Five players in Spain’s top two football divisions have been positively screened for coronavirus, La Liga announced. All professional footballers in La Liga and Segunda Division have also checked before a return to training and a possible resumption of the 2019-20 season, despite Spain being one of the European countries most heavily affected by the pandemic.
La Liga announced that five players were screened positively but all are asymptomatic. Two names are kept secret in compliance with Spain’s data protection rules, though Real Betis has confirmed infection of Joel Robles, Alfonso Pedraza, and Juanmi Jimenez. The teams will continue to be isolated and will be tested to see if they are still infected in the days ahead.
La Liga announced that they would also send tests to the families of the affected players. An official statement said: “Five positive cases have been reported in players between the La Liga Santander (first division) and the La Liga SmartBank (second division) teams, all asymptomatic and in the final stage of the disease.
Exact players La Liga is not aware of the data protection regulations.
For those who reported positive COVID-19 results are per LaLiga protocol will follow the next measures:
- Staying home in quarantine. Players should adhere to the same individual physical training regimen they’ve been following up to now, as driven by the club.
- They will be screened for COVID-19 again in the coming days and will be able to rejoin training at the team facilities after two consecutive negative tests.
- Besides, LaLiga will provide assessments for people living with those affected.
The safety and health of all players, coaching staff and club employees will be taken into consideration by LaLiga and LA Liga will continue to implement the Return to Training protocol approved by the CSD and the Spanish Ministry of Health.
