The Newcastle Jets will play their A-League Men's fixture behind closed doors on Boxing Day amid the region's ongoing COVID-19 outbreak.
No crowds will be allowed to attend Sunday's clash between Newcastle and the Western Sydney Wanderers at McDonald Jones Stadium.
The club made the announcement on Wednesday.
"As a part of this community, the Jets have a responsibility to play our role in helping to decrease the spread of this recent COVID-19 outbreak," Jets executive chairman Shane Mattiske said.
"We know that many families and organisations in our community have already been affected by this recent outbreak, as have the Jets, and it is clear that we need to consider the appropriateness of staging a mass event at this time in the Newcastle region outbreak.
"In consultation with the APL, it has confirmed that the game should move to be played behind closed doors.
"Having already experienced multiple COVID cases throughout our playing squads, we have already experienced first-hand how quickly this variant can spread and we want to do our best to minimise the risk of COVID transmission amongst our fans and Members.
"We will continue to monitor the situation as it unfolds."
