The Ultimate Guide to When (or If) European Leagues Will Resume

There's a new target date for decisions to be made about future decisions. Such is life for sports leagues during the coronavirus pandemic shutdown.

UEFA, which has been busy moving the goalposts and adjusting for changes in widespread thinking, issued a memo to its 55 member associations Tuesday saying it wants plans for when they plan to resume–or if they plan to cancel–their domestic seasons by May 25. That doesn't mean leagues need to be prepared to start by May 25, they just to have a plan in place. That's an important distinction.

Everything, of course, is subject to change and ultimately in the hands of government and public health officials, but the European governing body is clearly getting the itch to have somewhat of a set calendar to chart the course for the remainder of the 2019-20 seasons and the start of 2020-2021. If it's up to FIFA, then scrapping the current seasons and just planning when to start the next ones may be the way forward, at least according to comments made by its chief medical officer.

Nevertheless, here is a whip around Europe for a glimpse at what leagues are currently planning and what still needs to be determined:

AUSTRIA

The Austrian Bundesliga clubs were given the green light to return to training in limited capacity, and matches could follow in mid-May, according to comments made by league president Christian Ebenbauer.

"Personally I think that it's absolutely possible that we could restart playing matches in mid-May," Ebenbauer said on April 17. Ten rounds of matches remain, giving the league a fair chance to complete the season by the end of June/early July should a return go off without a hitch.

BELARUS

There are no signs of a postponement for the men's top flight, which has played on through the pandemic and continues to do so despite fans boycotting matches for some teams and FIFPro registering bewilderment on behalf of players in the league. Godspeed.

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BELGIUM 

The 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.

"The clubs came together to discuss the repercussions of the coronavirus and were given detailed information about the extremely complex situation that the crisis has created," the league said in a statement. "The majority of clubs agreed to postpone the vote to conclude the season."

With the neighboring Netherlands and France calling their seasons off, it still stands to reason that Belgium will do the same, but there's at least an opening for an alternative solution.

CZECH REPUBLIC

May 25 is the target date to resume matches. According to the Associated Press: "The clubs must approve the plan at a meeting May 12 because the competitions would not be completed until July. Some sponsorship deals and player contracts expire by the end of June, when the leagues were originally scheduled to conclude. Six rounds of games in the regular season and the playoffs remain in the first division. All players will be tested for the virus and all games will be without spectators."

Government approval is still required, because matches still need up to 130 people present, and there isn't yet a mandate over how many people would be allowed into stadiums.

DENMARK

There's a tentative plan in place for the Danish Superliga to resume on May 17 and finish by the end of July, and for one club, the season run-in could be a drive-in experience. FC Midtjylland is setting up a system where fans could drive to the stadium and watch matches on a big screen from their cars, akin to a drive-in movie theater.

ENGLAND

Premier League clubs met on Friday to determine next steps, and they're still hoping to be returning to action by June 8, with neutral grounds understood to be a big part of the picture. If the Premier League cannot resume, it will be intriguing to see how it resolves the issue of the title, European places and relegation. Liverpool is 25 points clear and would certainly clinch the title should play continue, but things are less obvious in the race for the top four, with four teams vying for fourth place separated by five points. Things are muddled by the fact that Man City, sitting comfortably in second place, could be prohibited from taking part in the Champions League next season, thus giving more potential incentive to clubs fighting for fifth place as well. 

At the bottom of the table, as things stand, Bournemouth, in 18th place, would be relegated based on a goal-differential margin of one. It's tied on points with Watford and West Ham and two behind Brighton. As obvious as things are at the top of the table, it's far less clear on the other end of the spectrum, which could lead to a complicated decision that is sure to leave some of the parties involved vexed.

FRANCE

Ligue 1 and Ligue 2 have been called off, with the French prime minister announcing that no matches will be able to be played until Sept. 1 at the earliest. PSG was crowned champion, while European competition places and promotion and relegation were based on a points-per-game version of the table, with not all clubs playing an equal amount of games.

GERMANY

The Bundesliga was hoping to resume May 9, but that date has been pushed back by at least a week, if not two, with national and state government and health officials needing to approve all plans. Clubs have been holding limited training sessions for small, social-distance-protocol-adhering groups for a few weeks, itching for further clearance.

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ITALY

Serie A clubs have the green light from government to return to training on May 18, with matches behind closed doors tentatively slated to resume at the beginning of June–though the country's sports minister is not that optimistic that a full return can happen. There are 12 matchdays remaining, plus another four games to be played among the eight teams who were unable to get in their matchday 26 fixtures.

Italy shut down its soccer leagues on March 9 and has the second-most deaths as a result of the coronavirus behind the United States.

NETHERLANDS

The season is over. There won't be a champion, there's no promotion or relegation and European places will be doled out based on how the table ended looking, despite not all teams playing an equal amount of games.

POLAND 

The top-flight Ekstraklasa and Polish government are in agreement on plans for matches to restart on May 29. It all remains contingent on the state of the virus in the country, but players have already been in self-isolation in anticipation of returning to training, which, according to the AP, will begin "under strict medical supervision." The hope is for the 16-team league to complete the season by July 20.

PORTUGAL

The Primeira Liga remains suspended with 10 matchdays to go, but with the country's president announcing that lockdown restrictions are beginning to ease on May 3, there's perhaps a pathway to finishing the season. Prime minister António Costa indicated that the league can return with matches behind closed doors starting May 30, a timetable dependent on health officials' approval. It's currently a two-horse race, with Porto leading Benfica by a point at the top of the table.

RUSSIA

The Russian Premier League hopes to resume in late June and finish by Aug. 2, with June 21 and 28 discussed as possible dates to begin the final eight matchdays remaining. If the league cannot finish its season, it would consider expanding from 16 teams to 18 teams, with relegation suspended but promotion from the second division still implemented. It would go back to 16 teams for 2021-2022.

SCOTLAND

All of the tiers below the top flight have voted–farcically, as explained by Sports Illustrated's Jonathan Wilson–to call the seasons as is, awarding titles, promotion and relegation. The Premiership is the next domino in line to fall, and if it does, Celtic would win a ninth straight league title. 

SPAIN

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 giving the O.K. to individual training starting next week. "The summer" is a vague period of time, but a fair guess would put that general target in mid-to-late June, which doesn't leave a whole lot of wiggle room to pack in the remaining 11 matches on the schedule. Barcelona currently leads Real Madrid by two points in a two-team race for the title.

SWEDEN

The start of the 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. Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who is part of the Hammarby ownership group, has been practicing with the club in his native country while spending time away from Serie A and AC Milan and scored in a recent training match.

SWITZERLAND

The Swiss top flight has been given the go-ahead to resume training on May 11, with an eye toward continuing its season behind closed doors four weeks later. A decision will be taken by Swiss government on May 27 whether that will be feasible, all depending on the state of the outbreak in the country. With 13 matchdays remaining, St. Gallen leads Young Boys on goal differential, with the two tied atop the table on points, five points clear of Basel.

TURKEY

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. U.S. national team and Besiktas winger Tyler Boyd detailed what it was like playing in an empty stadium in one of the final matches before the league shut down in an interview with Sports Illustrated's Brian Straus.