further by declaring Club Brugge as
champions without bothering about
the last matchday and the mini-league
for European places.
That provoked a first sign of panic at
Nyon. UEFA and the European Leagues
organisation warned that the national
associations risked seeing their clubs
banned from club competitions if they
halted domestic campaigns now. Really?
Hard to imagine UEFA barring Real
Madrid and Barcelona if Spain were
to declare the 2019-20 season null
and void.
An example of the confused responses
to coronavirus was the storm which
erupted in England over whether Premier
clubs were justified in applying for
government subsidies for the wages
of non-playing staff. Liverpool andTottenham Hotspur, two of the world’s
richest clubs, ceded sympathy by not,
at least, delaying such action.
When matches do restart, will they be
behind closed doors? What happens if
one player tests positive and everything
is called off again? Completing the
2019-20 season could take up until
December at that rate.
Football is at the mercy of events.
To pretend otherwise is illogical at best,
impractical at worst.
Different countries will emerge from
the coronavirus tunnel at different times
under different conditions.
UEFA’s vision of a wondrous specific
day when all Europe’s teams walk back
out together simultaneously is fanciful,
to say the least.Coronavirus in footballIsolated...Schalke
players training in
small groupsRisk...Atletico Madrid
(in black) played
Liverpool in the
Champions League