The Spanish soccer season, halted like most major sporting competitions due to the novel coronavirus pandemic, is unlikely to return until the summer, the country's health minister Salvador Illa said on Sunday.
UEFA's Euro 2021 Women's Championship, to be held in England, will be played one year later in July 2022, European soccer's governing body decided at an executive committee meeting on Thursday.
The tournament was moved after UEFA's Euro 2020 men's competition had to be postponed to 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The opening match will be held on July 6 with the final on July 31.
Barcelona coach Quique Setien is pessimistic that the Spanish top flight season will be able to be completed and has called LaLiga's conditions for the campaign recommencing "a non-starter" due to the continued threat of the novel coronavirus.
LaLiga has been on hold since March 10 due to the pandemic although president Javier Tebas has said matches could start up again on either May 29, June 7 or June 28, most likely without spectators. Tebas has estimated Spanish clubs would lose around $1.09 billion if the season is not completed.
The players and staff at Serie A clubs should be tested for coronavirus and then isolated in training camps when they begin preparing for the re-start of the season, the Italian football federation (FIGC) recommended on Wednesday.
The recommendation will be among the guidelines drawn up by the FIGC's medical committee so that the season, on hold since March 9 because of the coronavirus outbreak, can safely restart, the FIGC said in a statement.
The Austrian government said on Wednesday that professional football teams could re-start training to prepare for the resumption of the season, which would be played without fans for the foreseeable future due to the novel coronavirus outbreak. It also added that, when play re-started, the league would be responsible for conducting coronavirus tests on players which would have to take place in the 48 hours before kickoff.
MLS commissioner Don Garber told ESPN that the league will explore alternative formats when it comes to completing the 2020 season. Garber said that MLS is "focused at getting in as many as games as possible" if play resumes following the coronavirus pandemic.
U.S. prosecutors on Monday announced new criminal charges against two former executives of 21st Century Fox Inc and others stemming from a long-running investigation of corruption surrounding FIFA, soccer's world governing body.
The former Fox executives, Hernan Lopez and Carlos Martinez, were indicted in Brooklyn federal court on wire fraud and money laundering along with Gerard Romy, former co-CEO of Spanish media company Imagina Media Audiovisual SL, and Full Play Group SA, a Uruguayan sports marketing company. Lawyers for the defendants could not immediately be identified.
The Serie A season could be extended to September or October, the head of the Italian FA (FIGC) said on Sunday, warning that there could be an "avalanche of litigation" if it was not settled on the field.
Serie A has been suspended since March 9 because of the coronavirus pandemic which has claimed 15,887 lives in Italy, almost a quarter of the global death total. Several club presidents have suggested that the season should be called off.
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."
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.