Europe

MANCHESTER, England — The players union representing Premier League footballers has questioned the league's call for a 30 percent player wage reduction amid the coronavirus crisis, saying it would reduce tax revenue for the National Health Service.

The stance taken by the union raises the prospect of a damaging public wrangle over the salaries of some of the best paid footballers in the world at a time when Britain is facing a major public health crisis.

Premier League leaders Liverpool have furloughed some of their non-playing staff due to the COVID-19 pandemic and are holding talks about the prospect of salary deductions for players and senior staff, the club said on Saturday.

Liverpool added on their website that the furloughed staff would continue to receive 100 percent of their salaries.

Two of the most iconic African footballers of all time took to social media to denounce disgustingly racist comments made on French television on Thursday. Former Barcelona, Inter Milan and Chelsea striker Samuel Eto’o quite rightly called them “sons of bitches.”

Professors Jean-Paul Mira and Camille Locht were discussing possible COVID-19 cures on French TV channel La Chaine Info on Thursday. Mira suggested to Locht the studies should be done in Africa.

The Premier League has said its clubs will consult with their players over a proposed 30 percent reduction in wages and the suspended season would only resume when it was "safe and appropriate."

The league accepted that a previous target of returning to action in early May would not now happen and said on Friday it was keeping the restart date under "constant review."

While there has been speculation about a reduced season or even abandoning this campaign, the league said it remained their aim to complete all remaining domestic league and cup matches.

European football, currently at a standstill because of the coronavirus, is focusing on a restart in July and August with clubs and leagues being told that stopping competitions should "really be the last resort." 

The president of bottom-of-the-table Brescia has said that it makes no sense to try to complete the Serie A season and that he would rather forfeit matches than put his team on the pitch. 

A national lockdown has been in place in Italy since March 9 and Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said on Wednesday that the restrictions would remain in place until at least April 13. He added the government would start softening the measures only with the approval of its scientific advisors, without setting an exact date. 

With almost every league around the world postponed, fans either sit twiddling their thumbs or playing FIFA awaiting football’s return. The Bundesliga especially, with one of the hottest title races in Europe, is dearly missed. The question on everyone’s mind: When will the Bundesliga resume?

Club Brugge have been declared Belgian champions after the remainder of the country’s professional league season was cancelled on Thursday due to the coronavirus pandemic. Brugge had a runaway 15 point lead at the top of the standings with one round of matches left to play before the start of the post-season playoffs, involving the top six clubs. 

AMSTERDAM — Ajax Amsterdam technical director Marc Overmars on Wednesday expressed astonishment at plans to try to complete the Dutch league season and compared the country’s football association and UEFA to Donald Trump.

His irritated reaction came after the Dutch football association (KNVB) issued a statement saying it would follow UEFA’s direction to attempt to finish the season suspended due to the coronavirus outbreak by Aug. 3.

It began simply enough. On Monday, former javelin thrower and Cheltenham Town youth footballer James Campbell — bored inside his house — sent out a simple photo of his modest backyard along with a promise that he’d run a marathon in it if he could get 10K retweets.

10,000 retweets & I’ll run a marathon in my back garden. It’s about 6 metres long pic.twitter.com/birrnVQ93Y