This article is more than 6 months old

This article is more than 6 months old

All domestic sporting activity at all levels in Italy has been suspended until 3 April at the earliest, the Italian national Olympic committee (CONI) has announced.

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This includes all matches in Serie A, Italy’s highest football division, but CONI does not speak for Italian clubs or national teams competing in international competitions such as the Champions League. All last weekend’s Serie A matches were played behind closed doors. Uefa has announced that both legs of Roma’s Europa League tie against Sevilla will be played without spectators.

Italy has been the European country worst hit by the coronavirus so far, with over 9,000 confirmed cases and 463 deaths so far.

A definitive answer is expected in the next 24 hours over whether the rugby league match between Catalans Dragons and Leeds, due to be played on Saturday, can go ahead. The organisers of rugby union’s European Champions Cup and Challenge Cup competitions, EPCR, say the quarter-final ties scheduled for the weekend of 3-5 April are still set to go ahead.