J.League will not restart while state of emergency exists says chairman Murai

The Japanese J.League is preparing for a restart, but top tier professional soccer will not return to the field until the country's coronavirus state of emergency of lifted.

J.League chairman Mitsuru Murai spoke Monday after the latest J.League board meeting and said that the league will consider a restart only the after Japanese government makes a decision on the current state of emergency later this month.

The Japanese government extended its nationwide state of emergency through the end of May.

After briefly starting in February, the J.League's first and second divisions suspended play later in the month.

The J.League extended its suspension for all matches through to June 12th and has not yet determined when to resume the season.

But Murai also said despite the loss of matches, there are no financial concerns with DAZN, the streaming service that signed a ten year $2-billion deal for rights in 2017.

Murai said the league is keeping a good relationship with DAZN and "There has been no talk of changing or reviewing contracts or reducing their payment".

()(Representative Image)(Image Credit Pixabay)