WOLVES LOCKOUT
WOLVES’ Europa League game against Olympiakos in Athens on Thursday could be played behind closed doors.
Thousands of fans with tickets and travel booked are waiting to discover whether they can go to the last-16 clash.
The Greek government announced
yesterday that sporting events will take place without any fans due to coronavirus.
And German health minister Jens Spahn has recommended that sports events with more than 1,000 fans should be cancelled, which could threaten Spurs and Chelsea’s Champions League ties with RB Leipzig and Bayern Munich respectively this month.
But German football chiefs have insisted that no decision has been made and the Bundesliga will go ahead as planned.
Wolves supporters took to social media to hit out about the Olympiakos game.
One tweeted: “This is a joke, will lose out on £200 flights plus hotel. First chance to see Wolves away in Europe and this happens.”
They would be the first English football team directly affected by coronavirus after the Premier League and Football League both banned pre-match handshakes.
There is a growing feeling that future Premier League games will be played behind closed doors as well as England’s friendly against Italy at Wembley on March 27 being called off.
The crisis has been wreaking havoc in Italy, which is Europe’s worst affected country.
Parma’s Serie A game with SPAL kicked off 75 minutes late yesterday, with the players ordered back to the dressing room amid calls for the whole league to be suspended.
A meeting between Government officials, sporting bodies and broadcasters will be held today to discuss contingency plans.
Rugby has been hardest hit so far, with Six Nations matches between Ireland and Italy and Italy and England called off.
And the ECB are holding talks about staging matches behind closed doors ahead of the first round of County Championship matches on April 12.