Return of Russian league jeopardised by Rostov virus cases
The announcement of the positive tests — and the subsequent obligatory 14-day quarantine — came on Wednesday, just 48 hours before Rostov’s first game back from the season suspension, away in Sochi.
The game itself is a crucial one for the club from the banks of the Don River in southern Russia, who despite financial difficulties are fourth in the table, just outside the Champions League qualifying berths with eight matches still to be played.
Yet at the start of June, Russian Premier League president Sergey Pryadkin warned ominously that clubs hit by a raft of COVID-19 infections and forced to quarantine their players would simply have to forfeit any affected matches. No postponements would be allowed with the league facing a race against time to complete the interrupted season.
The campaign is now scheduled to finish on July 22, leaving teams with little more than a couple of weeks to prepare for the start of the 2020-21 season, pencilled in for August 10.
Russia has the third-highest number of recorded coronavirus cases worldwide, with half a million positive tests and around 7,500 new cases appearing every day. It is one of the last European countries to restart its football season, suspended since mid-March when the pandemic took hold.
For Rostov, coached by the former Russian international midfielder Valeri Karpin, being forced to quarantine their entire squad for two weeks is a potential disaster.
As well as the trip to the Black Sea coast to play Sochi, Rostov are also supposed to host Arsenal Tula and near neighbours Krasnodar — rivals in the fight for Champions League qualification — in that time.
They are currently just three points behind second-placed Lokomotiv Moscow and Krasnodar in third, with the top three all earning a crack at Europe’s elite club competition next season.
– Opponents refuse to postpone game –
Their qualifying hopes are therefore now in danger of going up in smoke, unless they can find a solution from within.
With the first-team squad out of the picture, Rostov could turn to their B team or to their youth side.