Three Hearts stars could be impacted by coronavirus outbreak as nation calls for postponement

Trio of Northern Ireland stars could see their match with Bosnia-Herzegovina postponed

Three Hearts stars could see their chances of playing in Northern Ireland's Euro 2020 play-off semi-final dashed by the coronavirus outbreak.

Michael Smith, Conor Washington and Liam Boyce are all expected to be called into Michael O'Neill's squad for the match with Bosnia-Herzegovina on 26 March.

However, the tie could be under threat after the Bosnia FA requested to Uefa that the game be postponed.

Michael Smith is one of three Hearts players likely to be called into the Northern Ireland squad.

The match is already expected to take place behind closed doors as countries around Europe try to stop the virus from spreading rapidly.

But the Bosnian FA want it postponed due to restrictions in the country on players from Italy, Germany, France, Spain, Iran, South Korea and China.

They said in a statement "that all BH nationals coming from these areas must be subject to a mandatory 14-day quarantine as well as self-isolation if they come from other areas where COVID has occurred.

"This means that most of our players would not be able to play a play-off game."

They did admit, though, that the latest information from Uefa suggested that a postponement would be impossible due to lack of available dates in the calender.

Uefa are holding a videoconference meeting on Tuesday involving all 55 members in order to come to a solution regarding the immediate fufure of domestic, European and international competitions.