was terminated by mutual consent due to family reasons. "Thank you, [Lokomotiv]! it has been a pleasure," the 32-year-old defender said. Höwedes does not have a new team lined up in Germany, but there is speculation that he could return to Schalke, where he spent the first 10 years of his professional football career. The Russian Premier League is set to resume from its coronavirus hiatus on June 21 despite thousands of new cases per day. Höwedes has been critical of Russia's handling of the pandemic. -- Zero positive tests in Basketball Bundesliga. The BBL, Germany's top basketball league, said that all coronavirus tests it conducted after the start of its end-of-season tournament came back negative. Brose Bamberg, the final team to be tested, "tested completely negative," BBL hygiene officer Florian Kainzinger said on Twitter on Tuesday. The BBL began its 10-team Final Tournament over the weekend, scrapping the results of its regular season. All games are taking place in Munich's Audi Dome. -- Cricket ex-pros pressure ICC to ban ball saliva. Former cricket players Brett Lee of Australia and Sachin Tendulkar of India have stepped-up pressure to ban bowlers from applying saliva on cricket balls. The International Cricket Council is expected to order a temporary ban on using spit during matches as a way to combat the spread of the new coronavirus. Fast blowers sometimes use saliva or sweat to shine one side of the ball when bowling, making the ball swing in the air. Sweat, which is considered less effective, could still be allowed. "Maybe there are other ways that ICC needs to look in, assisting the bowler maybe in giving them something," Lee, a former Australian pace bowler, said on Tendulkar's 100MB online app. -- Relief fund for Brazilian clubs. Brazil's football federation (CBF) has established a relief fund of worth 100 million Brazilian real (€18.4 million, $20.7 million) to help top-flight clubs overcome the financial impact of the coronavirus pandemic. The CBF has also allocated 15 million Brazilian real for second division clubs. Football in Brazil has been suspended since march due to the pandemic. The country has more than 700,000 confirmed cases, second most in the world behind the United States, and more than 37,000 virus-related deaths, third behind the US and Britain. June 8. -- Champions League final in Lisbon, not Frankfurt. Reports in Germany suggest that UEFA are set to select Lisbon as the location for a possible Champions League final tournament in order to bring the 2019/20 competition to a close. German cities Munich and Frankfurt had been touted as options to host a mini-tournament, having already hosted Bundesliga "ghost games" and successfully implemented the German Football League's hygiene concept. Bayern Munich board member Oliver Kahn had signalled Munich's readiness, while Eintracht Frankfurt's director of sport Fredi Bobic said such an event, including stadia in Frankfurt, Mainz and Hoffenheim, would have been "a great chance". But, according to the Bild am Sonntag newspaper, UEFA appear to favor the Portuguese capital for financial reasons, although the fact that there are no Portuguese sides left in the tournament is also important. Speaking to Sky90 , Bobic hinted: "It's not just a sporting issue, it's a question of finances, too. And taxes can be a problem in Germany". A final decision is expected when UEFA's executive committee meets on June 17 and 18. The Champions League was originally due to take place in Istanbul on May 30, but the Turkish city is now out of the running. The competition was suspended indefinitely on March 13, with four last-16 second legs still to play, including Bayern's home game against Chelsea. UEFA now hopes to fulfil those fixtures, plus four quarterfinal matches, two semifinals (all one-legged) and the final, in a mini-tournament in one location - likely Lisbon, pictured above. June 7. -- Fans to return in November? Chief executive of England's governing body for rugby union, Bill Sweeney, is looking for clarity on whether the physical distancing rule can be reduced from two metres to one in order to allow 40,000 fans to attend England's international games in November. England are scheduled to host New Zealand, Argentina, Tonga and Australia at Twickenham Stadium, which has a capacity of 82,000. Elite sport in England was given approval to return this month, but without spectators in attendance. June 6. -- Premier League has zero positives. Following the latest batch of tests in the Premier League for COVID-19, the sixth round in total, there were zero positives from 1,195 tests taken on June 4 and 5. This now means a total of 6,274 tests have now been carried out with 13 positive results. All players and staff at Premier League clubs have been tested twice a week and teams are back in full training with the league set to return on June 17. June 4. -- NBA to return in July at Disney World — reports. The National Basketball Association's board of governors has approved a plan to resume its season amid the coronavirus pandemic, according to ESPN and the Athletic. The 22 teams still in contention for the playoffs will play eight regular season games for seeding purposes for the playoffs. The games will take place at the ESPN Wide World of Sports complex inside the Disney World resort in Orlando, Florida. The NBA has been on hiatus since June 11 after Utah Jazz center and French international Rudy Gobert tested positive for COVID-19. -- Dortmund sporting director criticizes players for breaking quarantine. Borussia Dortmund sporting director Michael Zorc said he held private discussions with players who broke hygiene rules by getting haircuts at home. "We talked to the players again and made it very clear to them how they should behave," Zorc said. Photos post on social media depicted Dortmund players, including England international Jadon Sancho, posing with a barber after a haircut at home. The players and the barber did not have masks on. Zorc said the players told him they had masks on during the haircut and only took them off for the photo. June 3. -- Tottenham confirm positive coronavirus test. Premier League side Tottenham Hotspur have confirmed that one individual at the club has tested positive for COVID-19. The unnamed person must now self-isolate for a period of seven days. In the latest round of testing across all 20 clubs in England's top flight, a total of 1,197 people were tested for the virus, with just the one test at Tottenham coming back positive. "[The person is] currently asymptomatic and will now self-isolate for seven days, in line with Premier League protocol, before undergoing further testing," the North London club said in a statement. There have been five rounds of testing in the Premier League, with the total of positive results now at 13 from 5,079 tests. The league is aiming to restart on June 17. June 2. -- Formula 1 season starts with Austrian double header. The curtailed Formula 1 season will start with two races behind closed doors in Austria on July 5 and July 12 followed by six other grands prix in Europe, the organizers said on Tuesday. "While we currently expect the season to commence without fans at our races we hope that over the coming months the situation will allow us to welcome them back once it is safe to do," said F1 chief executive Chase Carey. "But we know the return of Formula 1 will be a welcome boost to sports fans around the world". June 1. -- Bundesliga: thoughts turning to fans‘ return. Bayern Munich board member Oliver Kahn has said that the club has already begun considering concepts to allow supporters to return to Bundesliga stadia. "Of course we’ve had a look [at the options],”

