Doctor issues warning to Spain over restart

Balls and pitches will need to be sterilized frequently when La Liga returns in order to minimize the chance of players getting infected by the coronavirus, a leading Spanish doctor has said.

Spanish soccer has been on hold since March 10 due to the pandemic and stakeholders have been drawing up plans to complete the current season in a bid to avoid catastrophic financial losses, although a date for a return is yet to be set.

Rafa Ramos, president of the association of Spanish soccer club doctors, has outlined what conditions will be like when matches, which are set to be played in closed stadiums with no spectators, return.

"All the material, even the pitches, will have to be sterilized before a match, at halftime and afterwards," Ramos told newspaper El Pais on Sunday. "It's possible to be infected by an unknown ball but when you are struck by a sterilized ball on a sterilized surface it's very hard to get infected."

Spanish health minister Salvador Illa said on Sunday the league is unlikely to return in May.

Xinhua - Agencies