PREMIER LEAGUE
Despite the UK looking likely to be the worst affected country in Europe in terms of deaths, the Premier League is working on “Project Restart”, which could see the resumption of fixtures at neutral grounds behind closed doors as early as June. However, many players are not so keen due to obvious safety concerns, with Sergio Aguero and Glenn Murray having spoken out publicly against the idea. There is also a rift between the big six, who are very keen on the fixtures being concluded, and teams involved in the relegation battle, who believe it is unfair that their fate could be determined without the support of their home crowds. (TABLE)
LA LIGA
Spain has also been extremely badly hit by the virus, but like the Premier League is aiming for a restart to proceedings in June. Testing on all La Liga players will commence today (Tuesday) as they begin a staggered return to training. Should the matches begin as planned, there will be a minimum of 72 hours between matches for each club after a previous proposal for there to be just 48 hours was ruled out due to the heightened risk of injury to players. (TABLE)
SERIE A
Italy has been in the same boat as both Spain and the UK during the pandemic. The highest profile coronavirus sufferer in the league is Juventus’ Argentinian superstar, Paulo Dybala, . All twenty clubs voted in favour of a restart on Friday and individual training began yesterday, with Cristiano Ronaldo returning to Turin from his hometown. However, the sports minister maintains that a restart is still very far away and a leading Italian expert in infectious diseases has spoken out against returning to action any time soon. (TABLE)
BUNDESLIGA
Germany has rightly been lauded for the efforts it has made to contain the coronavirus, with extensive testing available to the population from the outset ensuring the country fought the disease with its eyes wide open. As a result, the Bundesliga is the league closest to a restart, although the plan to begin this weekend seems to have now been shelved amid opposition from fan groups, who consider moving medical staff out of hospitals and into stadia at this time as highly irresponsible. A meeting involving Chancellor Merkel is scheduled for tomorrow (May 6th), with the possibility of a restart behind closed doors on May 16th under discussion. (TABLE)
LIGUE 1
At the other end of the spectrum is Ligue 1, who have already declared the season over, awarding Paris Saint-Germain their ninth title. The final league table was calculated based on an average points per game model, after an alternative approach of taking the standings after 19 matches as final was rejected. This formula puts OM and Rennes into next season’s Champions League with Lille, Nice and Reims occupying the Europa league positions. At the bottom, Toulouse and Amiens have been relegated to Ligue 2 (to be replaced by Lens and Lorient), but Nimes have been spared a relegation playoff. Although Toulouse’s relegation and PSG’s title were never really in doubt, legal action is being taken by both Lyon and Amiens, the teams worst affected by the abrupt end to proceedings. Lyon’s claim rests on the fact they had more home games remaining than their rivals and that they had already played PSG twice whereas others had faced them only once. Amiens also had more home matches remaining and, even more crucially, they were mostly against teams in the bottom half of the table. (TABLE)