dw-en Tuesday, June 23, 2020 7:49:00 PM EAT

Oliver Kahn told : “In excess of 200 players have undergone multiple testing. A total of 11 of these players have tested positive. All players who have tested positive have been self-isolated". June 17. -- Fans may be allowed at German Cup final. German football association (DFB) president Fritz Keller has said up to 1,000 people, including some fans, may be allowed in to the Olympic Stadium in Berlin to watch the German Cup final on July 4. Bundesliga matches are currently being played without fans but Keller said there may be some wriggle room for the clash between newly-crowned champions Bayern Munich and Bayer Leverkusen. "The (Berlin) Senate is responsible. In Berlin events with up to 1,000 people are allowed. If the Senate says, 'Yes, we can do it,' then let's have 1,000," Keller told German public TV late on Tuesday. June 16. -- US Open set to go ahead. Despite the coronavirus epidemic, Andrew Cuomo, the governor of New York, has said that the major tennis tournament the US Open will go ahead behind closed doors from August 31. Fans will not be permitted at the Flushing Meadows venue. The 2020 Wimbledon tournament was cancelled this year, while the French Open has rearranged to take place from September 20, just a week after the US Open's conclusion. Rashford grabs big win off the field A campaign launched by Manchester United forward Marcus Rashford has helped convince the British government to reverse a plan to cease funding meals for underprivileged children. The 22-year-old Rashford, who has already made 38 appearances for England, had written an open letter to parliamentarians on Sunday urging them to maintain the food-voucher program through the summer school holidays. In it, Rashford wrote of his own childhood experience of relying on free school lunches and food banks. His campaign drew support from numerous celebrities, the opposition, and even some members of the ruling Conservative Party. On Tuesday, Prime Minister Boris Johnson's spokesman announced that the government had backtracked on its plan to end the food-voucher program when the summer break begins. "Owing to the coronavirus pandemic, the prime minister fully understands that children and parents face an entirely unprecedented situation over the summer, to reflect this we will be providing a COVID summer food fund," the spokesman said. The program had been set up back in March when British schools were shut as part of a nationwide lockdown aimed at flattening the curve in the coronavirus outbreak in the country. June 13. New Zealand celebrated the return of top-level rugby with thousands of fans attending the country's first big match since the coronavirus lockdown. Bryan Gatland scored a last-minute drop-goal to hand the Otago Highlanders victory over the Waikato Chiefs. About 20,000 fans enjoyed the spectacle. The newly formed Super Rugby Aotearoa competition has replaced the normal Super Rugby season, which was suspended because of the pandemic. Super Rugby usually pits New Zealand teams against those from Australia, South Africa, Japan, and Argentina. June 12. Professional football returned in Italy on Friday night as Juventus drew 0-0 with AC Milan in the second leg of the Coppa Italia semifinal, a result which saw Juventus progress to the final. The match was the first to be played in Italy since the coronavirus pandemic halted the season on March 9 and took place behind closed doors. More than eight million people watched on television, the biggest audience for any match in Italy this season. The other semifinal tie between Napoli and Inter Milan will take place on Saturday evening (June 13) and the final will take place on Wednesday. The Italian top flight, Serie A, is due to return next weekend. June 11. The derby clash between Sevilla and Real Betis on Thursday evening will make Spain's La Liga the second major European league to resume play, after the Bundesliga. But the experience is set to be a little different. La Liga hopes to compensate for the enforced empty stadiums with virtual crowd visuals and noise, with TV viewers able to see to-scale images of seated fans wearing the home club's colours in "virtualized" stands. The audio technology will reportedly work in a similar way to a laughter track on a sitcom and some fan groups have expressed their displeasure. However, league president Javier Tebas has said he's hoping to see real fans back in the stadiums before the season ends, with grounds 10-15 percent full to accomodate social distancing. June 9. -- Madrid want to host rescheduled Champions League Final. The mayor of Madrid has claimed the city is being considered as a host for this season's Champions League final amid the possibility that original host Istanbul won't be able to fulfill its obligations due to the coronavirus pandemic. The final was due to be played at the Ataturk Stadium on May 30 until the tournament was postponed and Uefa's executive committee will meet on June 17 to determine a new plan. "I know steps are being taken in this regard and on behalf of the city council, I want to show my total and absolute support for the Champions League final being held in Madrid," Madrid mayor Jose Luis Martinez-Almeida told Spanish television station Trece. Reports suggest Uefa will explore options to host all remaining games in both the Champions and Europa leagues within the same cities. Lisbon, Moscow, and Frankfurt are three other cities that have reportedly made pitches to host the European club tournaments. While Lisbon appeared to be the favorite for the Champions League fixtures, prior to Madrid's interest, Frankfurt could be in line to host the remaining Europa League games, according to German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung. -- Höwedes terminates Lokomotiv Moscow contract to remain in Germany. 2014 World Cup winner Benedikt Höwedes has thanked Lokomotiv Moscow on his Twitter account for terminating his contract to allow him to remain in Germany. Lokomotiv said in their Twitter announcement that Höwedes' contract was terminated by mutual consent due to family reasons. "Thank you, [Lokomotiv]! it has been a pleasure," the 32-year-old defender said. Höwedes does not have a new team lined up in Germany, but there is speculation that he could return to Schalke, where he spent the first 10 years of his professional football career. The Russian Premier League is set to resume from its coronavirus hiatus on June 21 despite thousands of new cases per day. Höwedes has been critical of Russia's handling of the pandemic. -- Zero positive tests in Basketball Bundesliga. The BBL, Germany's top basketball league, said that all coronavirus tests it conducted after the start of its end-of-season tournament came back negative. Brose Bamberg, the final team to be tested, "tested completely negative," BBL hygiene officer Florian