MANCHESTER - The English Premier League (EPL) has announced that the 2019/2020 season will restart on June 17, 2020 following a meeting with all 20 clubs on Thursday (28/5).
The first two matches, namely Aston Villa v Sheffield United and Manchester City v Arsenal, will be played on that date while a full fixture list will be played from June 19 to 21—all with no fans in attendance.
“Today (Thursday) we have provisionally agreed to resume the Premier League on Wednesday, 17 June. But this date cannot be confirmed until we have met all the safety requirements needed, as the health and welfare of all participants and supporters is our priority,” said Premier League CEO Richard Masters as quoted by Reuters.
“Sadly, matches will have to take place without fans in stadiums, so we are pleased to have come up with a positive solution for supporters to be able to watch all the remaining 92 matches.”
The matches, Mr Masters said, will be broadcast by the Premier League’s existing broadcast partners, namely Amazon Prime, BBC Sport, BT Sport, and Sky Sports. This will be the BBC’s first time broadcasting Premier League matches live since the league’s establishment in 1992.
British media has estimated that the Premier League could record £750 million in lost revenue if it failed to resume the 2019/2020 season.
The Premier League has been suspended since March 13 due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, as has most top-level professional leagues in Europe such as Italy’s Serie A and Spain’s La Liga which have been suspended since March 9 and 23 respectively.
The Netherlands’ Eredivisie season was officially abandoned on April 24 with no champion declared, while France’s Ligue 1 and other French sporting events have been suspended until September 1. Only Germany’s Bundesliga has restarted so far, with the first matches played without fans in attendance on May 16. (MS)