Nippon Professional Baseball Organization (NPB) and Japan Professional Football League (J.LEAGUE) will establish a liaison council to share knowledge and discuss about effective measures to prevent the spread of the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19).

NPB and J.LEAGUE will work hand-in-hand as professional sports to protect the health of all peoples, including the fans, players, coaches and team staffs, with the assistance of experts on infectious disease. A group of experts in the council will form a collective opinion and the 2 organizations will consider the opinion put forward along with the governmental view when making their decisions.

The first council meeting will be held from 12:00 PM on Tuesday, 3 March at NPB secretariat.

1. Aim of the Liaison Council
-Gather accurate information and analysis on the spread of COVID-19
-Share and discuss effective measures to consider when making decisions on holding matches, preventing further spread, etc.
-Disclose all information shared within the council and contribute to enhance capability to respond to the threat in the sporting world

2.Members of the Liaison Council
NPB:
Commissioner, Representatives from 12 teams
J.LEAGUE:
Chairman, 9 Executive Directors, 3 from Japan Football Association
Experts:
Mitsuo KAKU
 (Professor, Infection Control and Prevention, Faculty of Medicine, Tohoku Medical and Pharmaceutical University/Emeritus Professor, Tohoku University)
Hiroshige MIKAMO
 (Professor, Department of Clinical Infectious Diseases, Aichi Medical University Graduate School of Medicine)
Kazuhiro TATEDA
(Professor, Department of Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, Faculty of Medicine, Toho University)