Kainzinger said on Twitter on Tuesday. The BBL began its 10-team Final Tournament over the weekend, scrapping the results of its regular season. All games are taking place in Munich's Audi Dome. -- Cricket ex-pros pressure ICC to ban ball saliva. Former cricket players Brett Lee of Australia and Sachin Tendulkar of India have stepped-up pressure to ban bowlers from applying saliva on cricket balls. The International Cricket Council is expected to order a temporary ban on using spit during matches as a way to combat the spread of the new coronavirus. Fast blowers sometimes use saliva or sweat to shine one side of the ball when bowling, making the ball swing in the air. Sweat, which is considered less effective, could still be allowed. "Maybe there are other ways that ICC needs to look in, assisting the bowler maybe in giving them something," Lee, a former Australian pace bowler, said on Tendulkar's 100MB online app. -- Relief fund for Brazilian clubs. Brazil's football federation (CBF) has established a relief fund of worth 100 million Brazilian real (€18.4 million, $20.7 million) to help top-flight clubs overcome the financial impact of the coronavirus pandemic. The CBF has also allocated 15 million Brazilian real for second division clubs. Football in Brazil has been suspended since march due to the pandemic. The country has more than 700,000 confirmed cases, second most in the world behind the United States, and more than 37,000 virus-related deaths, third behind the US and Britain. June 8. -- Champions League final in Lisbon, not Frankfurt. Reports in Germany suggest that UEFA are set to select Lisbon as the location for a possible Champions League final tournament in order to bring the 2019/20 competition to a close. German cities Munich and Frankfurt had been touted as options to host a mini-tournament, having already hosted Bundesliga "ghost games" and successfully implemented the German Football League's hygiene concept. Bayern Munich board member Oliver Kahn had signalled Munich's readiness, while Eintracht Frankfurt's director of sport Fredi Bobic said such an event, including stadia in Frankfurt, Mainz and Hoffenheim, would have been "a great chance". But, according to the Bild am Sonntag newspaper, UEFA appear to favor the Portuguese capital for financial reasons, although the fact that there are no Portuguese sides left in the tournament is also important. Speaking to Sky90 , Bobic hinted: "It's not just a sporting issue, it's a question of finances, too. And taxes can be a problem in Germany". A final decision is expected when UEFA's executive committee meets on June 17 and 18. The Champions League was originally due to take place in Istanbul on May 30, but the Turkish city is now out of the running. The competition was suspended indefinitely on March 13, with four last-16 second legs still to play, including Bayern's home game against Chelsea. UEFA now hopes to fulfil those fixtures, plus four quarterfinal matches, two semifinals (all one-legged) and the final, in a mini-tournament in one location - likely Lisbon, pictured above. June 7. -- Fans to return in November? Chief executive of England's governing body for rugby union, Bill Sweeney, is looking for clarity on whether the physical distancing rule can be reduced from two metres to one in order to allow 40,000 fans to attend England's international games in November. England are scheduled to host New Zealand, Argentina, Tonga and Australia at Twickenham Stadium, which has a capacity of 82,000. Elite sport in England was given approval to return this month, but without spectators in attendance. June 6. -- Premier League has zero positives. Following the latest batch of tests in the Premier League for COVID-19, the sixth round in total, there were zero positives from 1,195 tests taken on June 4 and 5. This now means a total of 6,274 tests have now been carried out with 13 positive results. All players and staff at Premier League clubs have been tested twice a week and teams are back in full training with the league set to return on June 17. June 4. -- NBA to return in July at Disney World — reports. The National Basketball Association's board of governors has approved a plan to resume its season amid the coronavirus pandemic, according to ESPN and the Athletic. The 22 teams still in contention for the playoffs will play eight regular season games for seeding purposes for the playoffs. The games will take place at the ESPN Wide World of Sports complex inside the Disney World resort in Orlando, Florida. The NBA has been on hiatus since June 11 after Utah Jazz center and French international Rudy Gobert tested positive for COVID-19. -- Dortmund sporting director criticizes players for breaking quarantine. Borussia Dortmund sporting director Michael Zorc said he held private discussions with players who broke hygiene rules by getting haircuts at home. "We talked to the players again and made it very clear to them how they should behave," Zorc said. Photos post on social media depicted Dortmund players, including England international Jadon Sancho, posing with a barber after a haircut at home. The players and the barber did not have masks on. Zorc said the players told him they had masks on during the haircut and only took them off for the photo. June 3. -- Tottenham confirm positive coronavirus test. Premier League side Tottenham Hotspur have confirmed that one individual at the club has tested positive for COVID-19. The unnamed person must now self-isolate for a period of seven days. In the latest round of testing across all 20 clubs in England's top flight, a total of 1,197 people were tested for the virus, with just the one test at Tottenham coming back positive. "[The person is] currently asymptomatic and will now self-isolate for seven days, in line with Premier League protocol, before undergoing further testing," the North London club said in a statement. There have been five rounds of testing in the Premier League, with the total of positive results now at 13 from 5,079 tests. The league is aiming to restart on June 17. June 2. -- Formula 1 season starts with Austrian double header. The curtailed Formula 1 season will start with two races behind closed doors in Austria on July 5 and July 12 followed by six other grands prix in Europe, the organizers said on Tuesday. "While we currently expect the season to commence without fans at our races we hope that over the coming months the situation will allow us to welcome them back once it is safe to do," said F1 chief executive Chase Carey. "But we know the return of Formula 1 will be a welcome boost to sports fans around the world". June 1. -- Bundesliga: thoughts turning to fans‘ return. Bayern Munich board member Oliver Kahn has said that the club has already begun considering concepts to allow supporters to return to Bundesliga stadia. "Of course we’ve had a look [at the options],”

