By Samindra Kunti
April 23- With governments across Europe implementing or considering a phased easing of strict lockdown measures, domestic leagues are cautiously coming up with different scenarios for season restarts, but those plans remain subject to the approval of health authorities.
April 23 – The English Premier League is reported to considering screening games on free-to-air channels if and when the season returns amid concerns fans will visit friends who have Sky Sports or BT Sport and risk contracting Covid-19.
April 23 – Watford’s first-team players have agreed to wage deferrals, becoming the third Premier League club to do so in a bid to tackle the financial fallout of the Covid-19 crisis.
By Andrew Warshaw
April 23 – The fifth and sixth tiers of English football – immediately below the four professional leagues – have voted to end the regular season at its current point but have controversially left open what happens with promotion and relegation which are still “under careful consideration”, fuelling an ongoing debate lower down the pyramid.
April 24 – Twenty-four hours after Premier League Tottenham Hotspur made headlines for all the wrong reasons after two of their players were reported for breaking social distancing rules, north London rivals Arsenal are in the dock for the same reason.
By Andrew Warshaw
April 22 – In another blow to UEFA’s hopes of domestic leagues across Europe being completed, the Dutch Football Association has all but scrapped the rest of the season after a government ban on public events was extended until September 1 to prevent a resurgence of Covid-19 infections.
April 21 – The World Health Organisation (WHO) has reportedly advised UEFA that football should not return to action until the end of next season in light of the coronavirus.
April 22 – UEFA has admitted for the first time that it is prepared to accept domestic leagues being permanently called off in “special cases” because of Covid-19.
April 22 – Germany looks set to become the first of the Big 5 leagues in Europe to resume playing when the spread of Covid-19 eases.
April 22 – FC Barcelona will sell the naming rights to its famous Camp Nou stadium but donate the proceeds to coronavirus funds.
April 22 – Serge Aurier and Moussa Sissoko, both of Tottenham Hotspur, are the latest top-flight English Premier League footballers to flout government guidelines on social distancing – once again tarnishing the club’s reputation during the coronavirus.
April 21 – FIFA has said that the coronavirus pandemic will not touch the world federation’s ambitious plans to invest $1 billion in the women’s game.
April 21 – Amid persistent accusations that the British government, unlike much of Europe, reacted far too late in trying to halt the spread of Covid-19, speculation over a possible link between positive cases in Liverpool and the club’s Champions League match with Atletico Madrid last month has intensified.
April 21 – German midfielder Mezut Ozil, who has long divided opinion on the field, is reported to be one of three Arsenal players to have rejected taking a pay-cut after the club became the first to agree a virtual across-the-board wage reduction as a result of Covid-19.
April 20 – The Confederation of African Football (CAF) has postponed its two major clubs finals in May because of the coronavirus pandemic.