WARSAW, March 13 -- The Polish league Ekstraklasa has been suspended until at least April due to the coronavirus outbreak, the Polish Football Federation (PZPN) announced on Friday.
The PZPN said on Thursday that there would not be any changes in the league fixtures, which triggered protests of the clubs and players.
Gornik Zabrze refused on Friday to go to Lodz for a match against LKS and explained in a statement that "playing on the road is too risky", while former Borussia Dortmund star Jakub Blaszczykowski, who currently plays for Wisla Krakow, wrote an open letter to the federation and league authorities to ask for postponing the matches.
"After many conversations with fellow players and representatives of all Polish football competitions, I am asking the authorities with all the managers of our sport in Poland to think over the last decisions related to the continuation of the games of the highest football leagues," wrote Blaszczykowski.
The PZPN and Ekstraklasa then changed their decision on Friday to suspend the competition until at least April.
"Over the past 24 hours, we have conducted a number of consultations with PZPN and other leagues that have also decided to postpone matches. The probable date of competition's resumption will be determined by the current situation related to the spreading coronavirus or UEFA decisions regarding the rescheduling of individual international competitions," said Ekstraklasa president Marcin Animucki via the league's official site.
"I assure you that PZPN has no interest in continuing the game. We wanted to make thoughtful decisions with the clubs. I hope these clubs will not cry after ten or twenty days that they would like to come back to the pitch even when situation will not be better," commented PZPN president, Zbigniew Boniek.
Poland has been scheduled to play a friendly game against Finland on March 27, while the match against Ukraine is scheduled for March 31, but both encounters may be canceled due to the Coronavirus.
"We haven't made final decisions yet. We are waiting for UEFA's reaction," PZPN vice-president Marek Kozminski was quoted as saying by Polish media.