By Andrew Warshaw
May 29 – It won’t look the same, it won’t feel the same. But the millions for whom football is the best possible drug to lift spirits during the Covid-19 crisis will be delighted by the news.
May 29 – Paraguay has become the first South American country to announce an imminent return of the game with the Paraguayan Football Association (APF) releasing a schedule for the opening of the Paraguayan Championship ‘Apertura’ on July 17 and training sessions allowed from as early as June 10.
May 29 – Italy’s Serie A will return on June 29 in the country hit hardest in Europe in the early weeks of the Covid-19 outbreak.
May 29 – With Europe’s major leagues all stepping up plans to restart their seasons in the coming weeks, the exception is France which has not been lost on the country’s influential daily sports paper l’Equipe.
May 28 – In the next step towards the season getting back on track, Premier League clubs have unanimously voted to start contact training, including tackling, despite four more positive Covid-19 results at three different clubs, albeit from over 1,000 tests.
May 28 – The Spanish football federation (RFEF) has given the green light for matches to be played on Mondays and Fridays when La Liga returns in order to allow the season to finish.
May 28 – While the women’s professional game will not return in England this season, in the US is again taking the lead in the women’s game with the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) announcing that the 2020 NWSL Challenge Cup will kick off in Utah, June 27.
May 28 – Troy Deeney, captain of English Premier League side Watford and one of the few players courageous enough to express his views about concerns over returning to training because of his baby son, says he has suffered online abuse over his stance, aimed at both himself and his family.
May 27 – Spanish clubs Espanyol and Leganés will compensate season-ticket holders for the game’s shutdown by handing out free passes for the 2020-2021 campaign.
May 27 – Authorities in Switzerland are investigating reports than almost 1,000 people broke coronavirus restrictions by attending an unofficial match in Lausanne.
May 27 – FIFA has joined forces with the World Health Organisation and the European Commission to launch the #SafeHome campaign to support women and children at risk of domestic violence during the coronavirus pandemic.
May 26 – Spain looks set to become the second of the Big Five leagues in Europe – four if you take into account the fact that football in France has been abandoned – to resume playing top-flight fixtures.
By Andrew Warshaw
May 26 – The French football federation (FFF) has written to UEFA to justify the premature termination of its competitions and make sure their clubs are not penalised.
May 26 – The woeful handling of the Covid-19 crisis by the British government has been underlined by a leading scientist saying that allowing two major sporting events to go ahead in March “caused increased suffering and death”.
May 26 – Women’s professional football in England is over for the season after what the English FA said was “overwhelming feedback from clubs” with the decision made “in the best interest of the women’s game”.