South Korean football will reach new international TV audiences as it leads the way by restarting after the coronavirus on Friday, but there will be no crowds or wild goal celebrations -- and even talking is discouraged.
With most leagues worldwide sidelined by the pandemic, the K-League is the first competition of any standing to come back to life, watched by sport-starved fans in a swathe of foreign countries.
It will provide the first glimpse of post-virus football, with teams under orders to stick to stringent safety guidelines to prevent any contagion.
Players have been told to avoid excessive goal celebrations, handshakes, close talking and blowing their noses, while the stadiums will be devoid of spectators.
But with fans around the world long deprived of live sport, the K-League has signed rights deals with broadcasters in nearly 20 countries including Germany, Switzerland and Australia who will be showing games live.
The K-League, whose start was delayed two months by the ...

S Korean football kicks off with new audience, safety measures

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Tottenham Hotspur striker Son Heung-min was named one of the top five recruits in his unit as he finished three weeks of compulsory military training in South Korea on Friday.
South Korea's marine corps posted pictures of Son wielding an M-16 assault rifle and saluting on their Facebook page as he completed his stint at a boot camp.
All able-bodied South Korean men are obliged to serve in the military for nearly two years, making up the bulk of Seoul's 600,000-strong forces -- who face off against North Korea's army of 1.3 million.
But Son -- the top Asian goalscorer in Premier League history, and the Asian Football Confederation's reigning international player of the year -- was in the South Korean team that earned an exemption by winning gold at the 2018 Asian Games in Indonesia.
The Spurs star broke down in tears of joy after the 2-1 extra-time win over Japan, which meant he could fulfil his obligations with just three weeks' basic training and around 500 hours of community ...

Spurs hotshot Son Heung-min earns military accolade

Formula One could stage a series of races at new venues in an attempt to salvage the coronavirus-hit season, the sport's chief Chase Carey said.
On the day that Liberty Media, the company which runs the sport, reported a collapse in revenues of more than $200 million (184.7 million euros) in the first quarter of the year, Carey insisted that a 15-18 race season was still possible.
He also admitted that all scenarios are on the table "including the remote possibility of no racing in 2020".
So far, 10 races of what was to have been a record 22-event championship have either been cancelled or postponed.
The season will only get underway in Austria on July 5 and behind closed doors.
"We have two primary challenges, identifying locations where we can hold the races and determining how we transport all necessary parties and their equipment to that location for a race," said Carey.
"We're in discussion with all of our promoters as well as some tracks that are not currently on our 2020 ...

F1 chiefs ponder new venues to save virus-hit season

Saracens have apologised for the behaviour of England star Billy Vunipola after he and four of his club colleagues were found to have flouted social distancing guidelines designed to protect the public from the coronavirus.
Vunipola met his team-mates for coffee in St Albans on Monday, not far from Saracens' headquarters in a northwest London suburb.
The powerhouse No 8 was joined by fellow England internationals Alex Goode and Nick Isiekwe, as well as Scotland and Lions winger Sean Maitland and prop Josh Ibuanokpe picking up takeaway coffees.
Photographs carried by newspaper the Daily Mail showed the group all in close proximity to each other.
"The club was very disappointed to learn about a small group of Saracens players being sighted together in St Albans on Monday this week," said a Saracens spokesman.
"The players accept they made an error in judgement and apologise for any upset caused.
"The (British) Government guidelines on social distancing and public gatherings of more than 

Saracens reprimand Vunipola for flouting social distancing rules

All ticket holders for the French Open, postponed from this month until September because of the coronavirus pandemic, will be refunded, the French Tennis Federation announced.
"The current health situation linked to COVID-19 and the extent of this pandemic are causing uncertainty for all events bringing together the public, all over the world," the federation said in a message sent to all people who had bought tickets.
"We have chosen to postpone Roland-Garros until the end of September and, assuming our responsibility, we are currently working in collaboration with the French authorities to jointly define the appropriate measures that will guarantee the health and safety of all people present.
"Pending having drawn up all the outlines, the French Tennis Federation has decided to cancel and refund all tickets already purchased." Roland-Garros was initially scheduled for May 24-June 7, but has been pushed back to likely run between September 27-October 11.

