Soccer-Colombia looks to get league restarted in August

Colombia has authorised its football clubs to begin training again in June with a view to restarting its professional leagues in August, Sports Minister Ernesto Lucena said on Tuesday. "We are going to restart, from June 8 individual training will be permitted," Lucena told local radio. "It will take at least between 15 and 20 days to do all the tests that we need to do."

If the tests on players are negative, group training will be allowed in July and the league can hopefully restart in August with games played behind closed doors, he added. Lucena said he would meet with representatives of the 20 first division clubs on Friday to decide how to restart. The league was suspended in March due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Some clubs have suggested playing the remaining fixtures in one or more chosen cities to reduce the risk of contagion. The only Latin American league to restart so far has been Costa Rica, which resumed its competition last week.

Colombia has reported 776 deaths from the novel coronavirus.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)