Soccer-Italy's Spezia confirm 15 COVID-19 cases

(Reuters) - Serie A club Spezia on Wednesday said their COVID-19 outbreak had risen to 15 confirmed cases as four members of the first- team playing and coaching staff tested positive.

Spezia reported 11 positive tests earlier in the week, an outbreak the club's chief medical officer put down to two first-team players' refusal to have the vaccine.

"We provided the first dose of the vaccine, but two players didn’t want to have it because they consider themselves anti-vaxxers and a small cluster of cases then developed,” Vincenzo Salini told radio station Punto Nuovo.

"Fortunately, all the boys feel fine. All the clubs are working on administering the vaccinations."

It caps a bad month for American-owned Spezia, who were also handed a four-window transfer ban by FIFA after breaching the world soccer governing body's rules on signing minors.

(Reporting by Joseph Walker, editing by Ed Osmond)