Turkish soccer season restarts after almost three-month suspension

FILE PHOTO: Soccer Football - Super Lig - Besiktas vs Trabzonspor - Vodafone Arena, Istanbul, Turkey - February 22, 2020 Trabzonspor's Alexander Sorloth celebrates scoring their second goal Trabzonspor's Filip Novak REUTERS/Murad Sezer/File Photo

ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkey's top-flight soccer league will resume with two matches played without fans on Friday after an almost three-month suspension due to the coronavirus outbreak.

Turkey suspended its soccer, basketball and volleyball leagues on March 17 due to the pandemic. The Turkish Football Federation said last month that its Super Lig will end on July 26 after clubs complete their remaining eight matches.

League leaders Trabzonspor visit Izmir-based Goztepe and Fenerbahce host Kayserispor in Istanbul with both matches kicking off at 1800 GMT.

Three Super Lig matches will be played on both Saturday and Sunday, with one match on Monday capping off the first week of the resumed competition.

The virus has so far killed 4,763 people in Turkey, with nearly 175,000 confirmed cases. The government has rolled back almost all containment measures since June 1 amid a significant fall in deaths, despite concerns over a second wave of infections.

(Reporting by Tuvan Gumrukcu; Editing by Ece Toksabay and Toby Davis)