Premier League

RB Leipzig will not host Liverpool in the Champions League later this month after authorities ruled the English club cannot enter Germany because of coronavirus mutations in the UK, the Interior Ministry said Thursday. The match was set to take place in Leipzig on February 16, but the German federal police responsible for border control (the Bundespolizei) rejected RB's application for a special permit that would have allowed Jürgen Klopp's Premier League outfit to enter the country.

"The Coronavirus Protection Order agreed by the federal government last Friday envisions only a few exceptions and no special arrangements for professional athletes," the German Interior Ministry said in a statement.

Liverpool won the first Premier League title in club history and ended a 30-year wait for English football supremacy after Manchester City lost 2-1 at Chelsea. With the adverse result, Manchester City's two-year reign is over as there are seven games to be played and Liverpool has a 23 points lead.

The English Premier League looks set to resume on June 17, more than three months after it was forced into hiatus by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Clubs agreed on the date at a shareholders’ meeting on Thursday, although the Government must still give the green light to the competition resuming behind closed doors as the country continues along with its road map to recovery amid the coronavirus pandemic.

All 92 matches remaining in the 2019-20 season are set to be televised by the league's broadcast partners, including the BBC, which means the corporation televising a live Premier League match for the first time since the competition’s foundation in 1992.