The Malta FA cannot sell more than 2,000 tickets for any BOV Premier League match as the government issued new directives for open-air activities.

Football across the continent has been hit hard by the spread of the Coronavirus with the Serie A brought to a halt until April 3 after the Italian government issued a lock down.

The Spanish Primera Liga and the French Ligue 1 have also announced that the next two programmes will be played behind closed doors while a number of Champions League and Europa League matches will also be played without any presence of fans.

The situation in Malta seems to be more under control, but Prime Minister Robert Abela on Tuesday announced that open-air activities will not be permitted to be held if they exceeded over 2,000 visitors.

During Tuesday’s Parliamentary session, Beppe Fenech Adami, the Opposition spokesman for Home Affairs, asked Health Minister Dr Chris Fearne on how he was planning to enforce the 2,000 limit for football games.

In his reply, Dr Fearne said that the Malta FA will stop selling tickets before the 2,000 limit was reached.

Earlier, Dr Abela also played down any talk of suspending local football leagues.

“I am informed that normally the attendance of local football matches does not exceed 2,000 matches.”

It is understood that the Malta FA will cap the entrance capacity at local stadia to not more than 2,000. This particularly applies to the National Stadium and the Hibs Stadium, the largest venues use for competitive football.