Football leagues to resume behind closed doors: Hassan Rouhani

Tehran Times – TEHRAN, Iran football leagues will resume after the holy month of Ramadan, President Hassan Rouhani said.

Rouhani said that the competition will resume under the terms of a strict health protocol.

“The football leagues will restart after the holy month of Ramadan but the competitions must be played behind closed doors,” Rouhani said.

Iranian Deputy Health Minister Iraj Harirchi had already announced plans to ease the coronavirus lockdown.

“We held a meeting with Mehrzad Khalilian (head of the Sports Medicine Federation) and discussed with a view to complete the season as the organizers of La Liga, Serie A and Bundesliga are going to make it happen,” Harirchi said.

“With nine weeks remaining, we can finish the current season in six weeks. The teams will have three weeks to prepare for the competition,” he added.

In addition, acting head of Iran Football League Organization Soheil Mahdi has said that the Hazfi Cup is as important as Iran Professional League (IPL) and the Iranian football knockout cup competition will resume as well as the IPL after the government approval.

Mahdi said the Iran Football League Organization waits to be formally informed by the country’s Coronavirus Combat and Prevention Headquarters about the exact date of resuming the competitions.

The death toll from the novel coronavirus in Iran surpassed 6,900 on Friday, while nearly 92,000 positive cases have recovered from the disease.