Right now, all football in England including the Premier League is currently suspended due to the spread of the disease and there’s been a growing concern that the ongoing season might not be finished after all.
Initially, everyone was hopeful that things will go back to normal pretty soon but that has certainly not been the case with England being one of the worst-hit countries in the world.
And even UEFA has now come to understand how bad the situation is really in Europe which is why they have urged each individual National Association to select clubs for the UEFA club competitions in the 2020/21 campaign based on sporting merit for the current season(in case this campaign has to be ended abruptly).
But now the governing body of football in Europe has released a statement in which they have requested the National Leagues to try and finish their remaining matches, obviously while taking the safety of everyone into consideration.
In the statement, UEFA said: “As a result of representations made by the football authorities in Belgium and Scotland, the Committee recognises the issues raised and approved the Guidelines on eligibility principles for 2020/21 UEFA club competitions. The Guidelines reflect the principle that admission to UEFA club competitions is always based on sporting merit.
“Therefore, UEFA urges National Associations and Leagues to explore all possible options to play all top domestic competitions giving access to UEFA club competitions to their natural conclusion. However, UEFA stresses that the health of players, spectators and all those involved in football, as well as the public at large, must remain the primary concern at this time.
“The ideal scenario, should the pandemic situation permit it, is to have the currently suspended domestic competitions completed enabling football clubs to qualify for UEFA club competitions on sporting merit in their original format.
“Should this outcome not be possible, in particular, due to calendar issues, it would be preferable that suspended domestic competitions would restart with a different format in a manner which would still facilitate clubs to qualify on sporting merit.”
Will England resume the 2019-20 season?
While death and panic are still prevalent in England but things are certainly starting to look brighter with UK health secretary Matt Hancock claiming the country is now “at the peak” but they still need to remain cautious in the coming few weeks.
He said, as per the Guardian: “It is making a difference. We are at the peak.”
England’s chief medical officer, Prof Chris Whitty also echoed the same thing by saying: “probably reaching the peak overall”
UK:
• London’s hospitals now have fewer covid patients with each day 👍
• Rate of increase slowing elsewhere across UK
• Suggests UK may be at or near peak for new infections pic.twitter.com/vvKEbl6LPg— John Burn-Murdoch (@jburnmurdoch) April 16, 2020
Prof Sir David Spiegelhalter, of the University of Cambridge, has also said that the data from the NHS is suggesting the country is now at its peak – as reported by the BBC.
This is certainly great news for everyone involved with football in England right now since there’s a very strong possibility that the games might resume in June.
Bundesliga has already made plans of a restart in May behind closed doors as they look to end all their remaining matches in June.
UEFA wants all the National Leagues to be wrapped up by August and if things do not get any worse in England then surely the authorities might think of getting the Premier League up and running.
