Nobody
The Athletic has spoken to believes the 2019-20 season will simply be written off but many are deeply concerned about how you complete it.
In football,
perhaps the best example of this is Italy, where the football federation has already admitted it might not be able to reschedule all of Serie A’s postponed games. If this is the case, it could just end the season with the table as it is now or move to a play-off format to decide the champions and European places, as well as who gets relegated.
Given their entitled view of European club football, we can probably assume Juventus would vote to end the season now, handing them a ninth straight title, with 12 games not played. But they are only one point clear of Lazio, with an inferior goal difference, and Roma are only three points behind Atalanta for the fourth and final Champions League slot. At the bottom, Lecce are in 18th, the final relegation spot, but just three points behind Udinese in 14th.
On Wednesday night it was announced that Daniele Rugani, the Juventus and Italy defender, had tested positive for the virus, with the club enacting isolation procedures and Inter, who played Juventus last weekend, suspending all “competitive activities”.
Turning to the Premier League, nobody will begrudge Liverpool a richly deserved title — although their rivals would no doubt enjoy reminding them about the asterisk attached to this one — but Arsenal, in ninth, are eight points behind Chelsea in fourth, with a game in hand, and Manchester United are only three points behind Chelsea. It is hard to see either of these clubs — or Sheffield United, Tottenham or Wolves — saying they are willing to call time on this season just yet.
And that is before you consider relegation from the Premier League, where the bottom six are separated by eight points, or promotion from the Championship, where 13th-placed Queen Park Rangers are only six points behind Preston North End in the last play-off spot, sixth. And so on and so on. If you can’t finish the season, how do you decide who goes up and down?
And would any decision bring endless lawsuits?
While writing this piece, two Europa League games — Sevilla v Roma and Inter v Getafe — were postponed because of travel restrictions between Italy and Spain, raising serious questions about UEFA’s ability to finish that tournament by the end of May, although European football’s governing body has dismissed those fears. For now.
Finishing these competitions is essential and unlike rugby union, which will probably complete the final round of this season’s Six Nations tournament in the autumn, club football cannot start a new campaign until the previous one is settled.