The four Bundesliga clubs in this season’s Champions League have pledged 20m euros to support fellow German teams during the coronavirus. Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund, RB Leipzig and Bayer Leverkusen will forego their share of the national media revenue and donate the remainder from their own funds. The German Football League (DFL) will decide how the money will be distributed.
Two Nigerian footballers – one a Super Eagles international – have been released after being kidnapped on Sunday. Enyimba FC, for whom midfielder Ekundayo Ojo plays, said that both he and Abia Comet’s Benjamin Iluyomade had “regained their freedom.”
Conor McGregor has pledged one million euros worth of personal protective equipment for hospitals in Ireland. In a private twitter exchange with Irish Minister for Finance Paschal Donohoe, published by McGregor, the UFC star said he planned to buy the equipment on Wednesday before distributing it around hospitals in Dublin. It comes a day after the Dublin native, 31, called for the government to fight back against the coronavirus by introducing an immediate lockdown.
Players and directors at Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund have agreed to take a temporary pay cuts. Both German giants said the move was to help the other employees at the club financially during the coronavirus crisis. Players at Union Berlin, 11th in the Bundesliga, announced they will go entirely without their wages. Last week, Borussia Monchengladbach’s players were the first in the country to offer to forgo wages.
Cesc Fabregas says he left Arsenal for Barcelona in 2011 for a number of reasons, including his relationship with some former team-mates, pressure on winning trophies and the club’s lack of recruitment. Fabregas joined Arsenal from Barca as a 15-year-old in 2003 and went on to make 303 appearances across all competitions before returning to the Nou Camp, where he then joined Chelsea, and now plays for Monaco in Ligue 1.
Chelsea have confirmed that forward Willian is in Brazil with his family during the coronavirus outbreak. The club has allowed him to return to his wife and children after granting the player a leave of absence on appeal following a request to return home on compassionate grounds.
Quarterback Tom Brady backed New England Patriots chiefs after he was asked whether they could have done more to prevent the end of their 20-year relationship. The 42-year-old helped Patriots to six Super Bowls, but became a free agent in this off-season and signed for Tampa Bay Buccaneers last week. “No, I have a great deal of respect,” responded Brady. “I’m so grateful to Robert Kraft [owner] and coach [Bill] Belichick.”
Quarterback Cam Newton has been released by the Carolina Panthers after nine years with the franchise. Newton, 30, was named the NFL’s most valuable player for 2015 after leading the Panthers to Super Bowl 50 where they lost to the Denver Broncos. He has struggled with shoulder and foot injuries in recent seasons, playing just two games in 2019. Last week the Panthers gave Newton permission to seek a trade but a deal was not agreed.
Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has donated 1m euros to fight the coronavirus outbreak in Spain. Guardiola, who is at his home in Barcelona, has been working with his lawyers over the past few days to work out the best way of using the money. It will go to a campaign being promoted by the Medical College of Barcelona and the Angel Soler Daniel Foundation. Spain is one of the worst affected countries in Europe.
The Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games have been postponed until next year because of the worldwide coronavirus pandemic. The event, due to begin on 24 July, will now take place “no later than summer 2021”. “I proposed to postpone for a year and [IOC] president Thomas Bach responded with 100% agreement,” said Shinzo Abe, Japan’s Prime Minister. The event will still be called Tokyo 2020 despite taking place in 2021.
Two footballers – Super Eagles forward Dayo Ojo and Abia Comets’ Benjamin Iluyomade – have been kidnapped while driving on the Benin-Owo expressway in Nigeria. The pair were travelling from Akure on a break, as the Nigerian league is currently suspended amidst the coronavirus pandemic. A team-mate of Ojo’s from his club side Enyimba, Emmanuel James, was also in the car, but escaped.
Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta says he has fully recovered from coronavirus. Spaniard Arteta, 37, became the first Premier League manager to test positive for the virus on 12 March. He had reported feeling unwell after it was confirmed Evangelos Marinakis – the owner of Greek side Olympiakos, who played Arsenal in the Europa League in February – had coronavirus on 10 March. Arteta said: “It took me three or four days to start feeling better, with more energy, to leave the symptoms behind.”
World Athletics president Lord Coe has called for this summer’s Olympic Games in Tokyo to be postponed. In a letter to International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Thomas Bach, Coe says that an Olympics in July 2020 is “neither feasible or desirable” because of the coronavirus crisis. The IOC has given itself four weeks to decide on the future of the 2020 Games.
The 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games in Tokyo have been thrown into further doubt after Canada became the first major country to withdraw. Japan’s Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe, has admitted for the first time that the games could be postponed. Australia’s team has said it is “clear” the games cannot go ahead, and told its athletes to prepare for a 2021 games.
Two Nigerian footballers – international striker Ifeanyi George and Emmanuel Ogbu – have been killed in a car crash in Abudu that also claimed the life of a third person. The pair, who played for Nigerian league side Enugu Rangers, were involved in a crash on the Benin-Agbor road whilst travelling to Lagos on Sunday morning.
Former Manchester United midfielder Marouane Fellaini has confirmed that he has tested positive for coronavirus. In a post on Twitter, the 32-year-old, who is now at Chinese club Shandong Luneng said he hopes “to return to the game as soon as possible”.
Former Real Madrid president Lorenzo Sanz died on Saturday after being taken to hospital with coronavirus. Sanz, 76, was president at the Bernabeu from 1995-2000, a period in which Real won the Champions League twice. “My father has just died,” wrote Sanz’s son Lorenzo Sanz Duran on Twitter.
Juventus and Argentina forward Paulo Dybala and former Italy captain Paolo Maldini have tested positive for coronavirus. In a message on his Instagram account, Dybala said he and his girlfriend both have the virus but were in good health. “Both Oriana and I have tested positive,” Dybala, 26, said. “Luckily we are in perfect conditions.”
Bayern Munich striker Robert Lewandowski and his wife Anna have contributed one million euros (£923,900) to fight coronavirus. Team-mates Leon Goretzka and Joshua Kimmich have also set up a fund called We Kick Corona to combat the pandemic and contributed one million euros between them. Manchester City winger Leroy Sane also made a considerable financial donation.
Serie A side Roma are to fund three intensive care ventilators and eight beds for a hospital in Rome as the coronavirus crisis deepens in Italy. The clubs first-team players and coaching staff each donated a day’s salary to take the club’s fundraising campaign to 460,000 euros.
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