Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on football

The COVID-19 pandemic is an ongoing pandemic, which was reported to begin from Wuhan, China. Soon, the disease began to spread quickly into other countries, creating a new worldwide pandemic. This coronavirus pandemic has impacted greatly on sports events, especially football. As of April, football leagues in almost every countries are suspended. Only a few countries – Belarus, Nicaragua, Taiwan and Turkmenistan – have allowed professional football matches to continue. International competitions which was scheduled to be held in 2020, including UEFA Euro 2020 and 2020 Copa América, are postponed. Some footballers have also been reported to have Coronavirus disease.

Impact on competitions[]

In China, the 2020 Chinese Super League was postponed as a result of the virus. The AFC Champions League and AFC Cup was also impacted, a number of group stage matches being postponed.

On March 9, 2020, FIFA and AFC announced that 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification matches due to take place in March and June 2020 were postponed to later dates due to the pandemic. Play-off matches between South Korea and China in the 2020 AFC Women's Olympic Qualifying Tournament were also postponed.

In Europe, various knockout matches in the Champions League and Europa League were played behind closed doors in February and March 2020. Two Europa League matches involving Spanish and Italian teams were also postponed indefinitely. On March 12, 2020, UEFA announced that the elite qualification round of the men and women's under-17 and under-19 youth international tournaments had been postponed.

Concerns were raised regarding UEFA Euro 2020, being held in twelve host cities across Europe, and the potential impact of the coronavirus on players, staff and tournament visitors. UEFA president Aleksander Čeferin said the organisation was confident that the situation could be dealt with, while general secretary Theodore Theodoridis stated that UEFA was maintaining contact with the World Health Organization and national governments regarding the coronavirus. UEFA announced that a videoconference would be held on March 17 with representatives of its 55 member associations, along with a FIFPro representative and the boards of the European Club Association and European Leagues, to discuss the response to the outbreak for domestic and European competitions, including Euro 2020. The tournament was moved by 12 months.

On 13 March 2020, FIFA announced that clubs did not have to release players to their national teams during the international windows of March and April 2020, while players also had the option to decline a call-up without any consequences. FIFA also recommended that all international matches during these windows be postponed, though the final decision was left to the competition organisers or member associations for friendly matches.

On 3 April 2020, FIFA announced that the 2020 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup, scheduled to be held in Panama and Costa Rica in August, and the 2020 FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup, scheduled to be held in India in November, would be postponed and rescheduled.

By the end of May, many top flight national football leagues have been allowed to continue – including the Bundesliga.

Leagues/events canceled[]

2020 International Champions Cup
Four-team tournament in Qatar from 26-30 March involving Belgium, Portugal, Croatia and Switzerland
All international friendly matches
2020 Campeones Cup
2020 Leagues Cup
2020 MLS All-Stars

Leagues/events curtailed[]

2019–20 Primera División de El Salvador (suspended on 13 March, curtailed on 20 March)
2019–20 Scottish Championship and other Scottish lower domestic leagues (suspended on 13 March, curtailed on 15 April)
2019–20 Premier League of Belize (suspended in March, curtailed on 15 April)
2019–20 Eredivisie and other Dutch domestic leagues (suspended on 12 March, curtailed on 24 April)
2019–20 Ligue 1 and other French domestic leagues (suspended on 13 March, curtailed on 28 April)
2019–20 Luxembourg National Division and other Luxembourgish domestic leagues (suspended on 13 March, curtailed on 28 April)
2020 Copa de la Superliga (suspended on 17 March, curtailed on 28 April)
2019–20 Honduran Liga Nacional (suspended on 15 March, curtailed on 29 April)
2019–20 Kenyan Premier League (suspended in March, curtailed on 1 May)
2019–20 Ethiopian Premier League (suspended in March, curtailed on 5 May)
2019–20 Segunda División B and 2019–20 Tercera División (suspended on 11 March, curtailed on 6 May)
2019–20 Gibraltar National League (suspended in March, curtailed on 7 May)
2019–20 Belgian First Division A and other Belgian domestic leagues (suspended on 12 March, curtailed on 15 May)
2019–20 Cypriot First Division and other Cypriot domestic leagues (suspended on 13 March, curtailed on 15 May)
2019–20 Bangladesh Premier League (suspended on 15 March, curtailed on 17 May)
2019–20 Scottish Premiership (suspended on 13 March, curtailed on 18 May)
2019–20 Maltese Premier League and other Maltese domestic leagues (suspended on 12 March, curtailed on 18 May)
2019–20 Liga Nacional de Guatemala (suspended in March, curtailed on 19 May)
2019–20 Cymru Premier and other Welsh domestic leagues (suspended on 13 March, curtailed on 19 May)
2020 South Sudan Football Championship (suspended in March, curtailed on 20 May)
2019–20 Uganda Premier League (suspended in March, curtailed on 20 May)
2019–20 Liga MX and other Mexican domestic leagues (suspended on 15 March, curtailed on 22 May)
2019–20 Premier League of Bosnia and Herzegovina and other Bosnian domestic leagues (suspended on 12 March, curtailed on 2 June)

