FC Seoul’s 1-0 victory over Gwangju was a steamy and sultry affair at Sangam Stadium on Sunday. With K League matches being played behind closed doors, the 66,000-seat facility was left empty — except for the handful of sex dolls that greeted Han Chan-hee’s winner with expressions of titillated euphoria.
UEFA has a plan to finish the 2019-20 season by August, including the Champions League and Europa League campaigns, the European soccer governing body's president Aleksander Ceferin has said.
The majority of European league seasons were suspended in March due to the COVID-19 pandemic but a few leagues have announced plans for a restart in the coming weeks.
The French and Dutch top-flight campaigns have been cancelled but the German Bundesliga restarted on Saturday and Ceferin expects at least 80% of national leagues to finish their seasons.
The Bundesliga season restarts on May 16, making it the first major European league to resume amid the COVID-19 pandemic, but the German Football League (DFL) said fans will not be allowed in stadiums.
Following are the people allowed inside the stadiums as well as the protocols and requirements for Bundesliga clubs to host matches at their stadiums.
The new Crew Stadium is slowly rising at the center of the Confluence Village neighborhood near downtown Columbus. The $300 million project is slated to open in time for the start of the 2021 stadium, and the latest renderings of the ground look spectacular.
Some visible features include an exclusive Nordecke entrance, which is the safe standing end of the stadium that’ll house the Crew’s supporters’ groups. This area will also have the league’s first beer garden. Hell yes.
Major League Soccer hopes to have all 26 teams begin training by June 1 in Florida ahead of an official tournament later in the month, ESPN's Jeff Carlisle reported on Wednesday. The proposal would need to be approved by MLS' Player Association.
Italy's Serie A clubs voted in a favor of restarting the season on June 13 during a general assembly on Wednesday, if the government allows.
The Italian top flight has been suspended since March 9 because of the COVID-19 pandemic and, although the government has authorized teams to hold collective training sessions from next Monday, it has not yet decided if and when the championship can resume.
London mayor Sadiq Khan is opposed to the idea of the Premier League resuming in the capital next month while the COVID-19 pandemic continues to cause hundreds of deaths in the UK each day, a spokesperson for the mayor's office has said.
The possibility of a restart next month was given a boost when the government said elite sport could return behind closed doors after June 1.
After months without it, it’s only natural to look at this weekend’s upcoming Bundesliga fixture list and lose your shit. The Revierderby between Schalke and Borussia Dortmund?! Cinderella side Union Berlin hosting mighty Bayern Munich?! It doesn’t get any better than this . . . until you remember it kind of does.
Professional soccer leagues around Europe are gearing up for a return to action following the novel coronavirus stoppage, but some are more advanced than others. Here is a roundup of the state of play.
GERMANY
The National Football League has time on its side as the sports world prepares to emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic and will use some it to observe German soccer's Bundesliga as a potential blueprint on how to deal with the outbreak.