Japanese professional soccer and baseball to remain in shutdown

Nippon Professional Baseball and the Japanese J.League said Monday that they cannot set a specific date at least until after the Japanese government ends its current coronavirus state of emergency.

Officials from both Japanese baseball and soccer spoke after receiving advice from medical experts during a seventh meeting of their joint panel to assess the virus outbreak.

J.League announced earlier to suspend matches up to June 7 on account of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak and NPB already decided its season openers will not take place in May.

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