Rio de Janeiro, June 21 (ONA) - The resumption of Brazilian football was dealt a setback on Saturday when the city’s mayor suspended matches involving Botafogo and Fluminense in order to give the clubs more time to prepare for action.

The Rio de Janeiro State League became the first domestic competition in Brazil to resume activity after a three-month hiatus due to the Corona Virus pandemic, with defending champion Flamengo beat Bangu 3-0.

With the court's refusal to the two clubs’ appeal to postpone the matches and feeling anxious that they would be withdrawn, the mayor Marcelo Crevilla initially intervened to decide to postpone all the state league matches until June 25, but he changed his decision hours later and decided to halt only Botafogo’s match against Cabofriense and Fluminense’s encounter with Volta Redonda. The dates for the resumption of other state competitions have not yet been decided.

However, Corinthians, who is participating in the Sao Paulo state tournament, announced on Saturday that eight players and five workers had been infected with the coronavirus. Corinthians are expected to return to training next week.

Brazil continues to suffer from the spread of the coronavirus, with 1,022 people died on Saturday. Brazil has the largest number of the coronavirus deaths in the world after the United States, where more than 49,000 people have died.

(ONA)