Europe

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

The 2019-20 edition of LaLiga was proving to be one of the best yet. After Matchday 27, two points separated league-leader Barcelona and Real Madrid. Meanwhile, the race for Champions League spots was hotly contested as five points were the difference between third-place Sevilla and seventh-place Valencia. Fans of the league are begging for the return of competition and ask: When will La Liga resume?

UEFA indefinitely suspended the Champions League, Europa League and Euro 2020 qualifying playoffs on Wednesday in response to the coronavirus pandemic.

UEFA posted on its website that "all national team matches for men and women due to be played in June 2020 are postponed until further notice. This includes the playoff matches for UEFA EURO 2020 and qualifying matches for UEFA Women's EURO 2021."

MANCHESTER, England — Tottenham Hotspur's decision to impose a 20 percent wage reduction on 550 non-playing staff due to the impact of the coronavirus has prompted increased pressure on Premier League players to take a pay cut or a deferral of wages.

The Professional Footballers' Association (PFA) are in talks with the Premier League over how best to deal with the current suspension of competition, but the moves by some clubs to use the government's furlough scheme has prompted sharp criticism.

When soccer fans think about the best youth academies in the world, some of the clubs that probably come to mind are Ajax, Barcelona, Bayern Munich, Manchester United and perhaps Dinamo Zagreb. 

While the academy of Stade Rennais may not often come up in that discussion, it has produced some extraordinary talents and often does not get the credit it is due. Rennes has produced World Cup winners and champions of leagues across the continent. Here are some of the best talents who started their careers in the capital of the famous region of Brittany.

MANCHESTER — FIFA is working on the details of a "Football Marshall plan" to deal with the financial fall-out from the coronavirus pandemic, which will almost certainly result in them dipping into their $2.7 billion reserves.

World soccer's governing body has set up a working group to look into the myriad of issues thrown up by the halting of the game across the globe as a result of the pandemic and this week it is expected to focus on ways in which it can help give a cash boost to those struggling.