K League Opening Soon, Full COVID-19 Testing for Players and Coaching Staff

The Korea Professional Football League announced that it will conduct tests for the novel coronavirus infection on all players and coaching staff ahead of the opening of the 2020 professional football K League season. Photo by Yonhap News

[Asia Economy Intern Reporter Min Jun-young] The K League will conduct COVID-19 diagnostic tests for all players ahead of the opening of the 2020 season on the 8th of next month.

The Korea Professional Football League (Chairman Kwon Oh-gap) announced on the 27th that it will conduct COVID-19 mass testing for all players and coaching staff of the 22 K League clubs ahead of the opening of the Hana One Q K League 2020.

The tests will be conducted on a total of 1,142 people, including registered K League players and coaching staff, as well as team staff who work closely with the players, referees, and match officials. The costs for the tests will be fully covered by the league, while each club will conduct the tests at screening clinics in their local areas. The tests must be completed within this week, and the results must be submitted to the league by May 1.

Only clubs whose entire team tests negative will be allowed to participate in matches. Players and their clubs who test positive must self-quarantine for at least two weeks, and only players who test negative in a retest afterward will be allowed to play.

Matches that cannot be held due to positive cases will be postponed. Additionally, based on epidemiological investigations, matches involving the infected player's team and the teams that played against them around the time of the positive test will also be postponed for at least two weeks.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.