How will the Covid-19 pandemic impact European football?
Every top European league was postponed after the coronavirus swept across the globe. The majority of the top 5 leagues including the Premier League, Serie A, Bundesliga and La Liga all resumed in May and June, however, the French Ligue 1 did not return as Paris Saint Germain were declared winners.
During the lockdown, every player was sent into quarantine with their families. This gave the coaches the chance to instruct the players on what they can do on their own to improve their game. Many players used the time to build fitness or build muscle in order to come back as better players once the quarantine was over. However, one thing players couldn’t do in quarantine was build match fitness which would mean they’d look rusty once the leagues resume.
One of the main driving factors for resuming the leagues was to keep the smaller clubs in the league financially stable. The television revenue will bring in enough money to keep these clubs afloat and determine the league champions and relegated teams.
Many of the title races are already over with Bayern Munich being named German champions and Liverpool FC set to win their first ever Premier League title. This means that many of the other teams are building fitness for the resumption of the UEFA Champions League and Europa League in August.
UEFA announced that they will host a mini tournament which will see the remaining teams in the Champions League relocate to Portugal in order to finish off their campaign. The remaining Europa League teams will relocate to Germany in order to finish off their tournament.
The fact that 4 out of the 5 top leagues have continued, means that Paris Saint Germain and Lyon will lack fitness going into their remaining European matches. However, these French teams are guaranteed to have a full strength squad going into the tournament as Paris Saint Germain will be able to field the likes of Neymar Jr, Kylian Mbappe and Marco Verratti. If one of the remaining top teams lose a few of their players to injury, they could be on rough ground.
