When Soccer Will Return
We are all wondering when sports will return. Many soccer leagues have a target date to try and finish the current season and start the next one time. Here is a current update of when soccer will return.
Premier League
Premier League has an optimistic outlook on when they will be able to return for the 2019-2020 season. They are hoping that they can return to playing by June 8 and finish the season by July 27. This will allow them to start the 2020-2021 season on time in August.
When they return, they will regulate how many people are in the arena. They will also have hygiene mandates that everyone will have to follow. After Arsenal Manager Mikel Arteta tested positive for Covid-19, they are trying to make sure everyone stays safe after the return.
The league still has 92 games that need to be finished. This means that if they can return by June 8, the games will be packed together. This would call into question how many training sessions the teams can have. They need to allow their players to recover, but also need to keep in mind that they haven’t trained since earlier this year.
French Leagues
French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe announced that sporting events will not be allowed to return until September. This has effectively ended the 2019-2020 season for Ligue 1 and Ligue 2. They were hoping of returning by mid- June like Premier League. It has also pushed back the next season.
This has also put into question if Champions League will finish. UEFA had hopes of finishing out the tournament once everything returned. But with the new announcement, it looks doubtful. Paris Saint-Germain had moved into the quarter-finals and Lyon was leading Juventus in their round-of-16 tie. With French teams not being able to return to train, it looks like Champions League will most likely not return.
Bundesliga
Premier League’s target date branched from Bundesliga’s hopeful return date. They are looking at returning by May 9. This is heavily dependent on if the government will allow them to return this early. If so, they would be able to finish the season by the end of June.
The league would make sure that hygiene and social distance regulations are being followed. They plan on doing extensive testing twice a week for every player as well. For the 1,100 players, that would cost around £2.2 million.
Germany’s federal government will meet later this week on Thursday to hopefully approve the league’s planned return.
Major League Soccer
MLS’s return date is still in the air. They were hopeful to also return in mid- May but decided against it. For right now they have postponed games until June 8. They are working with the Center for Disease Control and Prevention to look at a return date.
It is most likely that MLS will be able to return when the other sports leagues in American can come back. Until the CDC clears sports, we will still be left waiting for the return.
A major thing to consider for all leagues is their revenue since fans most likely won’t be able to return to stadiums for a while longer. Even though everything seems unpredictable right now, one thing is for sure. We are anxious to see the news of when soccer will return.
