Football is suspended in all European countries apart from Belarus because of the coronavirus pandemic.
European football leagues have been given a May 25 deadline to inform governing body UEFA of their plans to restart their domestic competitions.
UEFA has made it clear that it wants its member associations to complete their domestic seasons rather than abandon them. It also hopes to finish the Champions League and Europa League competitions.
If league seasons cannot be finished, it said national associations would need to select clubs to qualify for European competitions.
What is the current status of major European leagues?
- Dutch Eredivisie – cut short its season already and said there would be no title awarded and no relegations or promotions.
- French Ligue 1 – it could not resume the 2019-20 season, was told by the French prime minister.
- Polish Ekstraklasa – is set to resume the 2019-2020 football season at the end of May (plan approved by the Polish prime minister).
- German Bundesliga – is hoping to resume May 9, but it needs the go-ahead from national and state government and health officials, and it’s unclear when that unanimous approval will come through.
- Italian Serie A – clubs have the green light from the government to return to training on May 18, with matches behind closed doors tentatively slated to resume at the beginning of June.
- English Premier League – will meet on Friday to determine the next steps, but they’re reportedly hoping to be training by May 18 in advance of a June 8 return to action.
- Spanish La Liga – remains in a holding pattern, with Spain’s health minister cautioning against expecting any soccer to resume before “the summer” followed by Spanish government gave the O.K. to individual training starting next week.
- Danish Superliga – plan to resume on May 17 and finish by the end of July.
- Portuguese Primeira Liga – country’s president announcing that lockdown restrictions are beginning to ease on May 3, there’s perhaps a pathway to finishing the season.
- Russian Premier League – hopes to resume in late June and finish by Aug. 2.
- Swedish Allsvenskan – season was postponed, and the league’s clubs train while they await instruction on when it will actually begin the 2020 season, with late May or early June looking like the most likely outcome.
- Turkish Super Lig – June 12/13 reportedly appears to be a tentative return date for matches behind closed doors, but the Super Lig’s fate is slated to be determined in the first week of May when the Turkish Football Federation meets to discuss the league’s future.
- Belgian Pro League – clubs were set to vote on Monday to ratify a ruling that would end the season as is and crown Club Brugge as champion, but that vote was postponed by a week instead, lending some to think that perhaps there’s a path for the rest of the season to be played after all.
- Austrian Bundesliga – clubs were given the green light to return to training in a limited capacity, and matches could follow in mid-May.
It seems there is a green light that in May we could be able to back to trading. Please keep in mind that you are a trader, so do not rush with your decisions when entering the market. We do not know how players have been affected by this coronavirus period. All matches would be played behind closed doors. If your strategy is based on pre-match stats, just put them into rubbish.
Focus on price movements and market itself so predict unpredictable scores.
