All the action as the Wellington Phoenix take on the Melbourne Victory in the A-League.
The Wellington Phoenix will look into finishing their A-League season in Australia following the travel restrictions set to be introduced to New Zealand.
Live A-League football updates: Wellington Phoenix v Melbourne Victory
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Ulises Davila of the Phoenix. Photo / Photosport
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Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern revealed on Saturday anyone entering into New Zealand would have to self-isolate for 14 days due to the threat of the coronavirus from midnight on Sunday.
This excludes anyone from the Pacific Islands.
Phoenix chief executive David Dome said the organisation had been planning for the worldwide pandemic to affect their season one way or another and now that it had happened it was time to put plans into action.
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"This is an evolving situation. We had planned for such an eventuality; we did think that potentially the border might be a soft closure. That has come through and it's slightly tougher than we thought with a 14-day stand down," Dome said.
"It's impossible now for Australian teams to come to Wellington to play in the A-League.
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"We do have a few plans in place around potentially finishing off the season and will now move on those quickly.
"If the A-League does carry on we'll potentially extend the stay until the end of the season in Australia and play our last two remaining home games in Australia. We have to find venues, we've got to find accommodation and a whole lot of work has to get done … but these are contingency plans that we've been looking at."
The restrictions would impact the Phoenix's final two home games of the regular season, against Adelaide on April 5 and Brisbane on April 19, and could make Sunday's match against the Melbourne Victory their final game in Wellington for the season.
While they would be able to play in Australia, that too would have its restrictions. From Monday the Australian government has banned mass gathering of more than 500 people, while this afternoon it was announced that Australia would implement self-isolation periods as well, meaning the Phoenix will be unable to play their next two games.
