Throughout the world today, health is the major sector that all countries are keenly looking into, and the reason behind this is the pandemic outbreak of corona virus which spreads all over borders and issues untimely death to bother all other sectors, including sporting live.
Samuel O. Ogunyinka writes ..
Sport as Merriam Webster dictionary has noted to be a contest or game in which people do certain physical activities according to a specific set of rules and compete against each other has also been affected due to the fact that there is no how it could be practiced without violating the social distancing policy, the one which has been put in place to ease the spread of coronavirus. Also, a sporting arena has been noted to be one of the leading places where one can contract the virus as a large number of spectators are often seen to catch the live fun.
Undoubtedly, soccer which is better-called football among sports lovers can be tagged to be the most populous, most loved, most watched and most interesting sport as the majority of the people are seeing following its trend and latest gist.
However, it is on a sardonic account that one will note that the virus called COVID-19 could not exempt this field which unites and connect the world together from its operation because, like most of the people who make spectators contact the virus in one way or the other, so many footballers and coaches fall victim of this deadly virus. Thus, below are the footballers and coaches that are coronavirus infected:
Mikel Arteta: The Spanish professional football coach and the formal player who is currently the head coach of Premier League club Arsenal was confirmed to have tested positive with COVID-19 in a club statement released on 12th March 2020.
Callum Hudson-Odoi: The English professional footballer who plays as a winger for Premier League club Chelsea and the England national team was reported to have been tested positive with COVID-19 before he came out to declare that he has recovered after few weeks.
Sean Aidan Reggett: The English professional footballer who plays as a defender for League One Club, Portsmouth, on loan from Norwich City was completely unaware he was carrying the deadly virus when he received the news while eating out with friends in The Star, a Hungry Horse restaurant in Gillingham. He later warned anyone who was there at the time to self-isolate.
James William Bolton: The English Professional footballer who plays as a defender for Portsmouth was also said to have contacted Coronavirus in the statement released by his football club.
Andy Cannon: The English professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Portsmouth was enlisted to having the same virus alongside his teammates; Sean Roggett and James Bolton after the football club mandated the test for all its players.
Haji Mnoga: Shortly after three teammates have been tested positive for the coronavirus, the Anglo-Tanzanian teenager Mnoga becomes the fourth Pompey player to have contracted the virus when he received his result from another batch of tests conducted for all members of the team. Haji Mnoga is an English professional footballer who plays for Portsmouth as either a centre-back or a right-back.
Sir Kenny Dalgish: The Scottish former football player and manager who also happens to be a Liverpool legend was confirmed as having the virus when in hospital for a gallstones operation without suffering any symptoms.
Daniele Rugani: The Italian professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for Serie A club Juventus and the Italy national team noted that he has not had any symptoms despite having been the first Serie A player to have tested positive for the virus in an interview with the club’s television channel (h/t Football Italia).
Blaise Matuidi: The French professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Serie A club Juventus and the French national team becomes the second player from his club to contract the illness after his teammate Rugani and has since then been in a voluntary self-isolation. However, the football club Juventus had later made it known in its statement that both Rugani and Matuidi had recovered from coronavirus after a double-check with diagnostic tests (swabs).
Manolo Gabbiadini: The Italian professional footballer who plays as a striker for Sampdoria became the second Serie A player to test positive for the virus after a mild fever as stated in the club released statement which confirmed him carrying the virus.
Albin Ekdal: The Swedish footballer who plays as a midfielder for Serie A side Sampdoria was also reported to have contracted the deadly coronavirus as he received positive test reports after Gabbiadini, his teammate.
Antonino La Gumina: The Italian professional footballer who plays as a forward for Sampdoria is also among the players who contracted the virus in Sampdoria as he also received his positive report alongside his teammates.
Morten Thorsby: The Norwegian professional footballer who plays for Serie A side Sampdoria as a midfielder as well got his bite when coronavirus visited their football club on its world tour.
Fabio Depaoli: The Italian professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Serie A club U.C Sampdoria also could not dodge the positivity of coronavirus in his system as he also received his test report with his teammates.
Bartosz Bereszynski: The Polish professional footballer who plays as a defender for Sampdoria and the Poland national team completes the number of players who have the coronavirus in the club.
Dusan Vlahovic: The Serbian professional footballer who plays as a striker for Italian club Fiorentina was the Viola’s first confirmed positive case of coronavirus, with the striker revealing in an Instagram post that his fever at one stage reached 39 degrees.
Patrick Cutrone: The Italian professional footballer who is on loan from Premier League club Wolvehampton Wanderers to plays as a forward for Seria A club Fiorentina, was tested positive for coronavirus after his teammate, Vlahovic.
German Pezzella: The Argentine footballer who plays as a central defender for Italian club Fiorentina, of which he’s captain makes the third of players who contracted coronavirus in the club Fiorentina. However, according to the statement that was later released by the club, the trio of Vlahovic, Cutrone, and Pazzella are said to have overcome the virus after the test that proved them negative.
Paolo Maldini: The Italian former professional footballer who played as a left-back and central defender for AC Milan and the Italy national team, who is as well regarded as one of the all-time best player and presently the AC Milan technical director has contracted the virus with his 18-year-old son, Daniel who also plays for the club under 19s.
Marco Sportiello: The Italian professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Atalanta was the first Atalanta player to having the coronavirus. It was noted that the Nerazzurri goal-stopper has no serious symptoms, but his illness is taking longer than usual as he still remains positive after three tests and a month diagnosis.
Ezequiel Garay: The Argentine professional footballer who plays as a central defender for Spanish club Valencia was the first player with COVID-19 in La Liga to confirm that he has tested positive for the virus.
Ellaquim Mangala: The French professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for La Liga club Valencia and the French national team also fall victim to COVID-19 and warned people not to be a danger against each other as he went on self-isolation.
Junior Samba: The French professional footballer who plays for Montpellier HSC as a defensive midfielder, attacking midfielder and striker is one of the most frightening examples of the coronavirus taking hold on an individual as Samba was hospitalized and placed into a coma as a consequence of the symptoms.
Suk Hyun-Jun: The South Korean professional footballer who plays as a striker for Troyes and the South Korea national team tested positive for COVID-19 after not feeling well for a few days.
Luca Kilian: The German professional footballer who plays as a defender for the club SC Paderborn 07 was the first Bundesliga player to contracted the virus with fever but recovered quite quickly.
Marouane Fellaini: The Belgian professional footballer who is an ex-Manchester United and Everton player and plays as a midfielder for Chinese club Shandong Luneng Taishan is perceived to likes buying a product from the manufacturing company as he contracted the virus from its origin, China.
Jorge Jesus: The Portuguese professional football manager and former player who is currently managing the club Flamengo was later cleared of coronavirus after initially testing positive.
Rustu Recber: The retired Turkish international footballer who once played as a goalkeeper for Barcelona and currently a sports executive, was hospitalized with the coronavirus as his wife explained that everything was normal when he suddenly developed symptoms really fast.
Enrique Bonilla: The Liga MX president also tested positive and he announced that he did not have the symptoms.
Therefore, the coming of the pandemic virus to the football pitch has brought about shock with it and tensions which makes all leagues and competitions shut down for months and coming back gradually with some continuation of unfinished fixtures with the “no spectator” policy, this which has never happened in the history of soccer.
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