When will your favourite league/sport return ?
May 14, 2020
A quick round up on when we are likely to see a return to action in the ten football leagues and three other sports that we cover at clubgowi, the situation changes quickly, but was "correct" when I started typing !
The Bundesliga looks good to go , I have written notes on all nine games and BT Sport will be showing every one of them live this weekend and will also have the Bundesliga Goals Show which will bring viewers all of the main action and goals as "they happen" (not exactly, about a minute later !), from every Saturday game.That will at least ensure there are plenty of streams around.
Football without fans is not the same, but as sad as it sounds I am still pretty excited to see some quality live action and it is like offering a starving man his favourite meal without one of the components, it is not quite perfect but still bloody tasty and well received !
Italy , Serie A are awaiting government approval for a planned June 13th return. Teams will be able to train collectively from this Monday.
Spain, La Liga president Javier Tebas hopes Spain’s top flight will restart on 12 June and says coronavirus tests will mean “practically zero” risk to players during games.
England has got a little interesting and the EFL have started to try and force the issue a little, at a Championship meeting yesterday the required number of second-tier clubs were willing to pledge their commitment to respecting promotion and relegation, and doing everything within their power to fulfil every fixture.Some were even prepared to return to training this weekend and start playing as early as June 6th. Those dates now seem to have been pushed to May 25th and June 12th, but I know some clubs have started to call back players and coaches from overseas in preparation. I watched a Q&A with Brentford manager Thomas Frank on Saturday and he said 4 weeks were preferable to prepare his squad for a restart, but that the work could be done in three, which ties in with that time scale.
I understand that the meeting got a little heated at times, with some clubs with a "vested interest" in not playing out the season, trying to put up obstacles against the restart, the clubs towards the lower end of the table are those most in favour of curtailment for obvious reasons and it is the same in the Premier League.
The meeting did not linger over how the season would be resolved if fixtures were not fulfilled, any clubs who raised these issues were encouraged to adopt a "we can do this" attitude to get the season up and running again.
One club spokesman said “The sentiment is to crack on. If we don’t finish this season, how the hell can we start the next one?” Which has been my position all along and I am so glad that most leagues are now of that mindset.
Behind the scenes, a number of clubs have prepared for a worst case scenario and action through the courts if the season is called off and they are either relegated, without being given a chance of survival, or denied a shot at a promotion that they have spent 37 games battling for and I told you that the current top 6 met as early as March to set out a plan of action. Given this, the desire to play, that restrictions are slowly being lifted and the return in Germany, I think we will see play resume in the Championship soon and possibly before the Premier League, but the latter are meeting daily at present and things can change quickly.
At the top of the league, Championship clubs are committed to promoting sides and there is support across the three EFL divisions for promotion to be respected . In addition, few clubs in the Premier League are advocating a relegation-free season.
One club spokesman said “The sentiment is to crack on. If we don’t finish this season, how the hell can we start the next one?” Which has been my position all along and I am so glad that most leagues are now of that mindset.
Behind the scenes, a number of clubs have prepared for a worst case scenario and action through the courts if the season is called off and they are either relegated, without being given a chance of survival, or denied a shot at a promotion that they have spent 37 games battling for and I told you that the current top 6 met as early as March to set out a plan of action. Given this, the desire to play, that restrictions are slowly being lifted and the return in Germany, I think we will see play resume in the Championship soon and possibly before the Premier League, but the latter are meeting daily at present and things can change quickly.
At the top of the league, Championship clubs are committed to promoting sides and there is support across the three EFL divisions for promotion to be respected . In addition, few clubs in the Premier League are advocating a relegation-free season.
We have already discussed the situation in France on multiple occasions, with Ligue 1 and Ligue 2 called off, Amiens are unwilling to accept their relegation and have started an online petition, legal action and took out a full page advert in L'Equipe to state their case.
On Tuesday I looked at "our" summer leagues, no decisions in Japan will be taken until May 31st, two clubs have returned to some training in Brazil, but they are some way from the peak of the coronavirus and other clubs are refusing to even consider a return to action. In MLS, players are returning to their clubs for individual training, most will have done so by the end of this week and play could restart in June/July , they seem likely to win that three horse race at the moment ! Brazil is in a mess, with head of state Jair Bolsonaro, who has made no secret of his admiration (!) of Trump, adopting a similar head in the sand and economy ahead of people approach. MLS have accelerated plans for a return to team training over the next two weeks and playing all games in a single huge complex in Florida has been mooted.
Some tennis players have returned to the courts and there were even photos of Petra Kvitova and Barbora Strycova practicing and hitting balls together.
The NFL has been relatively little affected so far and are very confident that there will be a season starting pretty much as planned this Fall.
Lots of positive vibes and the chance that we could have football in Germany, Spain, Italy and England, plus the PGA Tour all underway by this time next month.
Stay Safe and good luck !