SALT LAKE CITY — A National Women's Soccer League player on an unidentified team has tested positive for COVID-19 just nine days before the start of the league's Challenge Cup Tournament in Utah.
It is the league's first reported case of the illness caused by the coronavirus.
`"The health and safety of the players and staff is of utmost importance and the NWSL is doing everything to ensure the affected player is receiving proper care,'' the NWSL said in a statement Thursday.
The impacted team is contact tracing and will increase testing for everyone who has come in contact with the player. The player was not identified because of privacy laws.
The league continues to prepare for its tournament that kicks off on June 27 and runs through July 26. The league said it will continue to follow its own protocol as well as CDC guidance to ensure the safety of the players and team staffs.
The NWSL is scheduled to become the first professional team sport in the United States to take the field during the coronavirus pandemic.