The COVID-19 crisis has had a huge impact on the sport across the globe, and England’s Premier League along with the vast majority of the world’s other major divisions and competitions have been postponed until the pandemic is under control.
In an ever-changing landscape, the game’s governing bodies have been drafting and re-drafting tentative plans with suggested re-start dates for their respective competitions, though concrete schedules are proving difficult to set.
The game’s burning question “when will football return?” is one that can’t be answered definitively at present, though we will endeavour to keep you updated with the latest information about possible Premier League resumption dates as well as news from other major competitions below.
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Premier League return date
On March 27th, the Premier League released a joint statement with the EFL and PFA confirming the postponement of top-level English football to help combat the spread of COVID-19.
Initially, the Premier League hoped to resume the 2019/20 season after April 30th, though a follow up announcement released by the division’s stakeholders on April 5th confirmed that competition had been postponed “indefinitely”.
In their press release, the Premier League also reiterated their determination to finish the current campaign, saying that there was a “combined objective for all remaining domestic league and cup matches to be played, enabling us to maintain the integrity of each competition”.
The Premier League detailed that a “return to play will only be with the full support of the Government and when medical guidance allows”, though there have already been unofficial suggestions that they are working towards a mid-June resumption date.
Make sure to check out our Premier League predictions page to keep to date with the latest news from England’s top flight.
Premier League Update Timeline:
March 9th: Last 2019/20 fixture played between Leicester City and Aston Villa.
March 27th: Statement released postponing play until April 30th at the earliest.
April 5th: Further statement released postponing 2019/20 season indefinitely.
When will the Premier League return? Unknown
Champions League return date
On Sunday, March 15th, UEFA took precautionary measures to protect players and supporters by postponing the Champions and Europa League knock-out fixtures that were originally scheduled to be played between the 17th and 19th that week.
A little over a week later on March 23rd, UEFA formally announced that the Finals of their Champions and Europe League competitions (originally scheduled for May), were to be postponed indefinitely amid rumours of both dates being pushed to late June.
The official postponement announcement followed on from UEFA’s decision to postpone Euro 2020 for year to free up room for domestic competitions to finish. However, the rapidly developing COVID-19 crisis forced UEFA to change their plans again.
More recently, in an interview with German outlet ZDF Sportstudio, UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin hinted that both the Champions League and Europa League could be finished behind closed doors in July or August, though the governing body later refuted his claims saying that there were no plans to wrap up the season by then.
Champions League Update Timeline:
March 17th: UEFA postpone the weeks games scheduled to be played between March 17th and 19th.
March 23rd : Statement released postponing all UEFA competitions indefinitely.
When will the Champions League return? Unknown
Is Euro 2020 still on?
On Tuesday, March 15th, UEFA announced the postponement of their flagship national team competition EURO 2020 for a year, in a move of solidarity that was initially intended to allow domestic leagues and competitions time to complete their respective 2019/20 campaigns.
In the same announcement, UEFA also detailed their intention to postpone all competitions and matches (including friendlies) for clubs and national teams for both men and women until further notice.
The governing body also suggested that the UEFA EURO 2020 Play-off matches and international friendlies, scheduled for the end of March, would now be played in the international window at the start of June however, though that decision is subject to a review of the situation.
As things stand, Euro 2020 has been officially moved to the summer of 2021 and will be played between June 11th and July 11th next year.
When will Euro 2020 be played? Between June 11th and July 11th 2021.
Other Major Leagues
La Liga
Having initially postponed two rounds of fixtures through an announcement on March 13th, the Spanish football federation (RFEF) announced that the 2019/20 La Liga season had been postponed indefinitely in a further press release on March 23rd.
On April 7th, League president Javier Tebas revealed that a series of possible return dates, starting from May 28th, were being discussed. Tebas said that he hopes that the current season can be completed by August, though the remaining fixtures are likely to be played behind closed doors.
Bundesliga
On March 13th, the Bundesliga sprang into action to call halt to play in the 2019/20 Bundesliga until April 30th “at least”.
However, a number of Bundesliga clubs, including champions Bayern Munich, returned to training on April 6th, fuelling rumours that the league could be ready to confirm a possible resumption date this summer.
In fact, Bayern Munich coach Hansi Flick thinks a comeback could happen as early as May, with the remaining games set to be played behind closed doors should that happen. A decision on a May resumption is expected to be reached on April 17th.
Serie A
With the health crisis in the country escalating, Serie A became the first major league to start postponing fixtures as early as February, before the league’s governing body chose to postpone play completely shortly after.
Italian football federation president Gabriele Gravina had hoped that Serie A would resume on May 2nd, and many of the division’s clubs had expressed an intention to return to training in late March.
The clubs in question backtracked on their plans however with government isolation warning still in place and already Gravina’s May 2nd resumption date looks completely unworkable.
Ligue 1
On March 13th, the French LFP Administrative Council unanimously decided to suspend Ligue 1 and Ligue 2 until further notice.
Initially, the Council had pencilled in April 11th as a possible return date, though that was quickly ruled out and currently there is no return date for the competition defined.
In an interview last month, Premiere Ligue president Bernard Caiazzo suggested that French top-level football would resume in mid-June with a view to finishing the 2019/20 campaign in July or August, though that information remains unofficial.
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The post When will football return? State of play in the Premier League and Europe appeared first on Free Football Tips.
