Ukraine's Nations League defeat and record COVID-19 counts in November 2020
A look back at a day when UEFA confirmed a forfeit loss for Ukraine's football team, set against a run of record infection figures.
What did a UEFA appeals ruling mean for Ukraine's national football team on 25 November 2020? The governing body's appeals committee awarded a technical defeat to Ukraine in its 2020–2021 Nations League match against Switzerland, which had been due to take place on 17 November. As a result, Ukraine was to play in League B in the following season.
A pandemic backdrop
The ruling came as Ukraine was recording some of its highest COVID-19 figures. On 19 November 2020, the country reported a record 257 new deaths and 13,357 new cases in 24 hours, taking the nationwide death toll to 10,369 and the total number of cases to 583,510.
The daily case count rose again the next day. On 20 November, Ukraine reported 14,575 new cases in the previous 24 hours, bringing the total to 598,085.
On 21 November, a further single-day record followed: 14,580 new cases, lifting the nationwide total to 612,665.
The forfeit decision thus arrived in the same period as the sharpest daily rises in infections recorded in the country to that point, and it settled the sporting outcome of a fixture that had been scheduled for 17 November.
