December 15 – The surge in the number of positive cases of the coronavirus across England has struck the Premier League for the second time in two days with Leicester City’s home game against Tottenham tonight (Thursday) being postponed.
December 16 – Conflicting reports are emerging over whether next month’s already delayed African Nations Cup will go ahead on schedule after European clubs stepped up their complaints about losing key players to illness or injury.
By Andrew Warshaw
December 14 – Fears that English football could be heading back into another period of Covid-induced chaos have heightened after Manchester United’s match against Brentford tonight became the latest top-flight fixture to be called off as the Premier League reported its highest weekly rate of infections.
December 11 – Tottenham Hotspur’s postponed Covid-hit Europa Conference League game against Rennes has been scrapped altogether and will not be played at all, putting the Premier League club at risk of having to forfeit the match and being thrown out of the competition.
December 11 – Manchester United are the latest English top-flight club to be hit by a new coronavirus outbreak with a “small number” of players and staff testing positive.
December 13 – Bayern Munich and Germany star Joshua Kimmich will get vaccinated against the coronavirus after infection forced him to sit time out on the sidelines. Kimmich had refused to get jabbed, his vaccine hesitancy putting him in the spotlight of the vaccination debate.
December 10 – Football fans across England must show Covid-19 passes to enter any stadiums with a capacity of 10,000 or more from next week in response to the spread of the new Omicron variant.
December 10 – The Covid outbreak sweeping through English Premier League club Tottenham Hotspur, which put paid to Thursday’s Europa Conference League fixture, has now forced Sunday’s Premier League game at Brighton to also be postponed.
December 9 – Rennes have reacted angrily to UEFA’s decision to allow Tottenham Hotspur to call off tonight’s European Conference League fixture against their French opponents because of an outbreak of Covid-19.
December 8 – Tottenham Hotspur’s Europa Conference League clash against Rennes on Thursday evening is expected to go ahead as scheduled despite a Covid outbreak in the London club’s ranks.
December 6 – Barcelona’s vital Champions League visit to Bayern Munich this week, one of the showpiece games of the group stage, is being played behind closed doors as new Covid restrictions begin to bite in the wake of the latest increase in cases.
December 3 – Bundesliga matches will once again be played out in front of capacity-reduced crowds following the reintroduction of Covid-19 restrictions in Germany.
November 30 – All 13 cases of the Omicron coronavirus variant in Portugal involved players and staff of top division Belenenses, one of whose players recently returned from South Africa, according to health authorities.
November 29 – The top-flight Portuguese game between Belenenses and Benfica was abandoned Saturday amid farcical scenes after the hosts were forced to start the game with nine players, including two goalkeepers, because of Covid.
November 22 – The Europe-wide protests against new Covid restrictions have spilled over into football with Bayern Munich reportedly having informed their unvaccinated players that they will have their salaries cut during periods when they have to go into quarantine.