Dutch basketball league suspended

The Dutch basketball league has been suspended for at least four weeks. This is the result of the new government measures which in essence comes down to a partial lockdown.

The number of newly notified positive coronavirus tests in the Netherlands soared by a further 7,393 cases in the 24 hours to Tuesday at 10 am. There were nearly 44,000 newly registered cases of coronavirus in the past week.

Team sports for adults in groups of more than four are halted. Junior sports competitions are also being paused to stop people from travelling to to away matches. Professional football is the only exception.

The Dutch basketball league is now following the example of the Czech NBL. That league was the first in Europe to be suspended for the new 2020-21 season.