Bundesliga hopes for play as European leagues consider options

The end of the coronavirus outbreak is coming into sight only gradually but football clubs around the continent are anxious to return to action as soon as possible.

Berlin (dpa) – The German football league (DFL) meets Thursday to consider how to proceed amid the coronavirus crisis. Football in the country has been suspended from mid-March until the end of the month but hopes to resume soon behind closed doors – possibly as soon as May 9.

Germany’s government will meet on April 30 to discuss the possibility of easing lockdown restrictions in place to May 3.

Matters could be complicated by each state within the country having the right to decide if, when and how they will allow football to be played but in North Rhine-Westphalia and Bavaria there were indications on Monday a return could soon be permitted.

The Bundesliga has nine complete rounds left to play with clubs anxious to conclude the season to ensure hundreds of millions of dollars are not lost through breaking television contracts.

If the season can’t be completed 13 Bundesliga and second-tier clubs could face bankruptcy, according to Kicker magazine.

Here is an overview of the situation in other leagues around Europe.

ENGLAND

The Premier League is currently suspended until at least June. After a meeting last Friday between the Premier League and the 20 top-flight clubs, it was announced the intention remains to finish the season.

With meetings due to continue this week, they did not reveal a deadline for when play has to begin again for that to be possible. The lockdown in the United Kingdom will continue until at least the middle of May.

Liverpool sit 25 points clear at the top with nine games to go, on the verge of their first championship since 1990.

Manchester City’s clash with Arsenal on March 11 was the last match before the suspension began.

SPAIN

Spain’s lockdown was due to end on April 25 but president Pedro Sanchez has said he will ask lawmakers to extend it to May 9. The country has now registered more than 20,000 deaths from Covid-19 but there are hopes the impact of the virus has now peaked after daily death tolls began to fall.

Attempts at planning a route forward had been hampered by disagreements between La Liga president Javier Tebas and his Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) opposite number Luis Rubiales. The two men were brought together in a meeting chaired by Spanish Sports Council (CSD) president Irene Lozano on Saturday and now seem committed to working together to resume behind-closed-doors football as soon as government restrictions allow.

June 6 has been identified as a possible date for the competition to resume.

ITALY

Sassuolo’s 3-0 defeat of Brescia behind closed doors was the last Serie A match played on March 9, a few days after the country began a lockdown that the government is expected to at least partially lift on May 3.

Bottom club Brescia are among those opposing restart of a season that has 12 games to go, plus the semi-finals of the Italian Cup. Juventus top the table by a point from Lazio.

The Italian football federation (FIGC), however, has prepared a medical protocol for resumption of training on May 4, with the first closed-doors matches played at the end of the month.

“Stopping would be a disaster,” FIGC boss Gabriele Gravina said. “If football does not restart there would be a massive negative impact as we mobilize about 5 billion euros (5.44 billion dollars).

FRANCE

Ligue 1 will almost certainly be won by runaway leaders Paris Saint-Germain with mid-June being considered for a potential restart, albeit behind closed doors. The country is in lockdown until at least May 11.

However, play-offs would not likely be completed until August in this scenario which would leave little time to break before starting the next season. And with Euro 2020 delayed a year and already pencilled in to start on June 11, it is hard to see how a knock-on effect to the 20/21 campaign can be avoided.

BELGIUM/SCOTLAND

In contrast to the leagues dependent on massive television contracts, Belgium and Scotland are looking to end the current seasons quickly and prepare for next term. An executive committee meeting of European football governing body UEFA also takes place on Thursday and could reassure domestic federations that European participation will not be blocked to those qualifying from leagues called early.

Belgium plans to ratify proposals to end its league as it stands on April 24, declaring Club Brugge champions and considering if/how to have relegation. Scotland has already ended leagues below the top-flight, which retains an outside chance of being completed. Potential league reconstruction is being analysed by a working group.