China's women's football team quarantine 'pre-planned': AFC

The decision to quarantine China's national women's team in an Australian hotel because of the deadly coronavirus outbreak "was pre-planned", a top Asian football official said Thursday.

The Chinese team is being kept in a Brisbane hotel after arriving in Australia reportedly via Wuhan, the epicentre of the outbreak and where an Olympic qualifying tournament was originally due to be held.

The event, which also involves Australia, Taiwan and Thailand, was on Sunday moved to Sydney, with matches scheduled to be played next week.

A number of sports events have either been postponed or moved outside of China since the outbreak of the deadly virus in Wuhan.

The Chinese Football Association on Thursday suspended all domestic matches and postponed next month's scheduled start of the top-flight season indefinitely.

Windsor John, the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) general secretary, said that the move to quarantine China's women's team was planned by the Chinese Football Association (CFA) and Australian authorities.

"It is to allow for a two-week quarantine and it will be ending on the day of the first match," he told AFP.

"No drama to this. It was pre-planned."