Tottenham & Chelsea Among Teams Facing European Stadium Closures Amid Coronavirus Fears

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We've already seen the impact of the coronavirus on football. In England, players have been banned from shaking hands to try and minimise the spread of the virus, while Italy took it a step further and ruled that all games must be played behind closed doors for the next month.

Sunday was a particularly wild day for the coronavirus crisis. Serie A games were postponed, then un-postponed, then players were tipped to go on strike, and then the games were played anyway. Carnage.

However, Italy isn't the only country willing to take drastic measures. German health minister Jens Spahn took to ​Twitter to call for events with over 1,000 spectators to be cancelled immediately, which obviously puts football under immediate threat.

​Bundesliga games are now at risk of being impacted, but that could also have a huge impact on ​Tottenham Hotspur, ​Chelsea and Rangers, all of whom are set to travel to Germany for European ties in the coming weeks.

Spurs will travel to RB Leipzig on Tuesday, before Chelsea meet ​Bayern Munich on Wednesday 18 March. Finally, Rangers will also travel to Germany to face Bayer Leverkusen on 19 March.

However, if Spahn's call is put into action, fans may not be able to travel to those games, and it's not even just Germany which could be affected. ​The Daily Mail note that ​Wolverhampton Wanderers are still awaiting a decision about their Europa League clash with Olympiacos, after the Greek government banned sporting events to try to contain the coronavirus outbreak.

UEFA will soon make a final decision on what to do with the games, just as they will with ​Barcelona's clash with ​Napoli, which has also been ​tipped to be played behind closed doors for the same reasons.

So, we've had Italy, Germany, Greece and Spain all make decisions about their football, and ​RMC Sport note that France may be next in line.

​Borussia Dortmund are set to visit the Parc des Princes to face Paris Saint-Germain on Wednesday, but sports minister Roxana Mărăcineanu is expected to announce that that game must be played behind closed doors.

PSG are desperate to keep their fans involved in the whole thing, but they might be fighting a losing battle here.


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