Corona and football: ‘Impossible to know’ when restart will be
BBC: [2] Football will “no doubt” return behind closed doors but it is “impossible” to know when that will be, says the body that represents Europe’s top leagues.
[3] Alberto Colombo, the deputy general secretary of European Leagues, said the suspension of the season because of the coronavirus pandemic was “a huge crisis”.
[4] “The vast majority” of the association’s members, which includes the Premier League and the English Football League, are prioritising a return to action, he said.
[5] But he admitted that “a small number” of countries, including Belgium, were now considering cancelling their campaigns.
[6] Football is suspended indefinitely across most of Europe because of the continued spread of Covid-19. [7] Premier League clubs are scheduled to meet on Friday to discuss the situation, but there is unlikely to be a resumption any time soon to a top-flight season that still has nine rounds of fixtures to play. [8] Last week, hopes were raised when German clubs became the first in Europe to return to training, albeit with precautionary measures in place, with talk of a resumption as soon as May.
[9]But Colombo has urged caution, adding: “The priority so far has been on focusing on creating conditions to be able to resume competition during the summer should we be able.
“You need to resume training and develop your own protocols. There’s no doubt it will be behind closed doors, so the competition organisers have to develop medical protocols, training protocols, match-operation protocols.
“But, of course, it’s impossible to answer the question: ‘When we will be back playing?’ Nobody has these answers.
“Ultimately, we all know the governments of the countries are the ones in charge for lifting the various restrictions that apply to sport.”