The schedule for the first day of Ligue 1 should be turned upside down in the coming hours. After the postponement of the match between Marseille and Saint-Etienne which was supposed to open the 2020-2021 season on Friday, a second meeting could well be postponed due to cases of coronavirus.
The Nîmes club, which is to be opposed to Brest on Sunday, announced that the additional tests carried out for two players on Friday were positive. Two players from the professional workforce of Nîmes were already affected.
“One has lost his taste and smell, but all four are physically fine. They are tested every day like all club employees, ”Gard coach Jérôme Arpinon said at a press conference. Among the affected players would include forward striker Nolan Roux and defender and captain Anthony Briançon, according to a source at the club.
The Crocos coach "hopes to play" against Brest
According to the protocol of the Professional Football League (LFP), the virus is considered to be circulating in a club from four positive cases (players or supervisors) over eight rolling days, which leads to the referral of a "Covid commission" responsible for deciding on the possible postponement of the meetings of the club concerned.
This match against Brest, "I hope to play it, I think we can play it," said Jérôme Arpinon. "You have to know how to compensate, with the Covid-19, to one or two absences, two holders of the group, but I have a large group. "
In addition, Olympique de Marseille confirmed on Friday the existence of a fifth case of Covid-19 in its workforce, after additional tests carried out. The five affected players are asymptomatic. The OM - Saint-Étienne match, which was to open the Ligue 1 season this Friday evening at 7 p.m., had already been postponed anyway.
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After Strasbourg, Marseille or Montpellier, four new Ligue 1 clubs deplored at least one positive case this Friday: Angers, Monaco, Lens and Nice. These last two clubs must start their season against each other at the Allianz Riviera, which will not welcome the slightest spectator on Sunday ... if the match goes well.