The Latest: Japanese soccer league to resume on July 4
The Latest on the effects of the coronavirus outbreak on sports around the world:
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The Japanese soccer league will resume on July 4 in empty stadiums.
J-League chairman Mitsuru Murai made the announcement in a online news conference.
The J-League suspended play on Feb. 26 because of the coronavirus outbreak.
Both soccer and baseball were able begin play after Prime Minister Shinzo Abe lifted a state of emergency earlier in the week.
The soccer league says “matches will be held without spectators but the league will continue preparations to allow spectators into the stadiums in the future.”
The league says all matches will be rescheduled with a priority given to scheduling teams from the same geographic region to limit travel.
A new schedule will be announced on June 15. The lower level J-2 and J-3 leagues can begin play on June 27.
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The reshaped English soccer season is set to end with the FA Cup final on Aug. 1.
The Football Association has announced provisional dates for the remaining rounds of the competition a day after the Premier League said it planned to restart on June 17.
The quarterfinals of the FA Cup are scheduled to take place over the weekend of June 27-28 and the semifinals on July 11-12.
The semifinals and final are usually held at Wembley Stadium. The FA says further information on venues will be announced later.
The FA says the match dates are dependent on safety measures being met as lockdown measures are gradually eased during the coronavirus pandemic.
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The Spanish soccer league could use virtual crowds when the competition resumes in empty stadiums next month.
Spanish league president Javier Tebas says the league is working with the possibility of giving fans different options on how to watch the matches on television. He says they may be able to choose either the original feed with no fans or an alternative one with crowds superimposed on the stands.
Tebas says fans may also have the option of hearing pre-recorded crowd noise or stick with the live sound from the empty stadiums.
Tebas says the Spanish league is expected to resume on June 11 and finish on July 19. The next season would start on Sept. 12. The European competitions are set to be played after the end of the domestic leagues.
Tebas says he wants two or three league matches to be played every day until the end of the competition.
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The Pan Pacific Swimming Championships won’t be held as planned in 2022 because of a crowded international sporting schedule brought on by the coronavirus pandemic.
Canada was scheduled to host the quadrennial event in 2022 but instead will host in 2026.
Swimming Canada says charter nations Australia, Canada, Japan and the United States “agreed to defer” the event.
The Tokyo Olympics were postponed to 2021. That then led to the swimming world championships being pushed back to May 2022.
The 2020 Junior Pan Pacific Championships were moved to August 2022 in Hawaii.
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Fans will be in the stadiums when the Russian soccer league restarts next month.
The Russian government’s coronavirus task force says spectators will be allowed if they don’t exceed 10% of the stadium’s capacity.
The Russian league previously announced it will resume games on June 21.
Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Chernyshenko says “both players and fans have missed the vivid emotions of a match and the noise from the stands. Soon all this will return.”
The move could help clubs stem losses from refunding ticket holders.
Only neighboring Belarus is currently holding professional soccer games with fans in the stadium.
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The top two divisions of the Swedish league have been given the go-ahead to start their seasons on June 14.
There will be no spectators at matches.
The season was scheduled to start on April 4 but was suspended because of the coronavirus outbreak.
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