deutschewelle-en Tuesday, June 23, 2020 4:26:00 PM EAT

Oliver Kahn told : “In excess of 200 players have undergone multiple testing. A total of 11 of these players have tested positive. All players who have tested positive have been self-isolated". June 17. -- Fans may be allowed at German Cup final. German football association (DFB) president Fritz Keller has said up to 1,000 people, including some fans, may be allowed in to the Olympic Stadium in Berlin to watch the German Cup final on July 4. Bundesliga matches are currently being played without fans but Keller said there may be some wriggle room for the clash between newly-crowned champions Bayern Munich and Bayer Leverkusen. "The (Berlin) Senate is responsible. In Berlin events with up to 1,000 people are allowed. If the Senate says, 'Yes, we can do it,' then let's have 1,000," Keller told German public TV late on Tuesday. June 16. -- US Open set to go ahead. Despite the coronavirus epidemic, Andrew Cuomo, the governor of New York, has said that the major tennis tournament the US Open will go ahead behind closed doors from August 31. Fans will not be permitted at the Flushing Meadows venue. Rashford grabs big win off the field A campaign launched by Manchester United forward Marcus Rashford has helped convince the British government to reverse a plan to cease funding meals for underprivileged children. The 22-year-old Rashford, who has already made 38 appearances for England, had written an open letter to parliamentarians on Sunday urging them to maintain the food-voucher program through the summer school holidays. In it, Rashford wrote of his own childhood experience of relying on free school lunches and food banks. His campaign drew support from numerous celebrities, the opposition, and even some members of the ruling Conservative Party. On Tuesday, Prime Minister Boris Johnson's spokesman announced that the government had backtracked on its plan to end the food-voucher program when the summer break begins. "Owing to the coronavirus pandemic, the prime minister fully understands that children and parents face an entirely unprecedented situation over the summer, to reflect this we will be providing a COVID summer food fund," the spokesman said. The program had been set up back in March when British schools were shut as part of a nationwide lockdown aimed at flattening the curve in the coronavirus outbreak in the country. June 13. New Zealand celebrated the return of top-level rugby with thousands of fans attending the country's first big match since the coronavirus lockdown. Bryan Gatland scored a last-minute drop-goal to hand the Otago Highlanders victory over the Waikato Chiefs. About 20,000 fans enjoyed the spectacle. The newly formed Super Rugby Aotearoa competition has replaced the normal Super Rugby season, which was suspended because of the pandemic. Super Rugby usually pits New Zealand teams against those from Australia, South Africa, Japan, and Argentina. June 12. Professional football returned in Italy on Friday night as Juventus drew 0-0 with AC Milan in the second leg of the Coppa Italia semifinal, a result which saw Juventus progress to the final. The match was the first to be played in Italy since the coronavirus pandemic halted the season on March 9 and took place behind closed doors. More than eight million people watched on television, the biggest audience for any match in Italy this season. The other semifinal tie between Napoli and Inter Milan will take place on Saturday evening (June 13) and the final will take place on Wednesday. The Italian top flight, Serie A, is due to return next weekend. June 11. The derby clash between Sevilla and Real Betis on Thursday evening will make Spain's La Liga the second major European league to resume play, after the Bundesliga. But the experience is set to be a little different. La Liga hopes to compensate for the enforced empty stadiums with virtual crowd visuals and noise, with TV viewers able to see to-scale images of seated fans wearing the home club's colours in "virtualized" stands. The audio technology will reportedly work in a similar way to a laughter track on a sitcom and some fan groups have expressed their displeasure. However, league president Javier Tebas has said he's hoping to see real fans back in the stadiums before the season ends, with grounds 10-15 percent full to accomodate social distancing. June 9. -- Madrid want to host rescheduled Champions League Final. The mayor of Madrid has claimed the city is being considered as a host for this season's Champions League final amid the possibility that original host Istanbul won't be able to fulfill its obligations due to the coronavirus pandemic. The final was due to be played at the Ataturk Stadium on May 30 until the tournament was postponed and Uefa's executive committee will meet on June 17 to determine a new plan. "I know steps are being taken in this regard and on behalf of the city council, I want to show my total and absolute support for the Champions League final being held in Madrid," Madrid mayor Jose Luis Martinez-Almeida told Spanish television station Trece. Reports suggest Uefa will explore options to host all remaining games in both the Champions and Europa leagues within the same cities. Lisbon, Moscow, and Frankfurt are three other cities that have reportedly made pitches to host the European club tournaments. While Lisbon appeared to be the favorite for the Champions League fixtures, prior to Madrid's interest, Frankfurt could be in line to host the remaining Europa League games, according to German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung. -- Höwedes terminates Lokomotiv Moscow contract to remain in Germany. 2014 World Cup winner Benedikt Höwedes has thanked Lokomotiv Moscow on his Twitter account for terminating his contract to allow him to remain in Germany. Lokomotiv said in their Twitter announcement that Höwedes' contract was terminated by mutual consent due to family reasons. "Thank you, [Lokomotiv]! it has been a pleasure," the 32-year-old defender said. Höwedes does not have a new team lined up in Germany, but there is speculation that he could return to Schalke, where he spent the first 10 years of his professional football career. The Russian Premier League is set to resume from its coronavirus hiatus on June 21 despite thousands of new cases per day. Höwedes has been critical of Russia's handling of the pandemic. -- Zero positive tests in Basketball Bundesliga. The BBL, Germany's top basketball league, said that all coronavirus tests it conducted after the start of its end-of-season tournament came back negative. Brose Bamberg, the final team to be tested, "tested completely negative," BBL hygiene officer Florian Kainzinger said on Twitter on Tuesday. The BBL began its 10-team Final Tournament over the weekend, scrapping the results of its regular season. All games are taking place in Munich's Audi Dome. -- Cricket ex-pros pressure ICC to ban ball saliva. Former cricket players Brett Lee of Australia and Sachin Tendulkar of India have stepped-up pressure to ban bowlers from applying saliva on cricket balls. The International Cricket Council is expected to order a temporary ban on using spit during matches as a way to combat the spread of the new coronavirus. Fast blowers sometimes use saliva or sweat to shine one side of the ball when bowling, making the ball swing in the air. Sweat, which is considered less effective, could still be allowed. "Maybe there are other ways that ICC needs to look in, assisting the bowler maybe in giving them something," Lee, a former Australian pace bowler, said on Tendulkar's 100MB online app. -- Relief fund for Brazilian clubs. Brazil's football federation (CBF) has established a relief fund of worth 100 million Brazilian real (€18.4 million, $20.7 million) to help top-flight clubs overcome the financial impact of the coronavirus pandemic. The CBF has also allocated 15 million Brazilian real for second division clubs. Football in Brazil has been suspended since march due to the pandemic. The country has more than 700,000 confirmed cases, second most in the world behind the United States, and more than 37,000 virus-related deaths, third behind the US and Britain. June 8. -- Champions League final in Lisbon, not Frankfurt. Reports in Germany suggest that UEFA are set to select Lisbon as the location for a possible Champions League final tournament in order to bring the 2019/20 competition to a close. German cities Munich and Frankfurt had been touted as options to host a mini-tournament, having already hosted Bundesliga "ghost games" and successfully implemented the German Football League's hygiene concept. Bayern Munich board member Oliver Kahn had signalled Munich's readiness, while Eintracht Frankfurt's director of sport Fredi Bobic said such an event, including stadia in Frankfurt, Mainz and Hoffenheim, would have been "a great chance". But, according to the Bild am Sonntag newspaper, UEFA appear to favor the Portuguese capital for financial reasons, although the fact that there are no Portuguese sides left in the tournament is also important. Speaking to Sky90 , Bobic hinted: "It's not just a sporting issue, it's a question of finances, too. And taxes can be a problem in Germany". A final decision is expected when UEFA's executive committee meets on June 17 and 18. The Champions League was originally due to take place in Istanbul on May 30, but the Turkish city is now out of the running. The competition was suspended indefinitely on March 13, with four last-16 second legs still to play, including Bayern's home game against Chelsea. UEFA now hopes to fulfil those fixtures, plus four quarterfinal matches, two semifinals (all one-legged) and the final, in a mini-tournament in one location - likely Lisbon, pictured above. June 7. -- Fans to return in November? Chief executive of England's governing body for rugby union, Bill Sweeney, is looking for clarity on whether the physical distancing rule can be reduced from two metres to one in order to allow 40,000 fans to attend England's international games in November. England are scheduled to host New Zealand, Argentina, Tonga and Australia at Twickenham Stadium, which has a capacity of 82,000. Elite sport in England was given approval to return this month, but without spectators in attendance. June 6. -- Premier League has zero positives. Following the latest batch of tests in the Premier League for COVID-19, the sixth round in total, there were zero positives from 1,195 tests taken on June 4 and 5. This now means a total of 6,274 tests have now been carried out with 13 positive results. All players and staff at Premier League clubs have been tested twice a week and teams are back in full training with the league set to return on June 17. June 4. -- NBA to return in July at Disney World — reports. The National Basketball Association's board of governors has approved a plan to resume its season amid the coronavirus pandemic, according to ESPN and the Athletic. The 22 teams still in contention for the playoffs will play eight regular season games for seeding purposes for the playoffs. The games will take place at the ESPN Wide World of Sports complex inside the Disney World resort in Orlando, Florida. The NBA has been on hiatus since June 11 after Utah Jazz center and French international Rudy Gobert tested positive for COVID-19. -- Dortmund sporting director criticizes players for breaking quarantine. Borussia Dortmund sporting director Michael Zorc said he held private discussions with players who broke hygiene rules by getting haircuts at home. "We talked to the players again and made it very clear to them how they should behave," Zorc said. Photos post on social media depicted Dortmund players, including England international Jadon Sancho, posing with a barber after a haircut at home. The players and the barber did not have masks on. Zorc said the players told him they had masks on during the haircut and only took them off for the photo. June 3. -- Tottenham confirm positive coronavirus test. Premier League side Tottenham Hotspur have confirmed that one individual at the club has tested positive for COVID-19. The unnamed person must now self-isolate for a period of seven days. In the latest round of testing across all 20 clubs in England's top flight, a total of 1,197 people were tested for the virus, with just the one test at Tottenham coming back positive. "[The person is] currently asymptomatic and will now self-isolate for seven days, in line with Premier League protocol, before undergoing further testing," the North London club said in a statement. There have been five rounds of testing in the Premier League, with the total of positive results now at 13 from 5,079 tests. The league is aiming to restart on June 17. June 2. -- Formula 1 season starts with Austrian double header. The curtailed Formula 1 season will start with two races behind closed doors in Austria on July 5 and July 12 followed by six other grands prix in Europe, the organizers said on Tuesday. "While we currently expect the season to commence without fans at our races we hope that over the coming months the situation will allow us to welcome them back once it is safe to do," said F1 chief executive Chase Carey. "But we know the return of Formula 1 will be a welcome boost to sports fans around the world". June 1. -- Bundesliga: thoughts turning to fans‘ return. Bayern Munich board member Oliver Kahn has said that the club has already begun considering concepts to allow supporters to return to Bundesliga stadia. "Of course we’ve had a look [at the options],”

