La Liga president sends Premier League warning over UEFA deadline to finish season after suspension amidst coronavirus scare.
The Premier League along with several other leagues have decided to suspend their campaigns in an effort to combat the Coronavirus pandemic. There have been talks of calling off the leagues and starting afresh next season. However, La Liga president Javier Tebas is optimistic that football leagues across Europe can meet the deadline of June 30 set by UEFA to complete their domestic competitions.
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The Premier League were originally were suspended till April 4th. However, the 20 clubs unanimously agreed to extend their shutdown until April 30th with the hopes that they can resume in the first week of May.
Several health experts in Britain are of the opinion that the country is some weeks behind the rest of Europe in the deadly cycle of the coronavirus. This could cause even more delay to the return. However, Tebas, claims that they must return to action by mid-May.
La Liga president sends Premier League warning over UEFA deadline to finish season
Tebas, who is involved with the UEFA working committee charged with redrawing the European calendar, of which the Premier League is also a part of, said:
“Given the current situation, we believe we can restart the competitions in mid-May, perhaps during the third week.
“If circumstances permit, we could bring that forward.
“There are 30 affected leagues and 30 cup tournaments and we have to co-ordinate each schedule at both a national and international level. We need to work together.”
Tebas: “Es viable acabar las competiciones el 30 de junio” https://t.co/2Fy5hLdRFx vía @el_pais
— Javier Tebas Medrano (@Tebasjavier) March 19, 2020
“We are working with leagues such as Serie A in Italy, who have 14 games still to play; or the Danish league, who have 15 left to play,” said Tebas.
“UEFA’s decision to postpone Euro 2020 will help us find a way to finish our competitions. We made our calendar calculations even before the decision to postpone it.
Tebas claims that failure to complete the season could cost leagues around the continent a staggering €7.5billion!
“If we look at the industry as a whole, all 30 European leagues together, €7.5billion is at risk due to this crisis,” said Tebas.
“That would be the cost of not being able to complete every competition. It would put the football industry at risk in some places.
“That’s why we need a global solution. It’s a problem that affects us all and all the competitions need to be coordinated.”
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