Professional soccer leagues around Europe are gearing up for a return to action following the novel coronavirus stoppage, but some are more advanced than others. Here is a roundup of the state of play.
GERMANY
The National Football League has time on its side as the sports world prepares to emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic and will use some it to observe German soccer's Bundesliga as a potential blueprint on how to deal with the outbreak.
Ligue 1 had a difficult time remaining relevant even before the season was canceled and PSG was awarded the title for the seventh time in the last eight years. France’s top flight is often considered the weakest of the big five leagues in Europe or left out all-together.
Ajax is not immune to the financial strain caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, but the club will not be strong-armed into cut-price deals for their players in the upcoming transfer window, chief executive Edwin van der Sar said.
The Dutch club has built a reputation as the "talent factory" of European football over the last two decades and earned about $161.7 million last summer as Frenkie de Jong and Matthijs de Ligt secured high-profile moves to Barcelona and Juventus, respectively.
Looking back, it doesn’t feel like willful ignorance so much as a conditioned belief in the unstoppable machinations of American life. The stories from Northern Italy painted a more dramatic and horrific picture than the morbid curiosity we’d afforded Wuhan, but even as the coronavirus infiltrated America and began to make its presence felt in New York City and Seattle, the existential threat to our day-to-day life, especially here in Middle America, remained non-existent.
The world is slowly returning to normalcy as businesses begin to reopen and football is sprouting again.
The Bundesliga aims to return May 16, and South Korea's K League will stream its opening match with English commentary on May 8. There will finally be games to watch on the weekend again.
Sporting events in the Netherlands will have to take place without fans in attendance until there is a vaccine for the novel coronavirus, Health Minister Hugo de Jonge said.
The global pandemic has infected over 41,000 people in the Netherlands and caused 5,288 deaths.
Prime Minister Mark Rutte said on Wednesday organized sport could resume from Sept. 1, but de Jonge said mass gatherings would not be allowed until a vaccine had been developed.
The Bundesliga season will restart on May 16 after a suspension of more than two months, the German Football League (DFL) said on Thursday, becoming the first European league to resume amid the coronavirus epidemic.
The DFL said the season would restart under the terms of a strict health protocol that bans fans from the stadium, with six games on Saturday, including the high-profile Ruhr valley derby between Borussia Dortmund and Schalke 04.
Premier League clubs are bleeding money and their finances would be entering "uncharted waters" if the season that was suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic is not finished, Crystal Palace chairman Steve Parish has said.
Professional soccer has been suspended since mid-March due to the coronavirus outbreak which has killed more than 28,100 people in the United Kingdom, and the league is no closer to a return after a meeting with all 20 clubs on Friday.
Players will need at least four weeks to regain match fitness once coronavirus lockdown measures are lifted and they are able to resume training, FK Partizan coach Savo Milosevic said on Sunday.
The 46-year old former Yugoslavia striker, who scored 37 goals in 102 internationals and won the 1996 English League Cup with Aston Villa, pointed out that a return to normal training would be gradual.