As the world continues to fight against the coronavirus pandemic, it is uncertain when football games in England will resume play. England and some other countries in Europe are becoming the hub of the deadly virus that is currently sweeping the face of the entire world. The Premier League in conjunction with FA, EFL and women’s professional game announced on Thursday that leagues are suspended till April 30th.
Many other leagues in Europe have suspended their games till further notice following the unfortunate outbreak of COVID-19. Also, UEFA recently announced its decision to shift the Euro 2020 to the year 2021. Expectedly, the Euro2020 ought to hold by June but due to the postponement, it is expected to come up by June 2021, hopefully, before then, the spread of coronavirus will have been controlled.
The Italian Serie A, La Liga, and Bundesliga have all been postponed. Currently, England and Italy have been hit badly by the pandemic. Chelsea Player, Hudson-Odoi and Arsenal manager, Mikel Arteta are both in self-isolation after they tested positive for the virus some weeks back. It was this development that forced the Premier League to put all games on hold. Also, two Juventus player, Blaise Matuidi and Rugani Danile are also in self-isolation after the duo are tested positive for the virus. Meanwhile, in the lower division of the Italian league, quite a number of teams have suffered a big blow from the virus.
In a joint statement released by Premier League, FA, EFL and women’s professional game, on Thursday, which reads:
We are united in our commitment to finding ways of resuming the 2019/20 football season and ensuring all domestic and European club league and cup matches are played as soon as it is safe and possible to do so.
We have collectively supported UEFA in postponing EURO 2020 to create space in the calendar to ensure domestic and European club league and cup matches have an increased opportunity to be played and, in doing so, maintain the integrity of each competition.The FA’s Rules and Regulations state that “the season shall terminate not later than the 1 June” and “each competition shall, within the limit laid down by The FA, determine the length of its own playing season”.
Additionally, we have collectively agreed that the professional game in England will be further postponed until no earlier than 30 April.
Though Liverpool has not recorded any cases of COVID-19 in their team, however, they might be the ones to suffer the biggest consequences of the outbreak on the world of European football. There have been speculations that the league might be declared null and void if the break should extend for too long, hence, no winner will announce. Meanwhile, this is the first time in a distant memory that Liverpool is coming so close to being the Champion of England. As a matter of fact, the team has never won the league since it was renamed to Premier League in 1992. All their effort to win the league for the first time in a very long time has been put on hold by the virus.
Most definitely, the league will resume play, but not before peace return.
