The resurgence of the coronavirus pandemic in France has forced the French Football Federation (FFF) to suspend the kick-off of the French Cup to December 1, 2020.
Daily confirmed cases of coronavirus is on the rise in France. On Wednesday only, there were 36,437 new confirmed cases of the virus while 244 deaths were recorded.
Since the virus broke out in the country, 1,235,132 people have been infected. Out of the confirmed cases, 35,785 coronavirus related deaths have been recorded.
As of Thursday morning, October 29, only 113,977 people have fully recovered from the virus while 1,088,420 are still carriers of the dreaded virus.
Due to the rising cases of the virus, the French government has ordered that people in the country should remain at home. Only essential workers and people seeking medical attention are allowed to leave their homes.
While on the aspect of football, amateur football has been put on hold in the country. The FFF has also suspended the top three tiers of men’s football – Ligue 1, Ligue 2, and the National. Women leagues are also suspended.
For the main time, the FFF has permitted that the apex league in the country and international matches can continue but behind closed doors. While the French Cup which Paris Saint Germain are the defending champions can remain suspended until December 1.
“The FFF decided to suspend all leagues, districts and national championships competitions National 3, National 2, Women’s D2, the French Cup for men and women, and national youth championships (male and female) until Tuesday, 1 December,” the FFF said in a statement issued on Thursday.
“All matches that cannot be played during this period will be postponed to later dates, depending on the evolution of the health situation.”
This was the same scenario that French football found itself in around April which forced the FFF to cancel the French Ligue 1 and awarded PSG the league title for the 2019-2020 season.
Since the 2020-2021 season resumed in France, almost every club in the league especially Marseille, has recorded a coronavirus case. But the cases are not alarming enough yet to warrant a cancellation of the league as it happened in April 2020.
Décision de la FFF sur les compétitons à la suite de l'annonce par le Président de la République des mesures sanitaires de confinement ⤵ https://t.co/Z6A0OrONIe
— FFF (@FFF) October 29, 2020
 to suspend the kick-off of the French Cup to December 1, 2020.){kind=link}