04 April 2020, by Carl Lewis

When Will Club Soccer Return?

Football is suspended across most of Europe and the world because of the continued spread of Covid-19. Although there are still some leagues you can bet on:

Last Tuesday, Ligue 1 and Ligue 2 in France announced the closure of their season indefinitely and handed PSG the league. This followed the Netherlands decision to cancel the Eredivisie season. 

However, there is real zeal in the quest to finish the remaining European leagues which have been put on hold. Below we give you an update no the English Premier League, Bundesliga, Serie A and La Liga.

Premier League

Following a video conference involving all 20 Premier League clubs on Friday, Project Restart, the blueprint to restart the season remains on hold. 

The Premier League will meet again on May 8 with the expectancy that the UK government will relax some lockdown measures on May 7. 

Meanwhile, the clubs on Friday reconfirmed their commitment to finish as there are still 92 games remaining. Those matches will potentially be behind closed doors with neutral venues.

You can punt on some Premier League specials we have live on .

Bundesliga

The Bundesliga will have to wait until 6 May for the German government decision on the resumption of the league. German clubs became the first in Europe to return to training following the suspension of their league.

Last week the league said it would be ready to return on 9 May – but 16 or 23 May are now considered more realistic dates. The DFL is determined to finish the current season.

German Interior Minister Horst Seehofer said on Sunday that he backed a possible restart for the Bundesliga and said their time frames were realistic.

Serie A

Serie A was suspended on 9 March, with 12 full rounds and four outstanding fixtures still to play. On Friday Italy’s 20 Serie A clubs reiterated their unanimous desire to complete the season.

Serie A sides will be allowed to return to individual training on 4 May and team training on 18 May, the hope is that Serie A matches can resume between 27 May and 2 June – with an end date for the season of early August.

La Liga 

In Spain, La Liga is planning to start testing players for the coronavirus between Tuesday and Thursday next week, after which they would then be able to resume individual training programmes within 48 hours.

La Liga is working towards its clubs returning to training as soon as possible after they are given the green light by the Spanish government.

All football in Spain, including La Liga, remains on hold indefinitely while the country deals with coronavirus.

Spain has announced a four-phase plan to lift the country’s stringent lockdown and, during ‘phase zero’ from 4-11 May, professional sports leagues can go back to training.

PSL – Absa Premiership

The PSL organizers will meet this week with Sports Minister Nathi Mthethwa to discuss plans for the potential restart of the season.

While Mthethwa cannot give permission for the resumption alone, Dr Zweki Mkhize and SAFA the custodian of the game in South Africa would ultimately give the go-ahead. 

The PSL has already set up a Task Team to formulate plans to play behind closed doors. SAFA themselves have said they want a cautious and measured approach. As it stands, football according to SAFA can only resume when South Africa gets to Level 1 in their coronavirus alert stage.