All Champions League and Europa League matches have been suspended “until further notice” by Uefa because of the global coronavirus pandemic.
While most leagues in Europe hope to finish their domestic seasons once restrictions on movement and social contact are lifted, Uefa president Aleksander Ceferin said last week the season could be lost if play does not start by the end of June.
:If we don’t succeed in restarting, the season will probably be lost,” the Slovenian said.
He told Italian newspaper La Repubblica: “There is a plan A, B and C.
“The three options are to start again in mid-May, in June or at the end of June.
“There is also the possibility of starting again at the beginning of the next [season], starting the following one later. We will see the best solution for leagues and clubs.”
Ceferin says that playing remaining games behind closed doors would have to be an option across Europe.
“It’s hard for me to imagine all the matches behind closed doors, but we still don’t know whether we’ll resume, with or without spectators,” he said.
“If there was no alternative, it would be better to finish the championships.”
A mini-tournament to decide the Champions League and Europa League is expected to be one option put forward to ease fixture congestion caused by the coronavirus crisis.
UEFA are so desperate to keep the TV revenue that they are willing to put players safety at risk in order to make money.
The end of the current fiscal year for clubs is June 30. That is when many players contracts end. Based on available contract information, at least 500 players from the big five leagues are out of contract on June 30.
Some 270 of those players are on contracts that expire on June 30, 2020, while the rest are on loan from other team and those agreements also end on June 30, which means their registration goes back to their parent clubs.
La Liga would lose 24.6% of their players, Serie A 26%. In the Premier League it’s less, 12.9% of players are affected, but it hits certain teams far more than others: Newcastle would lose nine players, for example; Leganes, 14, SPAL, a whopping 17, and Union Berlin, 12.
How can Newcastle play past June 30 if they lose nine players from their first team squad? Or SPAL who will lose 17 players? What is to be gained by playing games past that date?
It’s madness to think that football will return this season in Europe.
