Coronavirus kiboshes March meeting of World Football Summit in Durban

The World Football Summit Africa, which was scheduled to take place in Durban, has been postponed to contain the spread of coronavirus.

“In the light of the Covid-19 outbreak, which has been officially declared a global pandemic by the World Health Organisation (WHO), World Football Summit has been forced to make the difficult decision to postpone the celebration of WFS Africa, scheduled for March 17 and 18 in Durban, SA.

“After closely monitoring the evolving coronavirus outbreak and assessing the risk to our visitors, we have concluded, with the provincial government of KwaZulu-Natal, our main partner, that this is the only way to guarantee the wellbeing of all our visitors,” the World Football Summit said in a statement on Thursday.

The organisation said the decision was “heartbreaking”.

“During the last few months we have strived to put together an event of the calibre that the African football industry deserves. We were extremely excited with our first-ever African summit and looking forward to welcoming the continent’s most relevant leaders and stakeholders. This decision is heartbreaking for the WFS team.

“We would also like to underline the solid leadership demonstrated by the South African government and the crucial guidance provided by our main partner, the KwaZulu-Natal provincial government. We look forward to continue growing our partnership to build the best possible platform for the African football industry to meet.”

The team is exploring options to reschedule the event.

“Details will be announced as soon as possible.”