Corona’s Impact on European Football

DBasia.news –  Serie A and LaLiga do not want to take more risks related to the corona virus in Europe, which started from Italy and has spread to other countries. Serie A has postponed the match until April 3, 2020 and LaLiga for two weeks.

The corona virus in Europe is no joke. From the data Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) at Johns Hopkins University (JPU) as of Thursday (12/03), the total number of people infected with corona has reached 125,851 people globally.

Italy is the second largest case with 12,462 corona cases, 827 people died, and 1,045 recovered. The first place is occupied by the country that was the center of the initial spread, China, as many as 80,921 cases, 3,046 deaths, and 50,000 more people recovered.

No doubt, Wednesday (11/03) WHO Director, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, declared the corona virus as a pandemic or a new virus that has spread throughout the world.

“We reminded all countries to take swift and prepared steps. We have sounded the warning loudly and clearly,” Tedros Adhanom stressed.

LaLiga and Serie A should be able to do preventive measures or deterrence by using a scanner to examine people who have the potential to contract corona, provide hand sanitizers, or free masks.

But they do not want to take the risk as according to world experts, avoiding the crowd, is one way to anticipate the outbreak of the corona virus. Playing football without a spectator is also no guarantee for players and staff of the squad not to be exposed to the invisible virus.

So the postponement of the Serie A and LaLiga is the right step for health. BolaSkor.com will also discuss the negative effects of delays that occur due to the corona virus. Here are the reviews:

1. Schedule Settings

Setting a schedule in a season or a year is not easy, especially if you remember the tight schedule of international sports this year such as the Olympics and European Cup. Postponing a match automatically affects the match schedule that has been set.

The effect could be extended to local tournament schedules, European competitions, and the biggest possibility of concern is that players are not rested when the season ends.

2. European competition

Regarding this UEFA, as the European Football Federation, should make a firm and early decision as possible, because at this time there is a lack of clarity from European competition – the Champions League and the Europa League – which is still ongoing.

The ambiguity was that there were still matches that were going on normally, held without spectators, until those that were postponed, especially those involving Italian and Spanish teams.

Changing the schedule for European competition is also not easy given the solid agenda of international events this year, but in this case UEFA should be firm in making decisions. Reportedly, UEFA will hold an emergency meeting to discuss the spread of the corona virus.

Reported by L’Equipe, UEFA reportedly will continue the Champions League and Europa League to the end, but with a change in format to remove the cage-away system and play the game in a neutral place.

Games involving Juventus, Inter Milan and AS Roma have been postponed in Europe. It is not known how UEFA would change the prepared schedule again.

3. Influence on League Competition

Whether it’s the team that fights for the league title or the European zone, playing in anxious condition due to the corona virus is clearly not ideal for them. FIGC even reportedly had time to plan a play-off to determine the Scudetto-winning team this season, which was contested by Inter Milan, Juventus and Lazio.

Real Madrid were also quarantined after their basketball team was tested positive for corona virus. So, schedule delays in Serie A and LaLiga have the potential to affect the level of competition in them, especially if they are played, the matches will not be attended by spectators in the stadium.

Without the ’12th player’ in the stadium, football clubs lose half their lives.

4. Local Tournaments, Relegation and Promotion Clubs

The Copa del Rey final between Real Sociedad vs Athletic Club Bilbao is postponed. While in Italy the delays in Serie A have automatically affected the schedule of the Coppa Italia. Postponement of the competition resulted in the postponement of the local tournament.

The question is “How do the organizers arrange the postponed schedules?” not easy for sure. The consideration besides the international agenda is the players’ time off as the season will end.

Interestingly from the news in Football-Italy, there is the potential to determine which teams will not be promoted quickly with this delay, as well as relegation teams. Moreover, Serie B and C also have several corona cases.

5. Financial Effects

Chester’s owner, Anthony Johnson, stated his worries if the games were played without spectators. That would be the same to postponing the match to an indefinite time as the spread of the corona virus is so rapid.

“It’s alright to say to ‘play behind closed doors (without spectators)’ but what happens to clubs whose main income are supporters who pay at home games?!? “Johnson said on Twitter.

“Surely the contingency plan includes compensation for clubs from the FA or the government. Paying them their average attendance.

“Playing behind closed doors will kill the club that easily. That’s not excessive, there will be zero cash flow in the club that depends on paying fans.

“They play behind closed doors, without income from paying fans. They postpone the match, the club still needs to pay wages without cash flow. And of course the most important thing is saving lives and stopping the spread of viruses, “explained Johnson.

Although Johnson spoke about English football and plans to play games without spectators, his comments were still relevant to the situation in Italy and Spain. Without spectators, without matches, Italian and Spanish clubs could feel the impact from the financial side. The corona virus has truly become a pandemic that has disrupt human lives.