Buckingham Palace confirmed on Thursday, September 8, 2022, that Her Majesty The Queen had passed away and as a result, all football matches scheduled for this weekend in England have been cancelled.
“The Queen died peacefully at Balmoral this afternoon. The King and the Queen Consort will remain at Balmoral this evening and will return to London tomorrow,” Buckingham Palace said a statement on Thursday evening.
The Queen will also be given a full state funeral, as is traditional to mark the death of a monarch as the United Kingdom will now enter an official 12-day period of mourning.
Following her death, it has been confirmed that all political, sporting and comedy events have been cancelled for the foreseeable future.
What this means is that the Premier League, EFL, SPL, and Irish and Welsh league games scheduled to happen this weekend have been cancelled.
Following Princess Diana’s death on Sunday, August 31 in 1997, the Liverpool vs Newcastle United Premier League match scheduled to kick off later that day was postponed.
Football League fixtures the following weekend were also moved to avoid clashing with Diana’s funeral, which was a possibility around that time as well and that is what is expected to happen this period also.
For now, it is uncertain when the sport will return following this tragic news but, everything in the foreseeable future is cancelled.
Nigerians react on Social Media
Mixed reactions from Nigerians have trailed the confirmation of this weekend's fixture cancellation.
Here's how some have reacted below: