⏳ When could other European leagues return with Ligue 1 cancelled? | OneFootball

Football doesn’t appear to be any closer to returning anywhere in Europe.

Seasons in Belgium, the Netherlands, and now France have officially been ended prematurely with an increasing number of countries and associations accepting that completing the 2019/20 season just isn’t realistic.

But others are still optimistic. Behind closed doors matches are a given for any league that does make a comeback, but are there any plans for football to return and how soon could it happen?

Here’s the state of play in Europe’s remaining major leagues.

Premier League

According to reports on Wednesday evening, the Premier League is setting up plans for a mid-June restart.

To do so, they’ll need approval from the government, with guarantees that regular testing, paid for by clubs, is in place for all players and staff.

The current ‘best case scenario’, according to the Mail and the Mirror, would see clubs return for a ‘pre-season’-type training in late May with 13 June a potential restart date. Games could take place not just behind closed doors but also at neutral venues.

All 20 clubs will hold a meeting on Friday to finalise plans, though these could obviously change as the situation develops.

LaLiga

Speaking on Tuesday, LaLiga president Javier Tebas announced that players can resume training at the clubs’ premises from 4 May.

On 11 May, training should be able to begin in small groups, and on 26 May training could resume as normal.

If everything goes to plan, LaLiga matches could begin again at some point between 7-14 June, behind closed doors, and the league have ruled out the possibility of forcing clubs to play every 48 hours.

But, as with all leagues, the plans remain up in the air and far from certain to go through.

Bundesliga

Germany has seemed to be the closest to a return, though those plans seem to have slowed over the course of the past weeks.

There had been a mention of 9 May as a return date in the media, though that now looks unlikely with players still unable to train in large groups and the rate of infection in Germany actually increasing since some social distancing measures were loosened.

A meeting on Thursday should reveal more but the German authorities seem to be extremely divided on the topic of a return.

And they aren’t the only ones; ultra groups are already actively protesting the idea of games taking place behind closed doors.

Serie A

In a press conference on Sunday, Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte announced that players will be allowed to train individually from 4 May. Training in groups should be allowed to happen two weeks later.

A task force is in place and the government appear to be working towards a plan to complete the season, with players set to be tested regularly and isolated promptly in the case of a positive test.

If the plan works out, games could go ahead as soon as early May.

But it isn’t that straightforward and a recent survey by IZI saw 64% of Italians say they are against the resumption of the 2019/20 season.