During February and March 2020 some sports events may have played a role in the spread of the Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) epidemic in Europe (2-4), before health and political authorities decided to suspend them. We have considered seven major sports events scheduled before the onset of COVID-19 epidemic outbreak in Europe: the soccer Champions League matches Atalanta-Valencia (19th February and 11th March), Atlético de Madrid-Liverpool (18th February and 11th March) and Lyon-Juventus (26th February), the "Final-eight" of the Italian Basketball Cup in Pesaro (13 matches from 13th through 16th February with a total of 32,000 attendees) and the Biathlon World Championships in South Tyrol (from 12th through 23rd February, with 165,000 overall attendees). The health indicator we have assessed is the increase in SARS-CoV-2 infection notifications between the 14th and the 21stday after the event (5), considering the mean incubation period, the timing of test execution and the notification of results (7-10). In conclusion, we can say that single sports events (one-day matches), even with a high number of attendees, do not seem to have influenced the general evolution of the COVID-19 epidemic; this is coherent with the low infection transmission risk in the context of outdoor events, the small number of visiting supporters and the typical separation of the fans in the stadiums. On the other hand, our initial analysis of multi-day events (championship and tournaments) suggests that close and prolonged social contacts of supporters (17), coming from different areas, may have played a role in the epidemic chain, mainly by contributing to local transmission of the virus. In any case the confirmation of our initial statements would require an accurate contact tracing and the anamnesis of the infected persons, in particular in the geographical areas of Pesaro and Bolzano.
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