French Open organisers to refund all tickets

Starved of sport during the coronavirus pandemic, bookmakers and punters have turned their attention to the football backwaters of Nicaragua and Belarus -- and they have proved an education for clients.
Sport in Europe has been particularly badly affected with the bookies' two major sources of revenue -- major football leagues and horse racing -- suspended.
However, punters have taken to betting on such unlikely fare as Diriangen against Walter Ferretti in the Nicaraguan championship.
As one bookmaker put it, some may "giggle" at the thought but for others it has been a godsend.
Keith O'Loughlin, a senior figure at SG Digital which supplies sportsbook platforms and trading services to operators, says he has been encouraged by the figures he has seen across the globe.
"We have seen customers transferring in droves to alternative products," O'Loughlin said on a videoconference at the Sports Betting Community digital conference last week.
"We have customers in each region - Asia Pacific, 

Punters and bookies find a net gain in unlikely quarters

American professional sports leagues plotting their path back from the coronavirus shutdown are preparing for a future played out behind closed doors or to sparsely populated arenas, scenarios that analysts say are likely to carry a heavy financial burden and could lead to profound changes.
Although plans to resume action have yet to be finalized, Major League Baseball and the National Hockey League are reportedly mulling proposals that include playing games in empty stadia or in clusters of large, confined fan-free zones.
Basketball and ice hockey, who were both approaching the business end of their respective seasons before the leagues shut down in March, are likely to enjoy a television ratings bonanza if and when competition resumes.
"The NBA and the NHL were about to conclude their season and to go into the postseason, which is the more lucrative period for them primarily because of the television contracts," said Andrew Zimbalist, a professor of Economics at Smith College in ...

US sport grapples with prospect of fan-free future

Leganes coach Javier Aguirre has said that Spain's La Liga will resume on June 20 and end on July 26 despite league bosses refusing to confirm his claim.
Aguirre told Marca Claro on Thursday that he had been told officially of the plan to restart the championship which has been in cold storage since March due to the coronavirus.
"We already have a start date for the league -- on June 20 we will start La Liga and after five weeks we officially finish, on July 26," said Mexican coach Aguirre whose side were second bottom of the table when action was halted two months ago.
"Matches will be played Saturday-Sunday and Wednesday-Thursday, 11 rounds.
"La Liga has just informed me officially and I am very happy about that because we have now scheduled the training sessions. We start tomorrow (Friday) because thankfully we passed the tests."
League officials have not yet commented on Aguirre's claim, merely saying that their focus at the moment was completing the training phases at the ...

Leganes coach says La Liga will resume June 20

The fate of the Serie A championship remained in limbo after state scientists met with football bosses in a desperate effort to save the coronavirus-interrupted season threatened by a new wave of positive tests among players.
The Italian Football Federation (FIGC) huddled with the government's technical scientific committee to discuss details of the medical protocol for a potential return to group training.
The talks came with pressure mounting from sports-deprived fans and sponsors for Italy to follow the German Bundesliga's lead and return to action.
Sports Minister Vincenzo Spadafora said after the meeting on Thursday he was "hopeful" team training could resume on May 18.
"There has been a very important, very in-depth meeting, with many requests from doctors and scientists to the FIGC," Spadafora said on Facebook.
"Now the committee, on the basis of these insights, will draw up its own assessment which will be sent to the Ministry of Health."
FIGC president Gabriele Gravina has ...

Italian season in limbo with new wave of positive coronavirus tests

Getafe will offer season tickets for the next La Liga campaign for free to current holders in compensation for matches the coronavirus has taken from them, the club has announced.
The measure was announced on Thursday by club president Angel Torres during an interview with Radio Marca, as fans face the prospect of not being able to attend the rest of the season -- suspended since mid-March -- should the remaining matches be played this summer.
Getafe's 13,000 season ticket holders will only have to pay for cup matches at the club's Coliseum Alfonso Perez.
Atletico Madrid and Real Valladolid have also announced compensation for fans, with Atleti announcing a 20 percent price cut for next year's season tickets should the five remaining matches at the Wanda Metropolitano be played behind closed doors.
La Liga clubs began carrying out a series of coronavirus tests on their players this week, in the hope of being able to restart the season next month.

Getafe season ticket holders offered next season for free

The Kabul administration has released more than 900 Taliban fighters since the militants signed a landmark deal with the United States to end the war in Afghanistan, an official said on Thursday.
The release is part of a prisoner-exchange programme included in the US-Taliban deal agreed February 29, which has also seen the Taliban free dozens of Afghan security personnel.
"So far 933 Taliban detainees have been released from Afghan jails," Javed Faisal, spokesman for Afghanistan's National Security Council, told AFP.  In return the Taliban have released 132 Kabul administration prisoners, Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said.
Zalmay Khalilzad, the US special envoy to Afghanistan who negotiated the US-Taliban deal, sees the prisoner exchange as an "important step" toward reducing violence in the war-torn country.
The deal stipulated the Afghan government would release 5,000 Taliban prisoners, while the insurgents would free 1,000 Afghan security force personnel.
The swap was ...