dw-en Tuesday, June 23, 2020 12:25:00 PM EAT

Oliver Kahn told : “In excess of 200 players have undergone multiple testing. A total of 11 of these players have tested positive. All players who have tested positive have been self-isolated". June 17. -- Fans may be allowed at German Cup final. German football association (DFB) president Fritz Keller has said up to 1,000 people, including some fans, may be allowed in to the Olympic Stadium in Berlin to watch the German Cup final on July 4. Bundesliga matches are currently being played without fans but Keller said there may be some wriggle room for the clash between newly-crowned champions Bayern Munich and Bayer Leverkusen. "The (Berlin) Senate is responsible. In Berlin events with up to 1,000 people are allowed. If the Senate says, 'Yes, we can do it,' then let's have 1,000," Keller told German public TV late on Tuesday. June 16. -- US Open set to go ahead. Despite the coronavirus epidemic, Andrew Cuomo, the governor of New York, has said that the major tennis tournament the US Open will go ahead behind closed doors from August 31. Fans will not be permitted at the Flushing Meadows venue. Rashford grabs big win off the field A campaign launched by Manchester United forward Marcus Rashford has helped convince the British government to reverse a plan to cease funding meals for underprivileged children. The 22-year-old Rashford, who has already made 38 appearances for England, had written an open letter to parliamentarians on Sunday urging them to maintain the food-voucher program through the summer school holidays. In it, Rashford wrote of his own childhood experience of relying on free school lunches and food banks. His campaign drew support from numerous celebrities, the opposition, and even some members of the ruling Conservative Party. On Tuesday, Prime Minister Boris Johnson's spokesman announced that the government had backtracked on its plan to end the food-voucher program when the summer break begins. "Owing to the coronavirus pandemic, the prime minister fully understands that children and parents face an entirely unprecedented situation over the summer, to reflect this we will be providing a COVID summer food fund," the spokesman said. The program had been set up back in March when British schools were shut as part of a nationwide lockdown aimed at flattening the curve in the coronavirus outbreak in the country. June 13. New Zealand celebrated the return of top-level rugby with thousands of fans attending the country's first big match since the coronavirus lockdown. Bryan Gatland scored a last-minute drop-goal to hand the Otago Highlanders victory over the Waikato Chiefs. About 20,000 fans enjoyed the spectacle. The newly formed Super Rugby Aotearoa competition has replaced the normal Super Rugby season, which was suspended because of the pandemic. Super Rugby usually pits New Zealand teams against those from Australia, South Africa, Japan, and Argentina. June 12. Professional football returned in Italy on Friday night as Juventus drew 0-0 with AC Milan in the second leg of the Coppa Italia semifinal, a result which saw Juventus progress to the final. The match was the first to be played in Italy since the coronavirus pandemic halted the season on March 9 and took place behind closed doors. More than eight million people watched on television, the biggest audience for any match in Italy this season. The other semifinal tie between Napoli and Inter Milan will take place on Saturday evening (June 13) and the final will take place on Wednesday. The Italian top flight, Serie A, is due to return next weekend. June 11. The derby clash between Sevilla and Real Betis on Thursday evening will make Spain's La Liga the second major European league to resume play, after the Bundesliga. But the experience is set to be a little different. La Liga hopes to compensate for the enforced empty stadiums with virtual crowd visuals and noise, with TV viewers able to see to-scale images of seated fans wearing the home club's colours in "virtualized" stands. The audio technology will reportedly work in a similar way to a laughter track on a sitcom and some fan groups have expressed their displeasure. However, league president Javier Tebas has said he's hoping to see real fans back in the stadiums before the season ends, with grounds 10-15 percent full to accomodate social distancing. June 9. -- Madrid want to host rescheduled Champions League Final. The mayor of Madrid has claimed the city is being considered as a host for this season's Champions League final amid the possibility that original host Istanbul won't be able to fulfill its obligations due to the coronavirus pandemic. The final was due to be played at the Ataturk Stadium on May 30 until the tournament was postponed and Uefa's executive committee will meet on June 17 to determine a new plan. "I know steps are being taken in this regard and on behalf of the city council, I want to show my total and absolute support for the Champions League final being held in Madrid," Madrid mayor Jose Luis Martinez-Almeida told Spanish television station Trece. Reports suggest Uefa will explore options to host all remaining games in both the Champions and Europa leagues within the same cities. Lisbon, Moscow, and Frankfurt are three other cities that have reportedly made pitches to host the European club tournaments. While Lisbon appeared to be the favorite for the Champions League fixtures, prior to Madrid's interest, Frankfurt could be in line to host the remaining Europa League games, according to German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung. -- Höwedes terminates Lokomotiv Moscow contract to remain in Germany. 2014 World Cup winner Benedikt Höwedes has thanked Lokomotiv Moscow on his Twitter account for terminating his contract to allow him to remain in Germany. Lokomotiv said in their Twitter announcement that Höwedes' contract was terminated by mutual consent due to family reasons. "Thank you, [Lokomotiv]! it has been a pleasure," the 32-year-old defender said. Höwedes does not have a new team lined up in Germany, but there is speculation that he could return to Schalke, where he spent the first 10 years of his professional football career. The Russian Premier League is set to resume from its coronavirus hiatus on June 21 despite thousands of new cases per day. Höwedes has been critical of Russia's handling of the pandemic. -- Zero positive tests in Basketball Bundesliga. The BBL, Germany's top basketball league, said that all coronavirus tests it conducted after the start of its end-of-season tournament came back negative. Brose Bamberg, the final team to be tested, "tested completely negative," BBL hygiene officer Florian Kainzinger said on Twitter on Tuesday. The BBL began its 10-team Final Tournament over the weekend, scrapping the results of its regular season. All games are taking place in Munich's Audi Dome. -- Cricket ex-pros pressure ICC to ban ball saliva. Former cricket players Brett Lee of Australia and Sachin Tendulkar of India have stepped-up pressure to ban bowlers from applying saliva on cricket balls. The International Cricket Council is expected to order a temporary ban on using spit during matches as a way to combat the spread of the new coronavirus. Fast blowers sometimes use saliva or sweat to shine one side of the ball when bowling, making the ball swing in the air. Sweat, which is considered less effective, could still be allowed. "Maybe there are other ways that ICC needs to look in, assisting the bowler maybe in giving them something," Lee, a former Australian pace bowler, said on Tendulkar's 100MB online app. -- Relief fund for Brazilian clubs. Brazil's football federation (CBF) has established a relief fund of worth 100 million Brazilian real (€18.4 million, $20.7 million) to help top-flight clubs overcome the financial impact of the coronavirus pandemic. The CBF has also allocated 15 million Brazilian real for second division clubs. Football in Brazil has been suspended since march due to the pandemic. The country has more than 700,000 confirmed cases, second most in the world behind the United States, and more than 37,000 virus-related deaths, third behind the US and Britain. June 8. -- Champions League final in Lisbon, not Frankfurt. Reports in Germany suggest that UEFA are set to select Lisbon as the location for a possible Champions League final tournament in order to bring the 2019/20 competition to a close. German cities Munich and Frankfurt had been touted as options to host a mini-tournament, having already hosted Bundesliga "ghost games" and successfully implemented the German Football League's hygiene concept. Bayern Munich board member Oliver Kahn had signalled Munich's readiness, while Eintracht Frankfurt's director of sport Fredi Bobic said such an event, including stadia in Frankfurt, Mainz and Hoffenheim, would have been "a great chance". But, according to the Bild am Sonntag newspaper, UEFA appear to favor the Portuguese capital for financial reasons, although the fact that there are no Portuguese sides left in the tournament is also important. Speaking to Sky90 , Bobic hinted: "It's not just a sporting issue, it's a question of finances, too. And taxes can be a problem in Germany". A final decision is expected when UEFA's executive committee meets on June 17 and 18. The Champions League was originally due to take place in Istanbul on May 30, but the Turkish city is now out of the running. The competition was suspended indefinitely on March 13, with four last-16 second legs still to play, including Bayern's home game against Chelsea. UEFA now hopes to fulfil those fixtures, plus four quarterfinal matches, two semifinals (all one-legged) and the final, in a mini-tournament in one location - likely Lisbon, pictured above. June 7. -- Fans to return in November? Chief executive of England's governing body for rugby union, Bill Sweeney, is looking for clarity on whether the physical distancing rule can be reduced from two metres to one in order to allow 40,000 fans to attend England's international games in November. England are scheduled to host New Zealand, Argentina, Tonga and Australia at Twickenham Stadium, which has a capacity of 82,000. Elite sport in England was given approval to return this month, but without spectators in attendance. June 6. -- Premier League has zero positives. Following the latest batch of tests in the Premier League for COVID-19, the sixth round in total, there were zero positives from 1,195 tests taken on June 4 and 5. This now means a total of 6,274 tests have now been carried out with 13 positive results. All players and staff at Premier League clubs have been tested twice a week and teams are back in full training with the league set to return on June 17. June 4. -- NBA to return in July at Disney World — reports. The National Basketball Association's board of governors has approved a plan to resume its season amid the coronavirus pandemic, according to ESPN and the Athletic. The 22 teams still in contention for the playoffs will play eight regular season games for seeding purposes for the playoffs. The games will take place at the ESPN Wide World of Sports complex inside the Disney World resort in Orlando, Florida. The NBA has been on hiatus since June 11 after Utah Jazz center and French international Rudy Gobert tested positive for COVID-19. -- Dortmund sporting director criticizes players for breaking quarantine. Borussia Dortmund sporting director Michael Zorc said he held private discussions with players who broke hygiene rules by getting haircuts at home. "We talked to the players again and made it very clear to them how they should behave," Zorc said. Photos post on social media depicted Dortmund players, including England international Jadon Sancho, posing with a barber after a haircut at home. The players and the barber did not have masks on. Zorc said the players told him they had masks on during the haircut and only took them off for the photo. June 3. -- Tottenham confirm positive coronavirus test. Premier League side Tottenham Hotspur have confirmed that one individual at the club has tested positive for COVID-19. The unnamed person must now self-isolate for a period of seven days. In the latest round of testing across all 20 clubs in England's top flight, a total of 1,197 people were tested for the virus, with just the one test at Tottenham coming back positive. "[The person is] currently asymptomatic and will now self-isolate for seven days, in line with Premier League protocol, before undergoing further testing," the North London club said in a statement. There have been five rounds of testing in the Premier League, with the total of positive results now at 13 from 5,079 tests. The league is aiming to restart on June 17. June 2. -- Formula 1 season starts with Austrian double header. The curtailed Formula 1 season will start with two races behind closed doors in Austria on July 5 and July 12 followed by six other grands prix in Europe, the organizers said on Tuesday. "While we currently expect the season to commence without fans at our races we hope that over the coming months the situation will allow us to welcome them back once it is safe to do," said F1 chief executive Chase Carey. "But we know the return of Formula 1 will be a welcome boost to sports fans around the world". June 1. -- Bundesliga: thoughts turning to fans‘ return. Bayern Munich board member Oliver Kahn has said that the club has already begun considering concepts to allow supporters to return to Bundesliga stadia. "Of course we’ve had a look [at the options],”

