European soccer leaders have told teams to plan for a return to action in July and August and issued a threat by suggesting that leagues that cancel the season face the risk of their teams being barred from the Champions League.
The letter, signed by European soccer’s governing body, UEFA, and two powerful lobby groups representing the interests of the Continent’s top leagues and clubs, makes clear that as things stand all efforts must be made to complete the seasons.
Competitions that do not exhaust all options to reach a conclusion were warned there were likely to be consequences.
The letter came hours after the Belgian league announced that it had decided, subject to board approval, to cancel its competitions. The Dutch national federation earlier this week appeared to set its own date for when the current domestic calendar must be completed, making Aug. 3 the cutoff.
On Friday, UEFA President Aleksander Ceferin said the leagues must be completed by the end of August. The disruptions mean the season could go well past June 30, the day in the soccer calendar when one season officially ends and another begins. The consequences of playing through that date are multiple and complicated not least by player contracts being registered to begin and end within that framework. FIFA has said it will be redrafting regulations to meet the new reality but needs goodwill on all sides to cut through a thicket of legal entanglements.
The Premier League alone is facing a bill of near $1 billion to broadcasters if it fails to play the remainder of the season.
The Belgian league issued a statement Friday saying it held talks with UEFA over its stance. Officials, it said, called for a flexible approach to the crisis that takes account of the specific situation facing each league. In Belgium, the league has already received its full payment from broadcasters.
With little sign of the restrictions on movement and mass gatherings in much of Europe being lifted in the near future, plans are being made for many of those games to be played without fans.
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