Over 900 Taliban fighters freed so far in Afghan prisoner swap

England captain Joe Root has said he is "very optimistic" Test cricket will take place in his side's 2020 home season even if that means the squad have to go into more than two months' of quarantine.
With Britain currently in lockdown because of the coronavirus, a three-Test series against the West Indies scheduled for June has been postponed, with Pakistan due to visit later in a season whose start has now been delayed until July 1 at the earliest.
In a bid to salvage the most lucrative matches following a warning from England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) chief executive Tom Harrison that a totally wiped out season could cost the board ?380 million ($469 million, some reports have suggested an expanded squad of up to 30 could remain in camp for as long as nine weeks, with Tests played behind closed doors.
Root said as long as the British government relaxed lockdown rules sufficiently to let the matches go ahead some international matches could yet be salvaged from an otherwise ...

Root 'very optimistic' England will play home Tests despite virus

Formula One owner Liberty Media saw its revenues from the sport collapse by more than $200 million in the first quarter due to the coronavirus pandemic, it said Thursday.
The pandemic has prevented the season from starting, with 10 races either cancelled or postponed.
It will now only get underway on July 5 at the earliest, in Austria.
F1 revenue for Liberty Media dropped to just $39 million in the first three months of the year, from $246 million in the same period in 2019, a dramatic drop of 84 percent.
The operating loss reached $137 million compared to a loss of $47 million over the same period last year.
"F1 currently hopes to start racing in July and continue until December with a target of around 15-18 races," said a statement released by Liberty who took over F1 in 2017.
"It is still unclear whether spectators will be able to attend."
The revenues generated by F1 of Liberty Media, owned by American billionaire John Malone, come from the sums paid by the organisers of the Grand 

Liberty Media see F1 revenues slump by $200 million

Sheffield United manager Chris Wilder said Thursday that he will not pressure any of his players to return to action if they are wary of health risks when the Premier League gets the green light to resume.
Clubs from England's top flight are due to meet on Monday, a day after British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is expected to ease a nationwide lockdown, to discuss their latest plans for 'Project Restart'.
But there are concerns over player welfare if they return to contact sport when social distancing guidelines are still in place.
Manchester City striker Sergio Aguero admitted last week footballers are "scared", while players and coaches from La Liga side Eibar released a statement on Tuesday expressing their concern at contributing to a second wave of the virus.
"If any individual player took that decision and came to me and said, 'It's not for me,' I'd respect that," Wilder told BeIN Sports.
Germany's Bundesliga is leading the way for Europe's top leagues and will return on May 16 

Sheff Utd's Wilder would not pressure players into quick return

Portuguese football is due to resume at the end of the month as the country's relatively low number of coronavirus infections may allow Primeira Liga to make a swifter return than some of its European neighbours.
But the urgency to restart is also a reflection of the structural and financial problems confronting the game in Portugal, where even the leading clubs face uncertain futures.
After seeing just over a thousand deaths from a population of around 10 million, the Portuguese government gave the green light last Thursday for the remaining 10 rounds of the season to be played, as well as the final of the Portuguese Cup.
League leaders Porto and their closest challengers, Benfica, who trail by a point, both began training again on Monday, while respecting recommendations for physical distancing.
Yet even if the return of sport is a welcome checkpoint in the battle against the coronavirus pandemic, in Portugal it also uncovers the fragility of football clubs, who are desperate to ...

Portuguese football to return amid uncertainty as much as excitement

Miroslav Klose, who holds the record for the most goals scored at men's World Cups, has joined Bayern Munich as assistant coach, it was announced Thursday.
"It feels very good, I'm really looking forward to the task," said the 41-year-old, who scored 16 goals at four World Cups and won the 2014 title with Germany.
Klose will be on the Bayern bench when the Bundesliga restarts in nine days after having been suspended since mid-March due to the coronavirus, with Bayern travelling to Union Berlin on Sunday May 17.
The former Bayern striker says joining his old club is "the next step" in his coaching career after having worked with their Under-17 team for the last two seasons.
Klose signed a deal until June 2021 which reunites him with Bayern head coach Hansi Flick, Germany's assistant coach at the 2014 World Cup.
"We trust each other both professionally and personally," Klose said of Flick.  Klose's record on the pitch speaks for itself with 71 goals in 137 internationals for ...

