A minute’s applause is to be held at Premier League matches in tribute to former South Africa president Nelson Mandela, who died on Thursday aged 95.
Football fans in Scotland will also be asked to applaud at games, with similar plans for Football League and FA Cup second-round matches.
Saracens players will wear black armbands for their Heineken Cup rugby match at Italian side Zebre in Parma.
The club’s chief executive is South African Edward Griffiths.
South Africa’s 1995 Rugby World Cup-winning captain Francois Pienaar, who went on to play for Saracens, famously received the Webb Ellis Trophy from Mandela, who wore a Springbok shirt and cap.
“I will always be profoundly grateful for the personal role Nelson Mandela has played in my life, as my president and my example,” said Pienaar on Friday.
A minute’s silence was held before the semi-final action started at the UK Snooker Championship in York on Friday afternoon.
The first weekend Premier League match is Manchester United against Newcastle (12:45 GMT), with six more Saturday games, two on Sunday, and Swansea v Hull on Monday.
“The matches will be preceded by a minute’s applause to mark the life and achievements of Nelson Mandela,” said a Premier League spokesman.
South Africans and world leaders have been paying tribute to Nelson Mandela, who led the transition from white minority rule in his homeland.
Mr Mandela spent 27 years in jail before becoming South Africa’s first black president in 1994.
BBC SPORT
