Thursday , March 28 2024

Roundup: When does European Football resume?

The first wave of the ongoing pandemic seems to have passed in many European countries, presenting them with the perfect occasion to reopen parts of their citizens’ lives. The news speaks about beaches and hotels reopening, tourists returning, movie theatres and restaurants getting ready to welcome their first patrons in months. And, of course, of sports leagues suspended due to the pandemic resuming.

Most of the biggest European football nations have suspended their football seasons – France was among the very few that decided to scrap it altogether. The rest of the countries are slowly reopening their stadiums. This is good news for the fans, of course, even though they won’t be able to attend the matches in person. After all, playing at live casinos India is pretty far from the real thing, too, but it’s still much better than nothing. Most big football nations will reopen their stadiums in a few days or weeks, allowing live football to finally return to the screens.

England
The English Premier League is perhaps the most followed football league in the world – and it was hit hard by the pandemic. Many specialists have estimated that, if the season was to be scrapped (as it seemed to be planned for a while), several clubs could face bankruptcy before the new season could begin.

Luckily, the EPL and the clubs managed to reach an agreement: under the long-discussed “Project Restart”, matches will resume on June 17. The first matches that’ll be played will be Manchester City vs Arsenal and Aston Villa vs Sheffield United. The semi-finals of this year’s Premier League will likely take place around the end of July – there are more than 90 matches to be played by that time.

Italy
Italy was among the countries hit hardest by the ongoing pandemic, and among the first to suspend its football season. So, it is a good sign that Serie A is preparing to resume. What’s left of the season will be played between June 20 and July 23 – there will be only five days in this time period with no football matches played.

The first matches played will be Torino-Parma and Verona-Cagliari on the 20th, and Atalanta-Sassuolo and Inter-Sampdoria on the 21st, completing Game Week 25.

Spain

Fans of Spanish football will only have to wait one week (from the date this article was written) for La Liga to resume. The first match will be Real Betis vs Sevilla at the Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán Stadium in Seville.

The plan is for all La Liga matches left to play to be scheduled before July 18-19. And, after a traditional summer break, La Liga plans to start its new season on September 12.

Other countries

Hungary’s Nemzeti Bajnokság has resumed late last week – and the authorities even allowed fans to be present at the stadium, with strict social distancing measures in place, of course. In Romania, the LPF announced that the matches will resume on June 12. France crowned Paris Saint Germain champion, and Belgium gave Club Brugge the title after scrapping the remainder of the season. In Portugal, football returned on June 3, the Russian Premier League will resume on June 21, and in Scotland, Celtic won the title for its ninth successive season.

About Arunava Chaudhuri

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