Five Red Star Belgrade players test positive for coronavirus

Five players from Serbian club Red Star Belgrade have tested positive for coronavirus after playing a match attended by 16,000 people, the club said Monday.

The announcement came 12 days after Red Star faced city rivals Partizan Belgrade in front of a crowd of around 16,000 people, the largest gathering of that kind in Europe since the beginning of the pandemic.

The Serbian government has been loosening lockdown rules and earlier this month it announced that open-air gatherings with an unlimited amount of people would be allowed.

But coverage from television channel RTS appeared to show little sign of health guidelines in place in the match with Partizan as well as at other league matches.

Following the final match of the season against Proleter on Saturday, Red Star Belgrade celebrated winning the Serbian title with more than 10,000 of their fans.

At least four of the five players did not play in that last match as they had felt coronavirus symptoms ahead of it, the club said.

“The players feel well and are in strict isolation and in permanent contact with the medical team of the club,” Red Star said in a statement.

The Serbian league resumed on May 29, initially behind closed doors, before the government further eased restrictions.