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‘Not worth to put at risk any human life’: FIFA Chief on return of football

Meanwhile, the FIFA chief Gianni Infantino had admitted last week that he or as a matter of fact “nobody knows” when football would return.

‘Not worth to put at risk any human life’: FIFA Chief on return of football

FIFA president Gianni Infantino file image. (Photo by Munir UZ ZAMAN / AFP)

FIFA president Gianni Infantino on Thursday said that it was not worth putting any human life at risk by restarting football leagues and competitions around the world amid the global pandemic of novel coronavirus.

“As our main priority, our principles, the ones we employ in our competitions and also we invite to everyone to follow, is health comes first,” Infantino said as quoted by the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF).

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“As much as I emphasise it, it is not enough. It’s not worth to put at risk any human life for any game, any competition, nor any league. Everyone should have this clear in their minds.

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“It would be more than irresponsible to restart the competitions if the situation is not safe 100 per cent. If you must wait a bit more time, we must do it. It is better to wait a bit more than taking risks,” the FIFA chief added.

Meanwhile, Infantino had admitted last week that he or as a matter of fact “nobody knows” when football would return around the globe but said that when it returns it is “going to be different”.

“We all wish that we could have football tomorrow but unfortunately it’s not possible and nobody in the world today knows when we will be able to play like before,” Infantino told South American football chiefs as quoted by PTI via AFP.

The COVID-19 pandemic has severely affected the sporting calendars across the world with football being the worst-hit. All major leagues and tournaments across the world, including the top five European leagues and the UEFA Champions League, have come to a standstill.

The Euro 2020 and the Copa America 2020, which were scheduled to be played in this year’s summer, have now been postponed due to the global crisis caused by the novel coronavirus which has already affected over 1.6 million people and killed more than 95,700 people.

Meanwhile, the ongoing situation caused by the novel coronavirus forced football’s international governing body to postpone the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup which was supposed to be held in India in November.

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