Portugal Soccer Players Test Positive for Omicron After Shorthanded Match is Abandoned

Portuguese health authorities announced Monday they have identified 13 cases of Omicron, a new variant of Covid feared for its ease of transmission. Each case is tied to the professional soccer club Belenenses after one player traveled to South Africa.

Saturday, Belenenses entered their Primeira Liga match against Benfica with 17 reported cases of Covid among their players and staff. After they were declined the ability to postpone the match, the game was ultimately abandoned shortly after halftime, when Belenenses was unable to dress the minimum of seven players.

“In the middle of the afternoon we communicated to the Liga that we didn’t want to play the game,” club president Rui Pedro Soares told reporters Saturday. “We had eight players who could attend the game and as such, they told us that if we didn’t attend the game it would be unjustified absence.

“Playing here today was a shame for all of us.”

At the time of the match on Saturday, it was unclear if any of the 17 reported Covid cases from Belenenses involved the Omicron variant. But officials were aware Belenenses defender Cafu Phete tested positive for Covid after returning to Portugal Thursday from South Africa, where the Omicron variant was first identified.

Other members of the club did not travel to South Africa, but everyone in contact with the outbreak on Belenenses have been ordered to isolate regardless of vaccination status.