European soccer leagues are gradually resuming their respective schedules. The Bundesliga began playing games nearly two weeks ago. La Liga is expected to resume play on June 11 while Serie A is set to decide on a potential return as early as today.
Now, after a nearly three month delay and countless debate among the 20 teams, they have reportedly agreed to resume the Premier League on June 17 according to The Telegraph.
Teams just recently got approval to have full-contact training sessions through “Project Restart” so momentum was swinging in favor of a potential resumption of the Premier League. So far, the Premier League has instituted three rounds of COVID-19 testing among players and staff. In their last round of testing, four people tested positive out of 1,008 total.
The scheduling plan is that Manchester City faces Arsenal and Aston Villa play Sheffield United on the 17th, while everyone else would be set to play that weekend. The reason these four teams are playing before everyone else is Man City and Aston Villa had to postpone their respective games due to the EFL Cup final. So this will get those four teams even at 29 games played and everyone can all play the final nine games at around the same time.
Because fans are expected to not be allowed at these games, a staggered schedule is expected in order to avoid games being played at the same time. It’s unknown how things will be rescheduled but it’s possible that five games could be played one right after the other during a single day. That will be a lot of soccer if plans hold up and the Premier League is able to continue with this trajectory.
[The Telegraph/Photo: Premier League]
About Phillip Bupp
Producer/editor of the Awful Announcing Podcast and Short and to the Point. News editor for The Comeback and Awful Announcing. Highlight consultant for Major League Soccer as well as a freelance writer for hire. Opinions are my own but feel free to agree with them.
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