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La Liga chief Javier Tebas says European leagues plan to resume in mid-May

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Spanish Professional Soccer League's President, Javier Tebas
  • Post published:March 22, 2020

La Liga president Javier Tebas has predicted that European football will be back by the middle of May.

The Spanish top flight was suspended earlier this month due to the ongoing coronavirus crisis.

The Premier League is on hold until April 30 at the earliest, but Tebas believes it will take a little longer before the season resumes across the continent.

“In mid-May we should be able to be back on with all European competitions,” Tebas told Marca. “All of them. Of course, it depends on how the pandemic evolves.

“It could be before, but that is the date we’ve got in mind about being able to resume.”

Tebas also believes that it is perfectly possible for the leagues to finish before June 30 after UEFA announced that the European Championship will be pushed back by 12 months.

“Yes. UEFA’s decision to postpone the Euros has been quite useful to try and bring the leagues to an end, but we were making plans on the football calendar even before the postponement of the Euros,” he told El Pais.

“It was a scenario that we knew could have materialised and we are working on different starting dates. Here we have to work the other way around, thinking about what could be the latest finish date to see the other dates that can come up.

“The fundamental scenario is that half or late May is the maximum date for restarting the league so they are able to complete the season on June 30. The other scenarios can go further down [the calendar].

“The scenario can also depend on whether there will be some play-off rounds that could be set up or some Champions League games to be played on the weekend.

“When we will start to play again there will be all the medical guarantees, but that will not depend on us, it will depend on each country’s government. If they can guarantee that it is safe to play, we will play. If not, we won’t.

“You have to keep in mind we are working with 30 different leagues and it will depend on the health authorities if we will be able to play with open doors, closed doors or other conditions.

“We’re not planning on any format change on any competition, including the European ones. The mandate we have in the committee is to finish the competitions as they are right now. The calendar we are working on is with the competitions in full and in their regular format.”