Europe

LONDON — AC Milan and Inter Milan will play their first-ever virtual derby on Saturday after joining forces with digital sports broadcaster DAZN, the clubs said in a statement on Thursday.

With Serie A, like the rest of Europe's elite leagues, suspended because of the coronavirus pandemic, fans will be able to watch the rival clubs go head to head on KONAMI’s popular soccer video game Pro Evolution Soccer 2020.

At the control will be Milan's Portuguese forward Rafael Leao and Inter's striker Sebastiano Esposito, selected for their self-confessed expertise on video games.

LONDON — Some of England's leading players will go head-to-head from their living rooms over Easter as part of a new FIFA 20 tournament launched by the FA on Thursday.

With real action suspended because of the coronavirus pandemic, players will find themselves in limbo over the holiday weekend — usually one of the most intense times of the season when leagues are nearing their climax.

LONDON — Premier League footballers, facing pressure to accept wage cuts during the coronavirus outbreak, have launched a fund to raise money for National Health Service (NHS) charities to help tackle the coronavirus outbreak.

With the Premier League at a standstill, the players have been criticised in the British media over the last week for resisting calls from the clubs to accept wage deferrals and cuts to reduce wage bills.

The players union, however, questioned the call for a 30-percent player wage reduction, saying it would reduce tax revenue for Britain's NHS.

LONDON — Tottenham Hotspur have told their players to respect the government's social distancing guidelines after several squad members were pictured training in a London park, the Premier League club said on Wednesday.

Manager Jose Mourinho was photographed in an outdoor training session at Hadley Common with France midfielder Tanguy Ndombele despite government rules that you can only execise alone or with members of your household due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

BERN — FIFA president Gianni Infantino has said that football will be "totally different" when it re-starts after the coronavirus. He has talked of smaller, but more meaningful, competitions, more balance and football being "more attentive to true values."

Infantino has not yet gone into further details and some may question his credentials in this matter: as FIFA president he has increased the World Cup from 32 to 48 teams and, in a previous role as UEFA general secretary, oversaw growing financial inequality in European football.

Without knowing how this’ll all play out, it’s tough to speculate or predict much with regards to the 2020 summer transfer window. UEFA insists that the 2019-20 season must be completed, but we have no clear idea as to when that’ll happen with European football still suspended.

Manchester City defender Kyle Walker faces disciplinary action from the Premier League champions after tabloid the Sun said he breached Britain's lockdown rules by hosting a party during the coronavirus pandemic. 

The mother of Manchester City coach Pep Guardiola has died after being diagnosed with the novel coronavirus, the English Premier League champions said on Monday. 

"The Manchester City family are devastated to report the death today of Pep's mother Dolors Sala Carrió in Manresa, Barcelona after contracting coronavirus. She was 82-years-old," City said in a post on their official Twitter account. "Everyone associated with the club sends their most heartfelt sympathy at this most distressing time to Pep, his family and all their friends." 

The Serie A season could be extended to September or October, the head of the Italian FA (FIGC) said on Sunday, warning that there could be an "avalanche of litigation" if it was not settled on the field. 

Serie A has been suspended since March 9 because of the coronavirus pandemic which has claimed 15,887 lives in Italy, almost a quarter of the global death total. Several club presidents have suggested that the season should be called off. 

Two amateur Swedish soccer clubs felt forced to cancel a friendly and then play the game in secret due to fears of match-fixing after almost 150 bookmakers worldwide offered odds on the game in the absence of other live sport, the newspaper Sportbladet reported.