Coronavirus forces Burundi to suspend football

The Burundi Football Federation (FFB) has announced the suspension of all domestic football matches, just two weeks after the country’s first confirmed case of the coronavirus.

The move signals the complete shutdown of football on the continent.

The body had earlier refused to put a hold on games, saying it had introduced adequate measures to prevent the spread of the virus which forced players to wash their hands and keep their distance from the referee.

In the last two weeks the number of positive cases of the coronavirus in the country has increased to five.

After analysing the competition, the FFB has said it is still confident it can make the 30 May deadline to submit finalists for any international competitions.

It said it was rearranging the calendar of fixtures and would resume domestic competitions in good time before the deadline.

The FFB will now have to contend with another problem however; the impending national elections.

“A problem [the federation] now have is that the elections are approaching, and the presidential campaign will begin in a few weeks”, Burundi national goalkeeper, Justin Ndikumana explains.

"The federation don't have many stadiums; many in the country were [built] by the population, the community work, so they don't belong to FFB.

"They need to see which stadiums will be available, and will they be enough to host the three final matches at the same time."

Burundi was among the last in Africa to record any positive cases of the virus and was one of only five countries in the world to continue playing its domestic football league.

Photo: Reuters