Football and the Coronavirus

As I've said previously in this thread, UEFA and all the Leagues will look at whichever scenario allows them to play as much football as possible between now and next summer, and what is the least financially damaging. Losing 1/4 of this season is less damaging than losing all of next season, which will effectively be the case if 'next season' cannot resume by September/October time. Anything later than that and you can no longer fit in a 38 round PL and a full CL/EL and neither domestic Leagues nor UEFA will shorten their competitions. The problem with this though is for the potential for another peak during next season that may make completing next season impossible too.

If football is banned until August in France, it does complicate things massively for UEFA though with both PSG and Lyon still in the CL and raises the prospect of this seasons European competitions not finishing.

edit: The French Prime Minister has just confirmed the above now and it's actually worse than initially reported. There will be no football in France until September.

It's going to be interesting to see what UEFA do now. They have told domestic Leagues that they needed to be concluded by early August with the remainder of August being used to complete the CL/EL and then start next season sometime in September. With Lyon and PSG still in Europe, it makes completing the CL in that period all but impossible.
 
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Robbo said:
Are the PL likely to follow if UEFA say it's ok to do so?

I still can't imagine it being scrapped.
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I have said for a while it will be scraped, it’s weather they want to void the whole competition or declare champions and relegate teams, you could declare Liverpool champions and current placing for champions and Europa qualification the only problem you have is the relegation, possibly you could only relegate the bottom 2 and promote the top 2 from each division but I’m sure massive lawsuits will follow if the premier league and EFL do that
 
Robbo said:
Are the PL likely to follow if UEFA say it's ok to do so?

I still can't imagine it being scrapped.
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Likely to end the season? UEFA cannot stop Leagues from ending, although they can of course ban them from entering sides into Europe if they do without good reason. Anyway they're currently saying that Leagues can only terminate early if, like France and NL, governments have banned sport which prevent seasons finishing within the time frame UEFA have set out or if there are financial reasons why ending the season early would be less damange, this of course wouldn't apply to a major League.

With the exception of a handful of clubs fearing relegation, most of the PL clubs will push to complete the season one way or another up until the point where we eat into too much of next season. The financial implications for the PL not finishing is huge and it's not just going to be the PL clubs that suffer. There will be no football with supporters for a very long time and lower Leagues cannot survive like that - as the government hinted at yesterday, they want the PL back to help bail out the EFL and non League sides. Whether it will be possible, only time will tell but it's clear that they're doing all they can to finish the season.
 
They've ended any playing of football yes but they will still end the season on PPG or similar.

I.e PSG will be champions.
 
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omnomnom said:
They've ended any playing of football yes but they will still end the season on PPG or similar.

I.e PSG will be champions.
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They will use PPG or the current standing to determine where teams finish and use that for the purpose of European spots, it doesn't mean they will name PSG as champs, relegate or promote teams though. That will be for the League to decide. Holland chose not to, with Ajax and AZ on level points, where as Belgium (and provisionally Scotland) have chose to name the team top as champs.
 
Even if they resume football, it iwll be behind closed doors meaning outside of the PL, the rest of the lower division will still suffer as they rely on gate reciepts more than PL clubs do
 
BaZ87 said:
It's going to be interesting to see what UEFA do now. They have told domestic Leagues that they needed to be concluded by early August with the remainder of August being used to complete the CL/EL and then start next season sometime in September. With Lyon and PSG still in Europe, it makes completing the CL in that period all but impossible.
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Sorry if this has been mentioned, but I wonder if they would allow PSG and Lyon to play their remaining CL matches outside of France? When the French government says no football in France would that be a way around it, or do they mean no french teams can play football at all?
 
planty said:
Sorry if this has been mentioned, but I wonder if they would allow PSG and Lyon to play their remaining CL matches outside of France? When the French government says no football in France would that be a way around it, or do they mean no french teams can play football at all?
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That's actually what PSG have said they will do. I'd imagine UEFA would rather allow that than kick them out too.

The French League will meet on Thursday to discuss how they'll end the season with a couple of clubs around the European spots not wanting to accept PPG.
 
Ah sorry, I haven't really been keeping up - makes sense, although I'm sure PSG might feel a little aggrieved at losing their 'home' leg. Like you say, better than being kicked out though.
 
BaZ87 said:
That's actually what PSG have said they will do. I'd imagine UEFA would rather allow that than kick them out too.

The French League will meet on Thursday to discuss how they'll end the season with a couple of clubs around the European spots not wanting to accept PPG.
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I get why but what other option do they have? Its going to get messy.
 
omnomnom said:
I get why but what other option do they have? Its going to get messy.
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There's no perfect option. There's talk in Germany about potentially scrapping relegation even if they complete the season. The argument being that playing behind closed doors removes home advantage and therefore it's not been an even playing field for everybody across the whole season.

PPG is less controversial in the French League than it would be in the PL though. Assuming City's CL ban is upheld this season (unlikely imo) then PPG would have Utd in the CL, with Sheffield Utd in the EL and have Villa relegated. Sheffield Utd and Villa have a game in hand against each other and both would argue that it was very winnable - Sheffield Utd win it and they would be in the CL, Villa win it and they would stay up.

My order of preference and what I think would be the fairest way to end the season:
  1. Finish all games when possible.
  2. Some sort of play-off to decide key positions - e.g. Chelsea, Utd, Wolves and Sheffield Utd play a mini tournament with a handicap system to take into account current standings, something similar for the relegation spots and a one off game between Arsenal and Spurs for the Europa qualifier spot.
  3. Sheffield Utd - Villa and the City - Arsenal games in hand are played, bringing everybody to 28 games played and the standings are taken from there.
  4. PPG based on the current standings.
 
I'm pretty sure that they've only got permission to return to training at the moment but there's plans in place to play games from mid June.
 
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