French government says no sport before September

The French government has told all professional sports that there will be no sport in France before September. The French FA has pretty much decided to abandon the season and is talking to the clubs about how to resolve champions, promotion and relegation etc

The move came as a surprise. It also preempts UEFA's plans to make a decision about European football next week.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/52460468

I wonder if this will be a precedent and other countries will follow?

I hope other countries do follow this. Football and other sport are not important at the moment

Quoted from realist

I hope other countries do follow this. Football and other sport are not important at the moment

The Dutch FA decided to cancel the season with no champions, relegation or promotion a week ago. I hope our FA decide the same but I bet they won't. Too much ££££££ on the line in the Premier, it's going to be a 'closed doors' job I reckon

Quoted from Ipswin

The Dutch FA decided to cancel the season with no champions, relegation or promotion a week ago. I hope our FA decide the same but I bet they won't. Too much ££££££ on the line in the Premier, it's going to be a 'closed doors' job I reckon

I suppose I feel this is 'bigger' because it wasn't a decision by the league but the government and France is one of the markets TV companies see as important to them re TV revenue from football (UK, Fr, Germany, Italy and Spain). And I agree completely that Sky are more likely to make the decision in the UK than the football authorities.

Quoted from BobbyCummingsTackle

I suppose I feel this is 'bigger' because it wasn't a decision by the league but the government and France is one of the markets TV companies see as important to them re TV revenue from football (UK, Fr, Germany, Italy and Spain). And I agree completely that Sky are more likely to make the decision in the UK than the football authorities.

Leading Premier League executives fear the competition could be rushed back under pressure from the government as politicians seek to lift morale amid mounting tension over lockdown measures.

Ministers have been in talks with the Premier League about returning “as soon as possible” but clubs are concerned that government officials will use the resumption of top-flight football as a tool to deflect criticism, especially while major doubts persist over the logistics and safety of again playing matches.

Telegraph Sport understands that many Premier League players are fearful of the health risks of games behind closed doors and, with the league saying it will base decisions on government advice, there is concern that they could be pushed into a disastrous early return before it is completely safe.

On Tuesday France followed Holland in deciding that their domestic season would immediately end but the German Bundesliga is hoping to receive government approval tomorrow for a plan to restart next month.

In other developments:

The chair of Fifa’s medical committee warned against restarting football and said that it could take only one positive player test to derail the Premier League’s entire ‘Project Restart’ plan;
The Premier League was warned that fans would inevitably gather in groups, even secretly, to watch matches that were played behind closed doors;
With the Premier League still working towards a June restart, some clubs began planning to resume group training as early as May 11;
Debate gathered over whether relegation should be scrapped even if the remaining games are played because ‘sporting integrity’ has already been lost.
The Premier League’s 20 clubs will meet again on Friday, with the league still remaining hopeful of potentially restarting the campaign on June 8 and finishing at the end of July.

It is understood that Premier League planning would involve a limited number of venues and facilitating players and certain staff being tested for coronavirus around twice a week while the remaining 92 matches were played. There are concerns, however, over the availability of testing - especially if there is any shortage among key workers - as well as the reliability of the tests and also how long they could take to process. Some clubs are would also be unhappy at the prospect of the Premier League of being unable to use their own stadiums.

Dr Michel d’Hooghe, the chair of Fifa’s medical committee, told The Telegraph that all European leagues should now be focused on preparing for next season and expressed concern that economic considerations could override those of health. He also warned that plans to resume football could quickly unravel. “Imagine that they do the testing of a player after having played two or three matches and one player is positive,” said D’Hooghe. “Then they can put the whole team in quarantine so it is certainly over with the Championship. For me, common sense, inspired by my medical knowledge, is to stop the actual competition.

“I think this is a very dangerous situation. It is a fight between health and economic values. I think you should stop this season. Try to find a sporting solution, respecting the positions and respecting the rules of the national authorities. I think the best thing that we can do is to start to try to prepare the next season.”

As well as his current work on Fifa’s Council and medical committee, D’Hooghe was previously president of the Belgian Football Federation and Club Brugge.

“I have been confronted many times with discussions between the economic interests and the health,” he said. “Nearly every time, economics won against medicine but if there is one situation, one moment, when medicine and health should win against the economy, it is certainly now.

“Can we play a football match where we ask players to remain 1.5m from each other? Even if you play with closed doors, you will always have groups of fans coming together, even in secret places, to have a common feeling of the sporting event.”

Dr John Ashton, a former regional director of Public Health, said that it was “crackers” for football to be preparing its return when issues around coronavirus testing in England were unresolved.

Ashton had publicly condemned the decision to allow Liverpool to play Atletico Madrid in front of a full stadium at Anfield when there was already a significant spread of coronavirus in both England and Spain. Asked about the possibility of football resuming in June, Ashton said: “I think it’s really silly. It comes back to testing and they still haven't cracked the testing. This virus can also evolve and change. It would be much better for clubs to carry on with developing their community work.”

Clubs, though, are working towards an early return to some form of group training on May 11.

The Premier League are likely to send delegates to carry out risk assessments at training grounds before the resumption of any group training.

Bundesliga clubs have started to return to restricted group training and some managers are debating with their clubs whether or not to argue that there should be no relegation because the sporting integrity has already been lost.

It would mean that the title, European places and promotion would still be played for ahead of an expanded league season next term.

Those internal Bundesliga discussions have been passed on to at least three Premier League clubs, who are now watching to see how the situation develops.

Meanwhile Spain's professional footballers can start training again from next week, prime minister Pedro Sanchez said on Tuesday as he announced plans to relax the country’s lockdown and bring the country back to normality by the end of June.

Players can begin individual training from Monday and could be training together in small groups a week after that as part of a four-phase plan to lift one of the toughest coronavirus lockdowns in Europe. In the following phase, which could begin as early as May 11, training in small groups will be allowed.

Quoted from BobbyCummingsTackle

I suppose I feel this is 'bigger' because it wasn't a decision by the league but the government and France is one of the markets TV companies see as important to them re TV revenue from football (UK, Fr, Germany, Italy and Spain). And I agree completely that Sky are more likely to make the decision in the UK than the football authorities.

Sky ARE the football authorities. They invented the game in 1992 remember and decide when games can be played.

Where was that article from Stadium?

Daily Telegraph.

Cheers. Wonder if that’s true about government pressure to restart the PL. can’t be right can it. It’s contrary to the stay at home message.

Can't see any football taking place while we're in lock down, if a multi-million pound player were to catch and subsequently die from covid virus they would'nt be covered by insurance surely.