Coronavirus: Ireland’s play-off in Slovakia likely to be postponed

The Euro 2020 play-off game between Slovakia and the Republic of Ireland, scheduled for March 26th, is almost certain to be postponed after the association there requested a postponement of the fixture from Uefa. Europe’s football federation says that it will discuss its response to the current crisis with all of its members in the early part of next week.

In a statement, posted on its website on Thursday afternoon, the Slovak FA (SFZ) said that: “As the situation surrounding the spread of coronavirus and the number of infections with this virus is increasing in Slovakia and also in neighboring European countries, the SFZ decided . . . to send a letter to UEFA.

“In this official document, SFZ asks for the postponement of the ME 2020 Slovakia - Ireland qualifying match to be scheduled for Thursday, March 26, 2020 at the National Football Stadium, to another time.

“As the main organiser of this event, the SFZ takes full responsibility for all decisions related to this match and does not want to risk the health of all concerned.”

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Uefa has yet to respond to this request, or to a similar one from the Bosnia-Herzegovina association in relation to their play-off game against Northern Ireland, but it seems pretty much unthinkable that the game could now proceed in the current circumstances.

Mick McCarthy's squad announcement, which was due to be made on Friday, has now been cancelled.

The SFZ announcement comes afterthe country’s Prime Minister, Peter Pellegrini, said that security on the country’s borders is to be tightened and that travel by train and bus from abroad halted.

He also announced that more stringent border checks are to be introduced. Slovakia had already been testing some of those who arrived at its airports for coronavirus but Pellegrini has now said that only those who actually live in the country will be allowed in with everyone who is subject to 14 days of quarantine.

Shopping malls are to be closed at weekends with only shops selling food and pharmacies permitted to remain open.

The measures are a stepping up of already widespread restrictions aimed at containing the spread of the virus in Slovakia where 10 cases have been confirmed to date. On Wednesday, the government approved a proposal to supplement police services in towns and cities with members of the armed forces so as to maintain public order if required.

At the time of writing, it was not clear how long the new restrictions are intended to be in place for but given the spread of the virus and the timeframe outlined elsewhere, including Ireland, it does seem unlikely that anything approaching normality will have returned by the 26th, when the game is supposed to be played.

It had already been announced on Tuesday that it would take place behind closed doors if it went ahead at all and there were already major issues for the hosts in relation to the availability of players based in other countries, most obviously Italy, where around half a dozen of the their regular squad members play their club football.

Those concerns, however, seem to have been overtaken by events and amid reports that a suspension of this season’s Champions league and Europa League may be imminent, by the time of the video conference with member associations planned by Uefa for next Tuesday, the focus may well be firmly on whether Euro 2020 itself goes ahead as planned.