By
Temitope Olatunji
November 29th, 2023
Cristiano Ronaldo joins the fight against Covid-19 that has triggered a global health scare and jolted the global sporting calendar. All CR7 hotels are set to be converted into hospitals.
Update: A little bit later, it has become known that this information was not true. Marca has deleted this news piece from its website. We
Portuguese football player Cristiano Ronaldo announced that he will transform all his CR7 hotels into coronavirus hospitals. Spanish ‘Marca’ newspaper said:
“All the hotels owned by Cristiano from the next few days will be transformed into free hospitals for Coronavirus patients who need a bed and a structure where they can be treated. Ronaldo doctors and anyone working in the facilities will also pay out of their own pockets to make them hospitals accessible to all as soon as possible, thus helping healthcare in Portugal to cope with this difficult moment”.
Last week the footballer expressed his concerns over the spread of coronavirus and called out people to follow the directives of the World Health Organization (WHO). He tweeted:
“The world is going through a very difficult moment which demands the utmost care and attention from all of us. I speak to you today not as a football player, but as a son, father, a human being concerned with the latest developments that is affecting the whole world.”
All of Juventus Under Voluntary Self-Isolation
Ronaldo’s club Juventus confirmed that all employees are “observing a period of voluntary home isolation” after Daniele Rugani tested positive for COVID-19. Rugani, who also plays for the Italian national team, is the first player in the country’s top football league to test positive for the virus, as the outbreak continues to spread in the country.
Ronaldo is in quarantine in Madeira after flying back to Portugal to visit his family. Rugani’s positive test came just three days after Juventus’ 2-0 Serie A win over Inter Milan, which was played behind closed doors because of the spread of the virus in Italy.
According to the latest information, the overall number of infected people in Italy is 21,157 that includes the number of recovered people – 1,966. The death toll in the country climbed to 1,441.
A case of coronavirus infection was also suspected on Real Madrid’s basketball team. The club responded by suspending all sporting activities.
UEFA Calls Video Conference Next Week
And it’s not just Rugani who ‘played it wrong’. Benjamin Mendy, of Manchester City, went into self-isolation and Mikel Arteta, the Arsenal manager, and the Chelsea forward Callum Hudson-Odoi both tested positive.
Leicester and Watford also shared their fears that its players and staff members had been exposed to the virus.
Therefore, UEFA, on Thursday, called a video conference of all of its constituent members, as well as FIFPro, the players’ union, and the body that governs all of Europe’s major leagues. They will speak on Tuesday in order to try to find a solution. According to them, every option is to be considered and nothing will be off the table.
Most Premiere Leagues teams have banned all nonessential visitors to first-team areas for weeks. Some have separated their youth and women’s teams from their senior sides in an effort to reduce the risk of contagion.
According to people familiar with the situation, if broadcasters did not view soccer less as a game but more as content that has cost millions of dollars to acquire (each Premier League game broadcast in Britain cost its host domestic network $16 million), then perhaps the season could be canceled or ended prematurely.
