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France's Ligue 1 confirms Marseille/St Etienne match postponed

Football

By Reuters | Aug 18, 2020

July 31, 2020 Marseille's Dimitri Payet, Valere Germain and Florian Chabrolle during the warm up, following the resumption of play behind closed doors after the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) Christof Stache/Pool via REUTERS

Friday's Ligue 1 match between Olympique de Marseille and Saint Etienne has been postponed until mid-September following COVID-19 cases within the Marseille club, France's Ligue 1 said on Tuesday, confirming media reports.

The LFP, French professional soccer's governing body, told clubs last week it had set up a "COVID committee" to advise on whether to postpone matches. When a club reports more than three coronavirus cases postponement is likely, based on the "COVID protocol" the LFP sent out to the clubs.

TV channel BFM and sports daily L'Equipe reported that the decision to postpone the match, the only fixture set for this Friday evening, had already been taken. LFP was not immediately available for comment.

Among the "Big Five" European soccer nations, France was the only one to end its season prematurely due to the pandemic. Paris St Germain were awarded the Ligue 1 title.

The Parisian club and Olympique Lyonnais have reached the semi-finals of the reformatted Champions League, the first time that two French teams will compete at that level. Olympique Marseille is France's only winner of the biggest prize in European football.

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Almost 40 players from 11 Ligue 1 clubs out of 20 have tested positive for COVID-19, including some at Saint-Etienne, Marseille's opponent on Friday night.

Spain's Mediapro, majority-owned by Chinese private equity fund Orient Hontai, holds the rights to air the top Ligue 1 matches for the 2020/2021 to 2023/2024 seasons. In early June, it said it had agreed with TF1, France's biggest private TV operator, to form a new soccer channel to air top Ligue 1 league matches within the country.