Tottenham hit by COVID-19 outbreak

With Tottenham Hotspur’s forward Son Heung-min reportedly tested positive for COVID-19, the English soccer club is negotiating with the EPL Secretariat on a postponement of Premier League games.

British sports channel Sky Sports reported that UEFA announced the Premier League game between Spurs and Rennes is set to go ahead on Friday as scheduled.

The BBC and The Guardian reported that seven first-team Spurs players have tested positive for the coronavirus. Football Insider also reported that Son Heung-min has tested positive for COVID-19 along with Lucas Moura, Emerson Royal, Bryan Gil, Ben Davies, and Cristian Romero.

Son was named to be among those who have tested positive, along with Bryan Gil, when two Spurs players had tested positive in October. Reports later confirmed that Son tested negative in follow-up PCR tests. On Tuesday, Tottenham posted on its official Twitter account Son’s 73-meter single dribble Wonder Goal video in the match with Burnley on Dec. 7 last year and wrote, “#OnThisDay, Sonny did this.”

While Spurs has not confirmed whether its first-team players have tested positive for COVID-19, it is reportedly awaiting the results of follow-up PCR tests. Players who test positive must isolate at home for 10 days in line with the British government guidelines. Tottenham is scheduled to play against Rennes on Dec. 10, Brighton on Dec. 12, and Leicester City on Dec. 17. The impacted players cannot play in all three games.

EPA rules state matches set to go ahead as planned when teams have 14 available players, including a goalkeeper, and UEFA rules also state that matches will go ahead as usual when teams have 13 available players, including a goalkeeper. Tottenham has reportedly requested the EPL Secretariat a postponement and rescheduling of its match with Brighton.


Dong-Wook Kim creating@donga.com