deutschewelle-en Sunday, June 21, 2020 11:34:00 PM EAT

Oliver Kahn afirmou ( about Leroy Sane ) : «Sane tem contrato com o Manchester City. Não tenho mais nada a dizer sobre o assunto. Iremos falar de transferências quando chegar o momento certo. Talvez seja o momento de agir com muita prudência, particularmente em termos económicos»

abola Sunday, June 21, 2020 9:44:00 PM EAT

Oliver Kahn told : “In excess of 200 players have undergone multiple testing. A total of 11 of these players have tested positive. All players who have tested positive have been self-isolated". June 17. -- Fans may be allowed at German Cup final. German football association (DFB) president Fritz Keller has said up to 1,000 people, including some fans, may be allowed in to the Olympic Stadium in Berlin to watch the German Cup final on July 4. Bundesliga matches are currently being played without fans but Keller said there may be some wriggle room for the clash between newly-crowned champions Bayern Munich and Bayer Leverkusen. "The (Berlin) Senate is responsible. In Berlin events with up to 1,000 people are allowed. If the Senate says, 'Yes, we can do it,' then let's have 1,000," Keller told German public TV late on Tuesday. June 16. -- US Open set to go ahead. Despite the coronavirus epidemic, Andrew Cuomo, the governor of New York, has said that the major tennis tournament the US Open will go ahead behind closed doors from August 31. Fans will not be permitted at the Flushing Meadows venue. Rashford grabs big win off the field A campaign launched by Manchester United forward Marcus Rashford has helped convince the British government to reverse a plan to cease funding meals for underprivileged children. The 22-year-old Rashford, who has already made 38 appearances for England, had written an open letter to parliamentarians on Sunday urging them to maintain the food-voucher program through the summer school holidays. In it, Rashford wrote of his own childhood experience of relying on free school lunches and food banks. His campaign drew support from numerous celebrities, the opposition, and even some members of the ruling Conservative Party. On Tuesday, Prime Minister Boris Johnson's spokesman announced that the government had backtracked on its plan to end the food-voucher program when the summer break begins. "Owing to the coronavirus pandemic, the prime minister fully understands that children and parents face an entirely unprecedented situation over the summer, to reflect this we will be providing a COVID summer food fund," the spokesman said. The program had been set up back in March when British schools were shut as part of a nationwide lockdown aimed at flattening the curve in the coronavirus outbreak in the country. June 13. New Zealand celebrated the return of top-level rugby with thousands of fans attending the country's first big match since the coronavirus lockdown. Bryan Gatland scored a last-minute drop-goal to hand the Otago Highlanders victory over the Waikato Chiefs. About 20,000 fans enjoyed the spectacle. The newly formed Super Rugby Aotearoa competition has replaced the normal Super Rugby season, which was suspended because of the pandemic. Super Rugby usually pits New Zealand teams against those from Australia, South Africa, Japan, and Argentina. June 12. Professional football returned in Italy on Friday night as Juventus drew 0-0 with AC Milan in the second leg of the Coppa Italia semifinal, a result which saw Juventus progress to the final. The match was the first to be played in Italy since the coronavirus pandemic halted the season on March 9 and took place behind closed doors. More than eight million people watched on television, the biggest audience for any match in Italy this season. The other semifinal tie between Napoli and Inter Milan will take place on Saturday evening (June 13) and the final will take place on Wednesday. The Italian top flight, Serie A, is due to return next weekend. June 11. The derby clash between Sevilla and Real Betis on Thursday evening will make Spain's La Liga the second major European league to resume play, after the Bundesliga. But the experience is set to be a little different. La Liga hopes to compensate for the enforced empty stadiums with virtual crowd visuals and noise, with TV viewers able to see to-scale images of seated fans wearing the home club's colours in "virtualized" stands. The audio technology will reportedly work in a similar way to a laughter track on a sitcom and some fan groups have expressed their displeasure. However, league president Javier Tebas has said he's hoping to see real fans back in the stadiums before the season ends, with grounds 10-15 percent full to accomodate social distancing. June 9. -- Madrid want to host rescheduled Champions League Final. The mayor of Madrid has claimed the city is being considered as a host for this season's Champions League final amid the possibility that original host Istanbul won't be able to fulfill its obligations due to the coronavirus pandemic. The final was due to be played at the Ataturk Stadium on May 30 until the tournament was postponed and Uefa's executive committee will meet on June 17 to determine a new plan. "I know steps are being taken in this regard and on behalf of the city council, I want to show my total and absolute support for the Champions League final being held in Madrid," Madrid mayor Jose Luis Martinez-Almeida told Spanish television station Trece. Reports suggest Uefa will explore options to host all remaining games in both the Champions and Europa leagues within the same cities. Lisbon, Moscow, and Frankfurt are three other cities that have reportedly made pitches to host the European club tournaments. While Lisbon appeared to be the favorite for the Champions League fixtures, prior to Madrid's interest, Frankfurt could be in line to host the remaining Europa League games, according to German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung. -- Höwedes terminates Lokomotiv Moscow contract to remain in Germany. 