April 29 – FIFA’s chief medical expert has warned countries against resuming their seasons too early because of Covid-19 and believes it makes far more sense to prepare fully for next season instead.
Michel d’Hooghe, chairman of FIFA’s medical committee said “as a doctor” he would be “sceptical” about football continuing during the coronavirus pandemic.
D’Hooghe told the BBC: “My proposal is if it is possible, avoid playing competitive football in the coming weeks. Try to be prepared for the start of good competition next season.”
European leagues have until May 25 to tell UEFA whether they want to complete or cancel their seasons. England, Spain, Italy and Germany are planning to carry on while France, the Netherlands and Belgium have already thrown in the towel.
D’Hooghe says the second option is best.
“There is a risk and it is not a risk that has small consequences,” said D’Hooghe. “It can have consequences of life and death and that is why I am so careful and I ask everyone to be very careful before deciding to play again.
“I speak as a medical doctor, I don’t have to speak as an organiser of matches, but for the moment from my medical standpoint I would be very sceptical.”
D’Hooghe says it would be extremely difficult to continue social distancing if matches were to resume.
“How will you avoid direct contact?” he said. “That is my question.
“For the moment the criteria means it is absolutely difficult to say that we can play competitive football and believe me I regret it profoundly because I am a football man.
“I am a little bit afraid that to have a complete solution we will have to wait until we have a vaccination programme, but I think the time has come now to think of some hygienic rules.
“For instance to avoid spitting – why do we have to see that in football and not in other sports? This is one of the things we have to consider because this is a real danger in the future.”
In a separate interview D’Hooghe told Sky: “If there is one moment where absolute priority should be given to medical matters, then it is this one.”
“This is the most dramatic situation we have lived in since the Second World War. We should not underestimate it, we must be realistic.”
Teams who start playing again will test every player beforehand but d’Hooghe says that may not be enough. “It’s still about social distancing. Testing is an important point but you have to repeat them (tests). If one of the players becomes positive, you have to put the whole group into quarantine. Is that a solution for a normal competition?”
“You cannot play in the Premier League when players are obliged to remain two metres from each other. You cannot ask Liverpool to play Manchester when all the players will keep a distance of two metres between them.
“Have you ever tried playing football in a mask?! This does not avoid social distancing.”
“The world is not ready for competitive football, I hope this can change very quickly and I sincerely hope that.”
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