March 19 – Despite Covid-19 decimating football across Europe, there is light at the end of the tunnel with La Liga President Javier Tebas saying major leagues are preparing to resume in mid-May and finish by the end of June as long as the climate is right.
Tebas is a member of a working group set up by UEFA, in the wake of Euro 2020 being postponed, to consider the “resumption and/or conclusion of the current season in a coherent manner”.
“In mid-May we should be able to be back on with all European competitions. All of them. Of course, it depends on how the pandemic evolves,” Tebas told Marca. “It could even be before then, but this is the date that we are working on as a latest in order to start up again.
“We don’t want to change any seasons; we haven’t thought about doing that. In this situation, the scenarios we are considering are all short term. If we can’t sort out the short-term then, unfortunately, we aren’t going to have time to sort out anything more.”
To maintain the schedule being considered will require around six weeks of competition, including the resumption of the Champions League and Europa League.
“The decision of UEFA to postpone the European Championship has served us well to try to finish the competitions,” said Tebas.
“We made the calendar calculations even before the European Championship was postponed. It was a stage that we knew could be reached and we are working on various start dates. Here you have to work backwards, with what is the last date on which you could play to see the options that may arise.”
Playing games behind closed doors whenever leagues do resume seems highly likely.
“That will also depend on the governments of each country. You have to think that we are working with 30 different leagues and it will depend on the health authorities if it is played behind closed doors or under what conditions,” said Tebas.
“We are not considering any format change for any competition, including the European ones. The only job that concerns me day and night is to finish the competitions.”
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