Even if the calendar is still vague, the resumption of football in Europe is looming ... After the definitive end of the season in French football, announced on April 30, uncertainty remains however in the major championships in Europe, so that many countries are still facing the Covid-19 pandemic.

At the head of the bow, Germany seems the closest to a return to the field, and the authorities are expected to decide on Wednesday 6 May on a possible return to the field for mid-May. Spain, England and Italy, they are counting with more or less certainty on a restart in June.

• France: season ended, as in the Netherlands

When announcing his plan for the gradual lifting of containment, Prime Minister Édouard Philippe firmly declared that "the 2019-2020 season of professional sports, especially that of football, will not be able to resume", ruling out the holding of large rallies before September.

If the Ministry of Sports then clarified to AFP the possibility of holding certain matches in August, the League (LFP) acted on Thursday the final cessation of the Ligue 1 season, stopping in the board of directors a classification which crowns the PSG and deprives Lyon a priori of European qualification.

France has followed suit in the Netherlands, the first UEFA member country to put an end to its championship. The title was neither awarded to Ajax Amsterdam, leader of the Eredivisie, nor to AZ Alkmaar who had the same number of points before the end of the championship.

• Germany: towards a recovery in mid-May

The Bundesliga is the most advanced championship for a recovery: the Länder - the regional states - considered it possible to resume the Championship "mid-May or end of May" and behind closed doors, which the clubs wanted, and a meeting of political authorities is scheduled for Wednesday to decide.

The first coronavirus tests, revealing ten cases in German clubs on Monday, nevertheless highlighted the health challenges that the Bundesliga will have to face in order to get the green light from political power once again.

There are nine days left in the Bundesliga, plus the climb-down run, not including the semi-finals and the Cup final.

• Spain: back on the lawns "in June"?

The Spanish championship is considering a "return to competition in June" as training resumes this week, LaLiga, the body that manages Spanish professional football, announced on Monday.

The president of the government Pedro Sanchez gave the green light last Tuesday so that the professional sportsmen can return to the individual training as from May 4.

According to figures from LaLiga, professional football accounts for 1.37% of Spanish GDP and operates 185,000 jobs in the country. "The return of football means that society is gradually returning to normal," said its president Javier Tebas.

• England: a "restart" still in question

In England, where containment measures are in place until at least May 7, the Premier League is trying to build a "Restart" project which aims to return to competition on June 8, again behind closed doors .

At a meeting last Friday, the twenty elite clubs were informed of a plan to play the remaining 92 matches of the 2019-2020 season on neutral ground.

The "official" resumption of training would be set for May 18, leaving the clubs three weeks to prepare to compete for the end of the Championship, largely dominated by Liverpool after 29 days. Without waiting, the clubs of Arsenal, Brighton and West Ham reopened their training centers to their players on Monday, but in a very controlled manner.

• Italy: Ronaldo is back, the puzzle of the calendar

In Italy, the European country hardest hit by the pandemic, the big star of the "calcio" Cristiano Ronaldo arrived Monday evening in Turin and the players can resume individual training. But nothing says that the championship will resume despite the reduction in containment measures.

The government has cooled Serie A clubs by announcing last week that group training could not resume until May 18, making the goal of a recovery in early June very difficult.

The new horizon is now Wednesday June 10 or the weekend June 13-14. Beyond these two dates, it would no longer be possible to play by the end of July the twelve days remaining to be played. The Italian federation (FIGC) is due to hold a meeting on Friday that could be decisive.

With AFP

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