MANCHESTER, England — European football leagues have been given a May 25 deadline to inform governing body UEFA of their plans to restart their domestic competitions.
Soccer has ground to a halt in all major leagues in Europe and none have yet to resume. But UEFA is keen to start planning for next season's European club tournaments.
FIFA has proposed that teams should be allowed to make up to five substitutions per match, instead of the usual three, as a temporary measure to help cope with potential fixture congestion in the aftermath of the novel coronavirus outbreak.
Football has been at a standstill since mid-March but many leagues and federations are still hoping to complete the season but to do so they would have to cram fixtures into a shorter period than usual once play re-starts.
Liverpool loanee Loris Karius wants to cut short his time on loan in Turkey with Besiktas, according to the Liverpool Echo.
According to Erdal Torunogullari, a Besiktas board member, Karius has filed a complaint with FIFA as a result of the club's decision not to pay players during the coronavirus shutdown.
Last month's Rhine Derby between Borussia Monchengladbach and FC Koln should've been a high-spirited event. Instead, it was played in an eerily quiet, empty stadium as the Bundesliga played out its first game behind closed doors as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.
Now, the DFB (German FA) says playing in empty stadiums is the only way the competition could resume next month.
Of Europe’s top five leagues, Germany’s Bundesliga remains on course to be the first to return to the pitch. All clubs have resumed training in small groups, and the league still expects to return on Saturday, May 9.
However, Bundesliga chief executive Christian Seifert recently told the New York Times that although matches in the top two tiers would resume at the beginning of May, all the games would be played behind closed doors — a measure that’ll likely last through the remainder of the season.
We like to think of soccer as being special, with teams that are “more than a club” and inspire you to never walk alone. But during the novel coronavirus pandemic, soccer is being exposed as the disgusting fraud it is, one that leaches off its fans with no shame.
The last few weeks have been tough for football fans around the globe. Soccer has ground to a halt as leagues quite rightly do all they can to prevent the spread of COVID-19, leaving viewers with no sports to watch and the athletes themselves cooped up inside like the rest of us.
German midfielder and long-time Bayern Munich player Thomas Müller isn’t leaving anytime soon as he extended his contract with the Bundesliga giant until 2023. Müller signed the extension in true social distancing fashion.
With almost every league around the world postponed, fans either sit twiddling their thumbs or playing FIFA awaiting football’s return. The Bundesliga especially, with one of the hottest title races in Europe, is dearly missed. The question on everyone’s mind: When will the Bundesliga resume?
After swapping England's South Coast for Hamburg, Leo Östigard and Viktor Gyökeres have become vital to St. Pauli. Arriving at the Millentor within one week of each other, the two Brighton loanees have gained invaluable experience in Germany's second division.
Current contracts for players and coaches should be extended until the end of the delayed domestic soccer seasons, according to an internal FIFA document presented to its Coronavirus Working Group. The confidential document, seen by Reuters, also recommends allowing transfer windows to be changed in accordance with new season dates and urges clubs and players to work together to find solutions to salary payments during stoppages.