The board of the Latvian Football Federation (LFF) decided to end the Optibet Premier League championship at an extraordinary meeting on Tuesday, the LFF reports.
It has already been reported that in the Covid-19 tests organized for all ten “Optibet” Latvian Football Super League teams on Monday, all members of the RFS team are healthy, but in the “Daugavpils” team six footballers have had positive results, so quarantine will be observed.
Meanwhile, “Ventspils”, “Valmiera” and “Jelgava” units reported that the tests performed were not positive.
LFF reports that there are only two rounds left in the championship, and both of them are scheduled to take place this week – on November 26 and 29, or this Thursday and Sunday. The champion is already known – “Riga”, also the second place is guaranteed for RFS club. The distribution of positions in the fight for the third place (“Valmiera”, “Ventspils” and “Liepāja” apply for it) may also change, as well as rotation is possible at the bottom of the tournament table from the seventh to the tenth position.
In order to follow the sporting principles and the fair distribution of the final places, which affects both the Eurocup sign and the place in the domestic top league, it was decided to finish the championship with healthy footballers, following the safety and precautionary measures set out in the LFF competition.
Also, following the practice of the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) regarding the organization of competitions, it was decided to make the necessary amendments to the LFF Sanitary Protocol regarding the conditions for continuing the championship, determining the minimum number of players the club must have in order to continue participating in the championship.
After the Covid-19 tests performed on all clubs on Monday, the incidence was not fixed in seven teams. In the other three clubs, the morbidity rates are not related to the circumstances in which the championship would be interrupted.
In a conversation with LETA LFF on Tuesday, General Secretary Edgars Pukinsks revealed that on Monday, Covid-19 tests were performed on approximately 300 people.
During the last day, 7975 Covid-19 tests were performed in Latvia, of which 5.7% were positive. Ilze Arāja, a representative of the Center for Disease Prevention and Control (SPKC), told LETA that the total number of tests performed, including daily reports, includes all tests, regardless of their type or location. This means that the total also includes screenings performed.
The RFS unit, which had previously reported three cases, said on Tuesday that “all tests are negative, including those players who have previously been diagnosed with Covid-19.”
It has already been reported that last week a large-scale outbreak of Covid-19 was detected in the football club “Riga”, where 29 people became infected with Covid-19.
At the end of the week, information was provided that one of the players of the football club “Jelgava” was also infected with Covid-19, but another 18 team players and two coaches had the status of a contact person. Following the decision of the Center for Disease Prevention and Control, the team went into quarantine until December 2.
“Covid-19 tests were performed on Jelgava players and staff on Monday. All tests were negative. Currently, players and coaches continue to be in isolation in their respective places of residence,” Jelgava club reported on its Twitter account on Tuesday.
“Ventspils” also announced negative test results on Tuesday. “We did the Covid-19 tests yesterday. They are all negative,” the club’s Twitter website said.
Also, no case of Covid-19 was detected in the “Valmiera” unit, the club reports.
Previously positive cases of Covid-19 were also found in “Ventspils” and “Daugavpils” clubs. There was a bigger outbreak in the first league vice-champion “Auda” team, which according to the regulations should participate in the playoffs for the place in the league, but it is still unclear whether the playoffs will be played.
It has already been reported that at the meeting of the Latvian Football Super League on November 13, a decision was made by a majority to support the proposal not to continue the Optibet Latvian Football Super League season due to the difficult situation of Covid-19. This decision was also supported by the members of the footballers’ union, but on November 16, the LFF did not accept the proposal.
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