Foreign arrivals ban puts restarts on hold

April resumption of top-flight soccer and basketball action now looks unlikely

With foreign players' inbound route now blocked by China's new entry restrictions amid the coronavirus pandemic, the country's professional sports leagues have put their highly anticipated restarts on hold.

Soccer's Shanghai SIPG, however, managed to beat the ban on foreign nationals entering the country just minutes before it came into effect. The Chinese Super League club's Brazilian trio of Oscar, Hulk and newly signed left winger Ricardo Lopes all officially arrived in Shanghai at 11:49 pm on Friday-11 minutes before the start of the ban, which is designed to stop the flow of imported virus cases.

Flying on a luxury Bombardier private jet, the trio-worth 120 million euros ($134 million) in total transfer fees-landed at Shanghai's Pudong International Airport and are now observing a mandatory 14-day quarantine period, according to a 163.com report.

However, the entry suspension issued by the Foreign Ministry on Thursday night caught most of China's professional sports clubs off guard, with the majority of their foreign employees-be they players, coaches or trainers-now stuck overseas indefinitely.

Foreign nationals arriving with diplomatic, service, courtesy or C-type visas are not affected by the suspension, while the ministry said the restrictions can be adjusted depending on how the pandemic situation evolves.

With life slowly getting back to normal in China thanks to the nation's strict outbreak control measures, expectations had grown that the CSL would start its delayed 2020 campaign as early as late April and that the Chinese Basketball Association league might resume its regular season behind closed doors at about the same time.

The indefinite absence of many of the leagues' imported players, though, seems likely to thwart any plans for imminent restarts.

According to industry analysts Lanxiong Sport, 35 out of 71 imported players signed up with CSL clubs for the 2020 season had made it back to China by Friday, while 21 of 46 foreign players and coaches hired by 20 CBA teams had returned before the deadline.