Chinese Supercup has been postponed due to the outbreak of novel coronavirus pneumonia, the Chinese Football Association (CFA) announced on Saturday.

The Chinese football season opener had been scheduled to take place between Guangzhou Evergrande and Shanghai Shenhua on February 5 in Suzhou, Jiangsu Province, eastern China.

"In conformity with the requirements to prevent and contain the spread of the novel coronavirus, and to avoid crowds gathering, the Chinese Football Association has decided to postpone the 2020 CFA Supercup after cautious analysis and assessment," CFA said in a statement.

The Chinese football governing body will decide on a new date for the event according to the development of the situation, said the statement.

The new coronavirus pneumonia first broke out in the central Chinese city of Wuhan and then quickly spread across the country. By the end of Friday, a total of 41 people had died and 1,287 cases had been confirmed in 30 provincial-level regions, the National Health Commission said.

(With input from Xinhua News Agency)