LONDON • Professional football will not return to England till at least April 30, after it was announced yesterday that the game's shutdown will be extended.
English football is in lockdown as part of the worldwide bid to slow the spread of the coronavirus.
Top-flight fixtures were originally suspended until April 4.
All 20 Premier League clubs attempted to hammer out a plan to complete their suspended season when they met via a conference call yesterday.
Following the meeting, the Football Association, Premier League, English Football League (EFL) and women's professional game bodies, along with players and managers associations, agreed to extend the formal end-date for the 2019-20 season "indefinitely" in a bid to try to complete the campaign.
A joint statement said: "We are united in our commitment to finding ways of resuming the 2019-20 football season and ensuring all domestic and European club league and Cup matches are played as soon as it is safe and possible to do so.
"We have collectively supported Uefa in postponing Euro 2020 to create space in the calendar to ensure domestic and European club league and Cup matches have an increased opportunity to be played."
While the FA's rules and regulations state that the season shall terminate not later than June 1, the governing body's board has agreed for this limit to be extended indefinitely for this season.
The authorities also emphasised that public health is the overriding priority in the coronavirus crisis.
Sixteen of the Premier League clubs have nine matches to play, with Liverpool two games away from being champions for the first time in 30 years. The Reds are 25 points ahead of Manchester City, who have 57 points.
City and three other clubs - Sheffield United, Arsenal and Aston Villa - have 10 games remaining.
The possibility of playing matches behind closed doors is also an option instead of calling off the season completely.
Brighton chief executive Paul Barber has said that if the season were to be "frozen", it would be unjust on Liverpool. It is believed that most clubs share the same view.
But West Ham vice-chairman Karren Brady, whose team are fighting relegation, previously said the only fair solution would be to declare the season "null and void" if the fixtures could not be completed.
Meanwhile, Spanish La Liga chief Javier Tebas believes European leagues should be able to restart by mid-May and the season can be completed now that the European Championship has been put off to next year.
"In mid-May we should be able to be back on with all European competitions. Of course, it depends on how the pandemic evolves," he told Marca on Wednesday. "It could even be before then, but this is the date that we are working on."
Italian football federation president Gabriele Gravina also expressed his hope that the Serie A would resume on May 2 with a possible finish in July at the latest.
Uefa this week announced a commitment to see all European and domestic club competitions for this season completed by June 30, following the postponement of Euro 2020 by 12 months.
REUTERS, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, THE GUARDIAN
