Around the world, people are following the recent reports from China about the Coronavirus outbreak.
The virus was found for the first time over a month ago in a market in the city of Wuhan. In the past few days, the situation escalated when more than 2,000 infection cases were identified in China, with a death toll of 56 people as of this moment. The city has since been put under quarantine, and several countries had warned their citizens from visiting China in order to avoid the spread of the virus.
For Chinese citizens, the situation is more complicated. In Wuhan, schools are closed, the roads to the city are blocked, and people live in siege. The emergency led the Chinese government to immediately build two new hospitals and cancel the Lunar New Year celebrations.
The blockade in Wuhan is already impacting local football. The city was scheduled to host one of the groups in the AFC Women's Olympic qualifiers, but due to the situation the matches have been moved to Nanjing. This motion was not enough to calm the other teams, who still refused to travel to China, forcing the Chinese FA to withdrew their hosting rights. Instead, the tournament will be played in Sydney, Australia.
More scheduled matches this upcoming weeks stand at risk of cancellation. The AFC Champions League qualifying match between Shanghai SIPG and Buriram United from Thailand will be played in front of empty stands, in order to avoid crowd gathering and potential infection. The Chinese Super Cup match between Guangzhou Evergrande and Shanghai Shenhua was scheduled for next week in Suzhou, but the Chinese FA decided to postpone it until further notice.
The domestic league is also under threat. Most of the teams preferred to delay their return from training camps abroad. The Chinese Super League opening match-day is currently scheduled to February 22, but the Chinese FA are worried that this too will have to be postponed.
It's still unclear what would be the Chinese FA’s next steps . It might take time until the local authorities find a solution to the problem. Delaying or canceling matches is probably the least of the Chinese concerns, but it is yet another aspect that is influenced by the country’s uncomfortable situation.