2014 World Cup winner Benedikt Höwedes has thanked Lokomotiv Moscow on his Twitter account for terminating his contract to allow him to remain in Germany. Lokomotiv said in their Twitter announcement that Höwedes' contract was terminated by mutual consent due to family reasons. "Thank you, [Lokomotiv]! it has been a pleasure," the 32-year-old defender said. Höwedes does not have a new team lined up in Germany, but there is speculation that he could return to Schalke, where he spent the first 10 years of his professional football career. The Russian Premier League is set to resume from its coronavirus hiatus on June 21 despite thousands of new cases per day. Höwedes has been critical of Russia's handling of the pandemic. -- Zero positive tests in Basketball Bundesliga. The BBL, Germany's top basketball league, said that all coronavirus tests it conducted after the start of its end-of-season tournament came back negative. Brose Bamberg, the final team to be tested, "tested completely negative," BBL hygiene officer Florian Kainzinger said on Twitter on Tuesday. The BBL began its 10-team Final Tournament over the weekend, scrapping the results of its regular season. All games are taking place in Munich's Audi Dome. -- Cricket ex-pros pressure ICC to ban ball saliva. Former cricket players Brett Lee of Australia and Sachin Tendulkar of India have stepped-up pressure to ban bowlers from applying saliva on cricket balls. The International Cricket Council is expected to order a temporary ban on using spit during matches as a way to combat the spread of the new coronavirus. Fast blowers sometimes use saliva or sweat to shine one side of the ball when bowling, making the ball swing in the air. Sweat, which is considered less effective, could still be allowed. "Maybe there are other ways that ICC needs to look in, assisting the bowler maybe in giving them something," Lee, a former Australian pace bowler, said on Tendulkar's 100MB online app. -- Relief fund for Brazilian clubs. Brazil's football federation (CBF) has established a relief fund of worth 100 million Brazilian real (€18.4 million, $20.7 million) to help top-flight clubs overcome the financial impact of the coronavirus pandemic. The CBF has also allocated 15 million Brazilian real for second division clubs. Football in Brazil has been suspended since march due to the pandemic. The country has more than 700,000 confirmed cases, second most in the world behind the United States, and more than 37,000 virus-related deaths, third behind the US and Britain. June 8. -- Champions League final in Lisbon, not Frankfurt. Reports in Germany suggest that UEFA are set to select Lisbon as the location for a possible Champions League final tournament in order to bring the 2019/20 competition to a close. German cities Munich and Frankfurt had been touted as options to host a mini-tournament, having already hosted Bundesliga "ghost games" and successfully implemented the German Football League's hygiene concept. Bayern Munich board member Oliver Kahn had signalled Munich's readiness, while Eintracht Frankfurt's director of sport Fredi Bobic said such an event, including stadia in Frankfurt, Mainz and Hoffenheim, would have been "a great chance". But, according to the Bild am Sonntag newspaper, UEFA appear to favor the Portuguese capital for financial reasons, although the fact that there are no Portuguese sides left in the tournament is also important. Speaking to Sky90 , Bobic hinted: "It's not just a sporting issue, it's a question of finances, too. And taxes can be a problem in Germany". A final decision is expected when UEFA's executive committee meets on June 17 and 18. The Champions League was originally due to take place in Istanbul on May 30, but the Turkish city is now out of the running. The competition was suspended indefinitely on March 13, with four last-16 second legs still to play, including Bayern's home game against Chelsea. UEFA now hopes to fulfil those fixtures, plus four quarterfinal matches, two semifinals (all one-legged) and the final, in a mini-tournament in one location - likely Lisbon, pictured above. June 7. -- Fans to return in November? Chief executive of England's governing body for rugby union, Bill Sweeney, is looking for clarity on whether the physical distancing rule can be reduced from two metres to one in order to allow 40,000 fans to attend England's international games in November. England are scheduled to host New Zealand, Argentina, Tonga and Australia at Twickenham Stadium, which has a capacity of 82,000. Elite sport in England was given approval to return this month, but without spectators in attendance. June 6. -- Premier League has zero positives. Following the latest batch of tests in the Premier League for COVID-19, the sixth round in total, there were zero positives from 1,195 tests taken on June 4 and 5. This now means a total of 6,274 tests have now been carried out with 13 positive results. All players and staff at Premier League clubs have been tested twice a week and teams are back in full training with the league set to return on June 17. June 4. -- NBA to return in July at Disney World — reports. The National Basketball Association's board of governors has approved a plan to resume its season amid the coronavirus pandemic, according to ESPN and the Athletic. The 22 teams still in contention for the playoffs will play eight regular season games for seeding purposes for the playoffs. The games will take place at the ESPN Wide World of Sports complex inside the Disney World resort in Orlando, Florida. The NBA has been on hiatus since June 11 after Utah Jazz center and French international Rudy Gobert tested positive for COVID-19. -- Dortmund sporting director criticizes players for breaking quarantine. Borussia Dortmund sporting director Michael Zorc said he held private discussions with players who broke hygiene rules by getting haircuts at home. "We talked to the players again and made it very clear to them how they should behave," Zorc said. Photos post on social media depicted Dortmund players, including England international Jadon Sancho, posing with a barber after a haircut at home. The players and the barber did not have masks on. Zorc said the players told him they had masks on during the haircut and only took them off for the photo. June 3. -- Tottenham confirm positive coronavirus test. Premier League side Tottenham Hotspur have confirmed that one individual at the club has tested positive for COVID-19. The unnamed person must now self-isolate for a period of seven days. In the latest round of testing across all 20 clubs in England's top flight, a total of 1,197 people were tested for the virus, with just the one test at Tottenham coming back positive. "[The person is] currently asymptomatic and will now self-isolate for seven days, in line with Premier League protocol, before undergoing further testing," the North London club said in a statement. There have been five rounds of testing in the Premier League, with the total of positive results now at 13 from 5,079 tests. The league is aiming to restart on June 17. June 2. -- Formula 1 season starts with Austrian double header. The curtailed Formula 1 season will start with two races behind closed doors in Austria on July 5 and July 12 followed by six other grands prix in Europe, the organizers said on Tuesday. "While we currently expect the season to commence without fans at our races we hope that over the coming months the situation will allow us to welcome them back once it is safe to do," said F1 chief executive Chase Carey. "But we know the return of Formula 1 will be a welcome boost to sports fans around the world". June 1. -- Bundesliga: thoughts turning to fans‘ return. Bayern Munich board member Oliver Kahn has said that the club has already begun considering concepts to allow supporters to return to Bundesliga stadia. "Of course we’ve had a look [at the options],”