Leagues/events which were suspended and then continued[]

2020 Ýokary Liga (suspended from 23 March to 19 April)
2020 K League 1 (postponed from 29 February to 8 May)
2020 Faroe Islands Premier League (postponed from 8 March to 9 May)
2019–20 Bundesliga (suspended from 13 March to 16 May)
2019–20 Liga FPD (suspended from 17 March to 19 May)
2020 Meistriliiga (suspended from 13 March to 19 May)
2019–20 Burundi Premier League (suspended from 5 April to 21 May)
2019–20 Armenian Premier League (suspended from 12 March to 23 May)
2019–20 Czech First League (suspended from 12 March to 23 May)
2019–20 Nemzeti Bajnokság I (suspended from 16 March to 23 May)
2019–20 Danish Superliga (suspended from 12 March to 28 May)
2019–20 Ekstraklasa (suspended from 13 March to 29 May)
2019–20 Serbian SuperLiga (suspended from 15 March to 29 May)
I liga (suspended from 13 March to 2 June)
II Liga (suspended from 13 March to 3 June)

Leagues/events currently suspended[]

2020 Chinese Super League and other Chinese domestic leagues (announced 30 January)
2020 V.League 1 (postponed from 21 February to 7 March)
2020 J1 League and other Japanese domestic leagues (since 25 February)
2019–20 Swiss Super League (since 2 March)
2019–20 Persian Gulf Pro League (since 5 March)
2020 Thai League One and other Thai domestic leagues (since 7 March)
2019–20 Serie A and other Italian domestic leagues (since 9 March)
2019–20 Austrian Football Bundesliga and other Austrian domestic leagues (since 10 March)
2019–20 La Liga and other Spanish domestic leagues (since 12 March)
2020 Major League Soccer (since 12 March)
2019–20 Primeira Liga and other Portuguese domestic leagues (since 12 March)
2020 League of Ireland Premier Division and other Irish domestic leagues (since 12 March)
2019–20 Albanian Superliga and other Albanian domestic leagues (since 12 March)
2019–20 Croatian First Football League and other Croatian domestic leagues (since 12 March)
2020 A Lyga and other Lithuanian domestic leagues (since 12 March)
2019–20 Liga I and other Romanian domestic leagues (since 12 March)
2019–20 Slovak First Football League and other Slovak domestic leagues (since 12 March)
2019–20 Slovenian PrvaLiga and other Slovenian domestic leagues (since 12 March)
2020 Malaysia Super League (since 13 March)
English domestic leagues listed below (since 13 March)
- 2019–20 Premier League
- 2019–20 EFL Championship
- 2019–20 EFL League One
- 2019–20 EFL League Two
- 2019–20 Isthmian League
- 2019–20 Southern Football League
2019–20 NIFL Premiership and other Northern Irish domestic leagues (since 13 March)
2019–20 First Professional Football League and other Bulgarian domestic leagues (since 13 March)
2019–20 Superleague Greece and other Greek domestic leagues (since 13 March)
2019–20 Israeli Premier League and other Israeli domestic leagues (since 13 March)
2020 Latvian Higher League and other Latvian domestic leagues (announced 13 March)
2019–20 UEFA Champions League (since 13 March)
2019–20 UEFA Europa League (since 13 March)
2020 Liga 1 and other Indonesian domestic leagues (since 15 March)
English domestic leagues listed below (since 16 March)
- 2019–20 National League
- 2019–20 Northern Premier League
2019–20 Ukrainian Premier League and other Ukrainian domestic leagues (since 17 March)
2019–20 Russian Premier League and other Russian domestic leagues (since 18 March)
2019–20 Süper Lig and other Turkish domestic leagues (since 19 March)
2019–20 A-League and other Australia domestic leagues (since 23 March)
2020 Tajikistan Higher League (since 27 April)
2022 FIFA World Cup qualification
- 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification (AFC) (23–31 March)
- 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification (CONMEBOL) (26–31 March)

