Soccer-Monza outbreak results in first COVID postponement of Serie B season

Dec 18 (Reuters) – A COVID-19 outbreak at Monza has resulted in the postponement of their match against Benevento in Italy’s second-tier soccer league Serie B, the first such disruption of the season.

Italian soccer has remained relatively unaffected by the spread of the Omicron variant, which has resulted in wide scale match postponements in England.

But Monza announced on Friday that the number of positive cases in their squad has risen to five, resulting in their away trip to Benevento being called off.

“The entire squad group has been placed in mandatory self-isolation at home from Saturday Dec. 18 to Tuesday Dec. 21, with a consequent ban on them leaving to play Benevento on Sunday Dec. 19,” read a club statement.

The fixture is an important one in the promotion battle, with sixth-placed Monza level on 31 points with Benevento in fifth and both clubs seven points behind leaders Pisa.

No games in Italy’s top-flight Serie A have been postponed for COVID-19 reasons this season and the league body told Reuters this week that 98% of its players have been double vaccinated nL8N2T230Z. (Reporting by Alasdair Mackenzie; Editing by Ken Ferris)

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