Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is an infectious disease caused by a newly discovered coronavirus. The virus that causes COVID-19 is a novel coronavirus that was first identified during an investigation into an outbreak in Wuhan, China in 2019.1Since then, the virus has spread to more than 100 countries, including neighbouring countries in the southern part of Africa.

The novel corona (COVID-19) virus has seen various activities worldwide come to a standstill, ranging from social, economic, arts and performance and in particular the sporting world amongst many other sectors. This has resulted in the stoppage of sporting activities around the world to comply with social distancing in efforts to flatten the curve.

In football, we saw various leagues around the world coming to a halt which meant less or no physical activity for the players and the Botswana players were not left out. Players had to adapt to a new way of normal as no crowding of more than two people was allowed along with physical activity outside the household. In essence, this resulted in an unfamiliar off-season mid-season.

Many more sporting events throughout the world have been postponed or cancelled, including the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, CONMEBOL 2020 Copa América3and the UEFA Euro 2020, Africa cup of Nations qualifiers and respective leagues globally including the Botswana Premier League and its respective lower leagues on the 16th of March. Since then, virtually every organized sport at any level has been cancelled and indefinitely postponed in support of the social distancing in efforts to control the pandemic. To date, it is almost two months in the absence of regular physical and footballing activity and as such a safe return to participation guideline post COVID-19 is necessary to ensure safety for our players.

Early studies of COVID-19 have shown that it has effects on the lungs and heart in both symptomatic and asymptomatic people infected with the disease. These are primary organs key for performance of an athlete which makes it essential for testing before participation followed by serial testing of these player’s weekly to avoid catastrophic events such as sudden cardiac arrest or death and respiratory failure in the field of play.

Guidelines have been formulated and the BFA NEC is scheduled to meet to deliberate on them including the feasibility of the necessary preparations which will enable a safe return to play putting our athlete health safety first. Relevant stakeholders are to be engaged during this preparatory phase including the BNSC, NATIONAL COVID-19 task team and the Ministry of HEALTH.
We urge you to employ patience as we work tirelessly to ensure that our athletes can safely return with no adverse health complications.

All Football activities remain stopped until further notice.