KUALA LUMPUR: Covid-19 has forced tomorrow's Super League match between Sri Pahang and Terengganu at the Darul Makmur Stadium in Kuantan to be postponed.
Malaysian Football League chief executive officer Stuart Ramalingam said today they had received a report from Pahang that 20 players and officials in their team have been infected.
He said the Pahang team, who have been quarantined, have also requested for a postponement of their match against Selangor at the MBPJ Stadium on March 8 and their FA Cup match against Manjung City FC at Darul Makmur Stadium on March 12.
Meanwhile, Premier League outfit UiTM also saw a Covid outbreak in their team with 12 players testing positive. And the rest of the team were close contacts with symptoms.
Consequently, UiTM's match against Terengganu II at the Sultan Ismail Stadium tomorrow and their FA Cup match against Kuching City on March 15 had to be called off.
Another Premier League team, Perak, had six of their players down with Covid-19 while 14 other players were close contacts with symptoms.
This has led to Perak's match against Kelantan United tomorrow at the Perak Stadium and their FA Cup tie with M3 side Kijang Rangers at the same venue on March 14 being postponed.
"MFL's latest standard operating procedure (SOP) is that clubs are eligible to apply for match postponement if 50 per cent or more players and team officials eligible to be registered for match day are infected or a close contact with symptoms," said Stuart.
"Today we received reports from teams facing issues with Covid-19 positive cases involving Sri Pahang, Perak and UiTM. The matches involving these teams are postponed till they complete their quarantine period.
"It's a blow as the M-League lifts its curtains today and tomorrow. I pray for the well-being of Sri Pahang, Perak, UiTM, Police and the FAM-MSN Project squad. I hope the other teams will adhere to SOP to avoid positive cases."
Yesterday, MFL announced that two Premier League matches – Selangor vs FAM-MSN Project Squad at the UiTM Stadium on Saturday and Police vs Kuching City at the KLFA Stadium on March 7 – have been postponed.
A Police coach and 14 of their players tested positive, while the entire FAM-MSN Project Squad were infected.
Covid-19 also impacted the FA Cup matches involving the FAM-MSN Project Squad vs Tok Janggut Warriors at the KLFA Stadium on March 11 and the Police vs Perlis United match at the same venue on March 15.