Croatian football player Vida contracts COVID-19

By Can Erozden

ANKARA (AA) - Croatian football player Domagoj Vida tested positive for the novel coronavirus, the country's football body said late Wednesday.

"HNS [Croatian Football Federation] received official test results after midnight local time and showed that national team member Domagoj Vida is positive for the new coronavirus," the Croatian football association said in a statement.

It said all Croatian players and staff tested negative on Monday but a regular test was conducted on Wednesday for the Sweden match.

Croatia will visit Sweden for Saturday's UEFA Nations League match.

Besiktas defender Vida, 31, played against Turkey in a friendly match on Wednesday night, but was subbed out in the half time.

The HNS added that the team's medical staff was given an initial information about Croatia's latest test results in the half time in Turkey match "that there was one potentially positive result", referring to Vida.

So Croatian manager Zlatko Dalic changed Vida before the second half.

The "suspicious" finding was later retested to confirm the result.

Infected by the novel coronavirus, Vida will stay in self-quarantine in Istanbul for the next few days as part of pandemic measures.

Turkey's national team drew 3-3 with Croatia in a friendly match thriller Wednesday at Istanbul's Vodafone Park.