Football

Manchester City have offered use of their Etihad Stadium to the NHS during the fight against the coronavirus pandemic.

With Premier League football postponed until the end of April at the earliest, the Etihad is currently empty and the club will make executive boxes and conference rooms available to the health service, who will use the space to train doctors and nurses during the crisis. The stadium, however, is not thought to be earmarked to treat patients, with a temporary hospital set to be set up at the Manchester Central Convention Complex.

Sportradar has announced the launch of a new product, Simulated Reality, which will allow fans the chance to ‘complete the current football season’.

The AI-driven product, which will launch on Friday 3rd April, will cover the top-tier football leagues from England, Germany and Spain and will see all of the remaining fixtures scheduled to be played as per their original date and kick-off time. 

The four Bundesliga clubs who have competed in the 2019/20 Champions League, Borussia Dortmund, Bayern Munich, RB Leipzig and Bayer Leverkusen, will create a €20m solidarity fund for German football clubs

In a bid to help those clubs further down the leagues, the four clubs will initially forego their share of the national media revenue from the German Football League (DFL) next season when that money is distributed. 

Manchester City and Manchester United have joined together to reprise their A City United campaign and to donate £100,000 to help foodbanks in Greater Manchester.

In order to help those organisations meet increased demand from vulnerable people as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, the clubs will collaborate, while a similar agreement is in place between the MCFC and MUFC Fans’ Foodbanks organisations, who will launch a fundraising appeal. 

The two clubs collaborated in a similar solidarity campaign in 2017 in the aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing.

The EFL will offer up a £50m relief fund to help clubs hit by cashflow issues because of the coronavirus cancellations.

All EFL, FA, Premier League and National League games have been postponed until at least 3rd April - though a further postponement is likely - and the EFL board has said that it will take steps to assist clubs in the short term.

The FA, Premier League, EFL, the PFA and the LMA have confirmed that the 2019/20 season will be finished in full before the 2020/21 - or any future season - can begin

FIFA and the World Health Organisation (WHO), have launched a new video series with a host of famous football coaches in a bid to promote ‘five key tactics’ for stopping the spread of coronavirus.

UEFA has announced the postponement of EURO 2020 after a meeting between its 55 member nations discussed the coronavirus pandemic.

The tournament - which is due to take place in 12 different cities across Europe, with its semi-finals and final taking place at Wembley - will be postponed for a year, until the summer of 2021 as Ceferin hailed the decision as a victory for 'purpose over profit'.

The FA has appointed Women’s Sports Group to exclusively consult on the distribution of UK media rights for the Barclays FA Women’s Super League.

The new round of media rights sales will be for the 2021/22 season onwards, and will include all FA-controlled women’s club and national team fixtures. The cycle comes at a time when women’s football exposure as well as participation levels are increasing. 

Rio Ferdinand is bringing together a group of celebrity friends in order to promote The FA’s new ‘festival of football’ THE FA FIVES.

The former Manchester United and England star has created ‘the most random football WhatsApp group ever’, bringing together five celebrities to discuss all things football as The FA seeks to promote the tournament.