End of season in Europe?
By Guillaume Mahot
No one, and mainly because of economic reasons, had thought about it yet, but Belgium may have shown the way. This week, the Belgian Pro League announced that the best thing to do, in this world crisis due to the coronavirus disease spreading all around the planet, was to cancel the football season 2019/2020. This recommendation should normally be officialized on April 15 after ratification by the general assembly of the League, but the main question is now to wonder whether other major European leagues will not do the same thing and urge all the other leagues of other continents to make such a decision.
If the football season is effectively stopped, the ranking will remain as it was before the interruption. As a consequence, Club Brugge of Senegalese midfielder Krépin Diatta would be the Belgian champion since they have been running the league so far. The Belgian leader, where many African players are currently playing (Ivorian Odilon Kossounou and Simon Deli, Senegalese Mbaye Diagne, Krépin Diatta and Youssouph Badji, Nigerian David Okereke and Emmanuel Dennis, South African Percy Tau and Angolan Clinton Mata), is already making football managers consider a possible cancellation of the season, especially in the other side of the borders.
In France, Denis Le Saint, president of Brest, a modest club of first division, gave an interview to a famous French media where he asserted that the season should be merely stopped no matter the economic consequences. Health prevails, and he is right to say so, but will other presidents follow him? Threats are coming from everywhere: TV rights first, which will have a severe impact on the economic health of the clubs since the broadcasters Canal and Bein do not want to pay for the remaining rights, and clubs need to be paid to then pay for the players’ wages for instance. Second, what about the UEFA? The European instance strongly advised clubs to end up the season and did not hesitate to threaten them with a non-participation in the UEFA’s competitions like the Champions’ League if it was not the case. Health against money.
Africa Global News Publication