deutschewelle-en Saturday, June 20, 2020 11:23:00 PM EAT

Oliver Kahn said : "He knows that Bayern Munich are measured by maximum success,"

dw-en Wednesday, June 17, 2020 12:38:00 AM EAT

Oliver Kahn alisema : "Kwa urahisi sana naweza kujiweka katika hali ambayo Neuer yuko sasa hivi,"

deutschewelle-kisiwahili Thursday, May 21, 2020 4:55:00 PM EAT

Oliver Kahn aliongeza : "Tunaelewa mwelekeo anaotaka kuchukua Manuel katika kipindi hiki cha taaluma yake na kile kilicho muhimu kwake. Ametuma ujumbe mzito na nyongeza hii ya kandarasi,"

deutschewelle-kisiwahili Thursday, May 21, 2020 4:55:00 PM EAT

Oliver Kahn said ( about Alphonso Davies ) : "Alphonso Davies is a player who has already achieved a high level of performance at a young age and at the same time still has great potential for development," "Anyone who can consistently play at the top level at FC Bayern at such a young age can have a great career ahead of them"

CBC Tuesday, April 21, 2020 1:04:00 AM EAT

Oliver Kahn said ( about Alphonso Davies ) : “Alphonso Davies is a player who has already achieved a high level of performance at a young age and at the same time still has great potential for development,” “Anyone who can consistently play at the top level at FC Bayern at such a young age can have a great career ahead of them”

barrie Monday, April 20, 2020 9:06:00 PM EAT

Oliver Kahn souligné : «Pour le FC Bayern, il est important que l'entraîneur comprenne aussi la philosophie du club»

la-croix Friday, April 3, 2020 9:07:00 PM EAT

Oliver Kahn souligné : "Pour le FC Bayern, il est important que l'entraîneur comprenne aussi la philosophie du club"

tv5 Friday, April 3, 2020 8:11:00 PM EAT

Oliver Kahn souligné : "Pour le FC Bayern, il est important que l'entraîneur comprenne aussi la philosophie du club"

afp-fr Friday, April 3, 2020 7:18:00 PM EAT

Oliver Kahn وأوضح : "بالتعاقد مع ألكسندر نوبل، نضم بذلك حارس مرمى يتمتع بموهبة كبيرة، وستكون لديه فرصة التطور خلف نوير والتعلم منه. فلا يحظى الكثيرون بفرصة العمل كل يوم مع أفضل حارس مرمى في العالم"

elmogaz Wednesday, April 1, 2020 3:13:00 PM EAT

Oliver Kahn said : “Bayern is deep in my DNA,”

forbes Friday, February 21, 2020 2:10:00 PM EAT

Oliver Kahn said : “Bayern is deep in my DNA,”

forbes Friday, February 21, 2020 2:10:00 PM EAT

Oliver Kahn said ( about Manuel Neuer ) : “We all know what a talent Nübel is” “It was a very shrewd, wise and strategic decision to sign such a fantastic goalkeeper when he became available. He’s ready to learn from Manuel Neuer, about whose qualities we need not say anything more”

forbes Wednesday, January 15, 2020 11:38:00 AM EAT

Oliver Kahn said ( about Manuel Neuer ) : “We all know what a talent Nübel is” “It was a very shrewd, wise and strategic decision to sign such a fantastic goalkeeper when he became available. He’s ready to learn from Manuel Neuer, about whose qualities we need not say anything more”

forbes Wednesday, January 15, 2020 11:38:00 AM EAT

Oliver Kahn said ( about Manuel Neuer ) : “If Alexander Nübel is available, we have to sign such an outstanding goalkeeper,” “He showed that he is ready to step back and learn from Manuel Neuer”

firstpost Tuesday, January 7, 2020 7:02:00 PM EAT

Oliver Kahn sagte : „Die Erfolgsgeschichte weiter- und fortzuschreiben, das ist schon ziemlich reizvoll, und vielleicht noch eine Schippe draufzulegen“

ostbelgiendirekt Tuesday, January 7, 2020 6:04:00 PM EAT

Oliver Kahn sagte : „sich in einigen Jahren als absolute Nummer eins. Seinen Weg gilt es zu akzeptieren“

ostbelgiendirekt Tuesday, January 7, 2020 6:04:00 PM EAT

Oliver Kahn sagte : „Dieses Paket lässt mich diese Aufgabe mit großem Selbstbewusstsein angehen“

ostbelgiendirekt Tuesday, January 7, 2020 6:04:00 PM EAT

Oliver Kahn alisema : "Ni heshima kubwa kwangu kwamba nitaaminiwa kushika wadhifa katika ofisi kama mwanachama wa bodi ya bayern Munich na baadaye katika ofisi ya mtendaji mkuu CEO na mwenyekiti wa bodi ya utendaji ya Bayern Munich,"

deutschewelle-kisiwahili Friday, August 30, 2019 4:57:00 PM EAT

Oliver Kahn amesema : "Nina mahusiano ya karibu na klabu hii na imejenga maisha yangu," "Mafanikio ya kimichezo na kifedha, mshikamano na mashabiki, uendeshaji wenye kuwajibika kuelekea katika historia ya klabu hiyo na maadili, hivi ndivyo Bayern inavyovisimamia"

deutschewelle-kisiwahili Friday, August 30, 2019 4:57:00 PM EAT