As of 29 May, almost every countries have suspended their domestic football leagues, except

2019–20 Armenian Premier League
2020 Belarusian Premier League
2019–20 Burundi Premier League
2019–20 Liga FPD
2019–20 Czech First League
2019–20 Danish Superliga
2020 Meistriliiga
2020 Faroe Islands Premier League
2019–20 Bundesliga
2019–20 Nemzeti Bajnokság I
2020 K League 1
2019–20 Liga Primera de Nicaragua
2019–20 Ekstraklasa
2019–20 Serbian SuperLiga
2020 Taiwan Football Premier League
2020 Ýokary Liga

Future events postponed[]

2020 Summer Olympics (initially 24 July – 9 August 2020)
UEFA Euro 2020 (initially 12 June – 12 July 2021, proposed to be postponed to 11 June – 11 July 2021)
- UEFA Euro 2020 qualifying play-offs (postponed from 26–31 March to 4–9 June)
2020 Copa América (initially 12 June – 12 July 2021, proposed to be postponed to 11 June – 11 July 2021)
2022 FIFA World Cup qualification

Some of the matches postponed[]

2020 AFC Champions League
- All matches involving Chinese clubs (Guangzhou Evergrande, Shanghai Shenhua and Shanghai SIPG)
2020 AFC Cup
- All preliminary stage matches of East Zone
- Several group stage matches, including all of matches in Group A, B, C (West Asia Zone)
2019–20 UEFA Europa League
- Round of 16 first leg: Sevilla v Roma, Inter Milan v Getafe (initially 12 March)
2019–20 Serie A
- Inter v Sampdoria, Torino v Parma, Verona v Cagliari and Atalanta v Sassuolo (initially 23 February)
- Juventus v Inter Milan, Udinese v Fiorentina, AC Milan v Genoa, Parma v SPAL, Sassuolo v Brescia and Sampdoria v Hellas Verona (initially 29 February – 2 March; played on 8–9 March)
2019–20 Coppa Italia
- Semi final second leg: Juventus v AC Milan (Initially 3 March)
2019–20 Premier League: Manchester City v Arsenal (initially 11 March)

Matches played behind closed-doors[]

2019–20 UEFA Champions League
- Round of 16 second leg: Valencia v Atalanta, PSG v Borussia Dortmund (10–18 March)
2019–20 UEFA Europa League
- Round of 16 first leg: LASK v Manchester United, Olympiakos v Wolves, Wolfsburg v Shakhtar Donetsk, Eintracht Frankfurt v Basel (12 March)
2019–20 Serie A
- Juventus v Inter Milan, Udinese v Fiorentina, AC Milan v Genoa, Parma v SPAL, Sassuolo v Brescia and Sampdoria v Hellas Verona (8–9 March)
2019–20 Bundesliga: Borussia Mönchengladbach v 1. FC Köln (12 March)
All matches of 2019–20 Botola and other Moroccan domestic leagues (since 5 March)
All matches of 2019–20 V.League 1 (since 5 March)
All matches of 2019–20 Saudi Professional League and other Saudi domestic leagues (since 7 March)
All matches of 2019–20 Superleague Greece and other Greek domestic leagues (since 8 March)
All matches of 2019–20 First Professional Football League and other Bulgarian domestic leagues (8 March)
All matches of 2019–20 Liga I and other Romanian domestic leagues (since 9 March)
All matches of 2019–20 Ekstraklasa and other Polish domestic leagues (since 10 March