Morocco’s national football league will resume on July 24, after having been suspended on March 14 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The league will stage postponed matches from July 24 to September 13 behind closed doors, according to a statement issued by the Moroccan Football Association on Tuesday, reports Xinhua news agency.

Training sessions for teams in all categories will begin next week with safety measures taken into account, it noted.

The new season will kick off on October 16.

The Moroccan Football Association will continue to monitor the situation, it said, adding that all players will be subject to COVID-19 tests.

Morocco is to relax travel restrictions inside the country, allowing domestic flights and permitting cafes and restaurants to reopen as of June 25.

The North African country registered 172 new confirmed coronavirus cases on Tuesday, bringing the total tally to 10,344, including 214 deaths.

The coronavirus pandemic has brought the entire world to a standstill and the sporting arena is no exception. Most of the high profile tournaments including the Olympics stand postponed.

Even the biggest cricketing spectacle on the planet, the Indian Premier League (IPL), stands suspended indefinitely owing to the coronavirus pandemic. Bundesliga, La Liga, Serie A and Premier League have recently become the high-profile sporting events to resume after almost a three month period with almost no sporting activity.

A few cricketing boards around the world have only recently granted permission to their players to resume training.

The move to restart sporting leagues and tournaments comes after governments are beginning to realise that the coronavirus is here to stay for quite some time and sports among other businesses will need to find a way to co-exist with it.

The virus has already infected more than 8.5 million people around the world while claiming over 450 thousand lives. There is still no sure shot treatment of the disease and social-distancing, self-isolation and maintenance of basic hand hygiene remain the only potent weapons of protecting oneself from contracting the infection.

(With inputs from IANS)