World Cup record-holder Klose joins Bayern as assistant coach

NBA commissioner Adam Silver and the head of the players union, Michele Roberts, will host a conference call on Friday as the league attempts to map out a possible return to action, ESPN reported.
The call between Silver and NBA Players Association executive director Roberts is an opportunity for players to air concerns and quiz basketball chiefs about how the league may resume.
The NBA has been in shutdown since the coronavirus pandemic brought sport to a standstill in mid-March, forcing the suspension or postponement of every professional league in North America.
Since then, the NBA has been exploring ways for the sport to resume.  Friday marks the first day that teams in the league will be allowed to reopen practice facilities for limited workouts, which will take place under strict safety protocols.
A handful of teams have indicated they plan to take advantage of the green light to return to practice facilities but many franchises have said they intend to wait.
Los Angeles Lakers .

NBA, players to hold coronavirus conference call

Four-time heavyweight boxing champion Evander Holyfield says he is making a ring comeback for charity at age 57, hoping to help first responders and children combat the coronavirus pandemic.
And it could set the stage for a third fight against Mike Tyson more than 20 years after the originals.
Holyfield said he would fight in exhibition matches to raise support for Unite4OurFight, which helps learning and emotional development projects aimed at children whose schooling was disrupted by the deadly virus outbreak.
"Are you ready? The moment you've all been waiting for... The Champ is back!" Holyfield posted on Twitter. "I'd like to announce that I will be making a comeback to the ring. I will be fighting in exhibition matches for a great cause."
Holyfield's move comes after Tyson, 53, was shown training and saying he wanted to make a charity comeback in exhibition bouts.
Holyfield has not fought since stopping Danish fighter Brian Nielsen in the 10th round at Copenhagen in 2011, ...

Holyfield makes charity comeback at 57 - could Tyson be next?

MotoGP promoters Dorna made a proposal to the Spanish government on Thursday to stage back-to-back races at Jerez in July.
The first, on July 19, would be the new season-opener for MotoGP after the first 11 rounds of the coronavirus-truncated championship were either cancelled or postponed.  Dorna then suggest slotting in a second race, the Grand Prix of Andalusia, at the same circuit on July 26.
A round of the Superbike Championship was also proposed for Jerez on August 2.
"Once authorisation from the Spanish government has been given, the three events will be proposed to the FIM (motorcycling's ruling body) for inclusion on their respective calendars," a Dorna statement read.
On Wednesday the Spanish parliament voted to extend stringent coronavirus lockdown measures for at least two more weeks.
The country has been one of the hardest hit by the COVID-19 pandemic with more than 25,000 people dead and over 220,000 infected.
Dorna's CEO Carmelo Ezpeleta last week indicated that the ...

Back-to-back MotoGP races proposed for Spain's Jerez in July

Bundesliga clubs were racing Thursday to get ready for the restart of the season in nine days' time, amid concerns about whether the players will stick to the strict hygiene guidelines implemented to ensure the campaign is completed.
Twenty-four hours after Chancellor Angela Merkel's government gave the German Football League the green light to return, the league said it will resume the season on Saturday, May 16.
The Bundesliga will be the first top European football league to restart matches since the outbreak of the coronavirus forced lockdown measures to be imposed across the continent.
All games will be played without spectators.
The opening day's key game is between second-placed Borussia Dortmund and arch-rivals Schalke in the Ruhr derby at Dortmund's Signal Iduna Park -- but instead of being roared on by an 81,000 crowd, the teams will play in an empty stadium.
France has already ended the Ligue 1 season, with football in England, Spain and Italy still suspended.
The situation 

Clubs gear up for Bundesliga restart in nine days' time

With the German Bundesliga resuming next week and other leagues around Europe making preparations to restart after the coronavirus-induced suspension, could France end up regretting the decision to call an early end to its football season?
That is the fear of Jean-Michel Aulas, the outspoken president of Lyon who had hoped Ligue 1 could still be played to a conclusion despite last week's announcement by the French Prime Minister that it "cannot restart" any time soon.
"Why rush into saying it's difficult to play before August, when we don't know if other countries are going to have the same judgement," he told sports daily L'Equipe.
"We should have done the political rounds of the other four major leagues."
Instead, the French league ended the season with 10 rounds of matches unplayed, crowning Paris Saint-Germain champions, relegating the bottom two, Amiens and Toulouse, and leaving Lyon seventh, denying them European qualification.
France is not alone. The Dutch season was ...

AFP

AFP

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