Report: Japan's soccer J-League set to restart without fans

Posted May 26, 2020 7:00 am

The Associated Press

TOKYO (AP) - Japan's top-flight soccer league is ready to resume its season within weeks of the country's pro baseball league starting play.

The J-League is expected to officially announce its plans on Friday.

Japanese news agency Kyodo reports that league matches will resume on June 27 or July 4. The agency offered the dates and cited unnamed sources.

The resumption will be without fans. That is also the plan when baseball begins play on June 19.

Japan's two big sports league are able to resume after Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe lifted a state of emergency on Monday.

The J-League started its season on Feb. 21 but was forced to stop play a few days later. Baseball's regular season had not yet begun.

Kyodo reports the J-League will try to limit travel, with plans for teams in the same geographical region playing each other.

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More AP soccer: https://apnews.com/apf-Soccer and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

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