Europe

We knew it would be weird. We knew it would be a new normal. We knew we didn’t care.

Major European football returned from a two-month hiatus as the Bundesliga kicked off with six matches on Saturday, none bigger than the Revierderby between Ruhr rivals Borussia Dortmund and Schalke. 

Dortmund, without its menacing Yellow Wall behind it, throttled Schalke 4-0, instituting its own form of social distancing on the scoreboard. 

The gaze of the sporting world will fall on Germany this weekend as the Bundlesliga becomes the first major soccer league to emerge from the shutdown caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

All 18 clubs will crank back into action in what could act as a catalyst for other leagues to follow suit.

The moment we have all been waiting for has finally arrived. Football is slowly coming back as players are beginning to go back to semi-normal training regimes. As some countries have been lifting their lockdown restrictions, some teams have taken full advantage and are beginning to get back to work. 

The Bundesliga season restarts on May 16, making it the first major European league to resume amid the COVID-19 pandemic, but the German Football League (DFL) said fans will not be allowed in stadiums. 

Following are the people allowed inside the stadiums as well as the protocols and requirements for Bundesliga clubs to host matches at their stadiums. 

Harry Kane has shown his true, brilliant colors with his latest act of charity. The Tottenham striker has taken over shirt sponsorship for League Two side Leyton Orient for the 2020-21 season, and the new jerseys will feature three different charities where sponsors usually go.

The club announced the deal on Thursday.

BREAKING: We’re delighted to say that former loanee @HKane has taken the club’s shirt sponsorship for the 2020/21 season.

There’s something special, unique and even eerie about watching a professional soccer match with no spectators in an empty, cavernous stadium. 

For some, this ruins the experience. What’s football without the fans?

For others, this presents an opportunity.

Without noisy fans muddying the audio waves, a TV crew’s microphones are able to pick up almost every little sound coming from the pitch, be it profanities shouted at the refs or a coach yelling at his team to make a tactical adjustment.

Bundesliga teams will be allowed up to five substitutions per match when it restarts on Saturday after the coronavirus stoppage, while teams will be relegated provided the season is completed, the German Football League (DFL) said on Thursday.

Short-term venue changes will also be permitted if health reasons dictate such a need and the season will continue beyond its re-scheduled finish date of June 30 and into July if necessary, the DFL said following a general assembly.

Italy's Serie A clubs voted in a favor of restarting the season on June 13 during a general assembly on Wednesday, if the government allows. 

The Italian top flight has been suspended since March 9 because of the COVID-19 pandemic and, although the government has authorized teams to hold collective training sessions from next Monday, it has not yet decided if and when the championship can resume. 

Of the four teams that’ve already booked their place in the Champions League quarterfinals, no side is as feared as Paris Saint-Germain. In the UCL, PSG’s remarkable front three of Neymar, Kylian Mbappé and Mauro Icardi have combined for 13 goals and six assists in eight games. 

According to midfielder Ander Herrera, having “two of the top five players in the world” in Neymar and Mbappé gives PSG every right to believe they can lift Old Big Ears in Istanbul.

London mayor Sadiq Khan is opposed to the idea of the Premier League resuming in the capital next month while the COVID-19 pandemic continues to cause hundreds of deaths in the UK each day, a spokesperson for the mayor's office has said. 

The possibility of a restart next month was given a boost when the government said elite sport could return behind closed doors after June 1.