Coronavirus in sport: Second positive test in J League

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Bengaluru, June 8: Socceroos goalkeeper Mitchell Langerak became the second player from J League's Nagoya Grampus club to be tested positive for the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

The 31-year-old, who won the last of his eight Australia caps in 2018, but is mostly the back-up to first-choice goalkeeper Matt Ryan, is showing no symptoms of the virus, the club said.

Langerak's last appearance for the Socceroos was as a substitute in a 5-0 friendly win over Oman in December, 2018.

Striker Mu Kanazaki had tested positive for the virus recently prompting the club to investigate everyone who had come into close contact with him.

Players and staff were screened with only Langerak's result returning positive out of 26 tests.

"We're trying to identify people who had close contacts with Langerak in co-operation with a local health centre, and will continue to promptly carry out COVID-19 tests on other top team players and staff who haven't yet performed the tests, the club said.

Japan has by and large been largely successful in containing COVID-19, recording 17,500 infections and 929 deaths.

Professional football in Japan will resume in early July without spectators after a four-month suspension due to the coronavirus outbreak.

(With inputs from Agencies)