Soccer-Mexican league cancels season over coronavirus concerns

Mexico's soccer league, Liga MX, has canceled the remainder of its men's and women's 2020 seasons due to the coronavirus pandemic and no champions will be crowned, league officials announced on Friday. The league had been in discussions with health officials about a possible return to action after it suspended play on March 15 but concluded it could not do so "without putting at risk the members of this great family."

"It is indisputable that we are experiencing an unprecedented situation in our country, which forces the soccer industry in Mexico to act with absolute good sense and to respond with unity to the demands that have been presented to us," the league said in a statement. "We seek, of course, to preserve the integrity of the Liga MX and all the members that compose it, that is our responsibility and that is why the presented determinations have been taken," it said.

On Wednesday, eight players from Mexico's Santos Laguna club tested positive for coronavirus despite none of them displaying any symptoms, the league said. As of Friday, Mexico had registered 59,567 coronavirus infections and 6,510 deaths in total, according to a Reuters tally.