French Professional Football League (LFP) has terminated the 2019-20 season Ligue 1 and Ligue 2 after Prime Minister Edouard Philippe announced that football games even behind closed doors will not be allowed before September.
The LFP announced plans to resume the 2019/20 season initially on June 17, with UEFA setting a deadline of August 2 for domestic leagues to be completed. However, on Tuesday French PM, Edouard Philippe stated that the return of professional sport will not be authorised before September as part of the next stage of their lockdown plans beyond May 11.
Although according to the PM, it will be permissible for people to exercise outdoors after May 11, he added: 'It will not be possible to practice sport in covered places, nor the team or contact sports. If the (health) indicators are not there, we will not end confinement on May 11.' Gatherings will also be limited to just 10 people as part of the new rules.
After this announcement by the PM, the LFP is to meet in May to decide on how the tables for this season should be defined and which team(s) will be, champion, secure European places, promoted and relegated.
UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin and general secretary Theodore Theodoridis have spoken to leagues in Europe, including Ligue 1 and the Premier League, and asked them for a detailed plan on how they will finish the campaign. A statement from European football's governing body said: 'National Associations and/or Leagues should be in a position to communicate to UEFA by May 25, 2020, the planned restart of their domestic competitions — including the date of restart and the competition format.
Elsewhere in Europe, the Bundesliga in Germany has announced plans to return to action on May 9 behind closed doors while conversely the Eredivisie has been cancelled with major events in Holland banned until September due to the coronavirus outbreak. The Belgian leagues have delayed a further vote on cancelling their season despite being the first country to announce they would end the campaign.
