La Liga and its clubs are set to learn today that UEFA want the European domestic season to be completed by the end of June, as reported by The Telegraph.
The report adds that the governing body of European football will also attempt to complete the remaining fixtures in this season’s Champions League and the Europa League in the same timeframe.
This is a stance which looks set to spark concern across a number of leagues, with a peak in cases in the coronavirus not expected to arrive for a number of weeks yet.
As pointed out by the report, British government projections currently have the coronavirus crisis in England peaking in 10 to 14 weeks, meaning that June would be the likeliest date for normality beginning to resume.
Spain is thought to be slightly ahead on a timescale, but such is the uncertainty surrounding the outbreak – nothing can be reported with any degree of certainty.
This report will spark alarm that the remainder of the 2019/20 season could be voided, which would not only have sporting implications but also economic ones – it is estimated that La Liga clubs stand to lose €700m in such an event.
It follows a report Cadena Cope that the league are insistent on completing the full fixture list for the 2019/20 season but accept that many games must be played behind closed doors.
“We are going to end the season, we are working on the times,” La Liga president Javier Tebas told Deportes Cuatro, as cited by El Mundo Deportivo. “There are several hypotheses: we hope to resume in April or May…I do not rule out that it may even be later. We are going to wait for what UEFA decides this Tuesday.”
All sport in Spain was initially suspended for a fortnight due to the outbreak of the coronavirus, but the nation declared a state of emergency on 13 March which will provisionally last 15 days and is likely to be extended further.
On Monday it was confirmed that Spain had overtaken South Korea as the nation with the most cases of the virus globally.
Spain now has 9,191 confirmed cases of coronavirus – a rise of 1,203 from Sunday – while it now has a recorded 309 deaths – up 15 in the same timeframe – with the nation now in a state of lockdown.
