Coronavirus: green light for the resumption of competitions in the United Kingdom

The turn of the English. After Germany (for two weeks), Spain (from June 8) and Italy (June 20), the British government authorized this Saturday the return in camera of sports competitions, from the 1st June, after more than two months shutdown due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Long before France, whose first friendly football matches are scheduled at best in July, in anticipation of a resumption of Ligue 1 at the end of August.

"The wait is over. British sport will soon return to safe and tightly controlled conditions, "said Sports Minister Oliver Dowden, paving the way for a resumption of the Premier League, the English Premier League.

"I am pleased to announce today that the government has released guidelines that allow competitive sport to resume in camera starting Monday (June 1) at the earliest," he said. These directives provide in particular for the absence of spectators during the meetings, the screening of any individual having access to the sports arenas. If a person is suspected of having Covid-19, they should be placed in segregation.

Premier League returns on June 17?

Circulation channels will be established at the edge of the pitches and in the stadiums, while the social distance must be maintained "as far as possible", even for substitutes seated on the bench. Players will also be warned about celebrations with their teammates after goals. The use of changing rooms should be kept to a minimum, although players will still be allowed to use the showers.

Premier League chief executive Richard Masters hailed Dowden's announcement: "We are planning to relaunch the Premier League on June 17, but there is still a lot of work to do to keep everyone involved safe . Hopefully, we will be happy to resume the 2019-2020 season in just over two weeks. On June 17, the Premier League will first update its calendar with two late matches from Manchester City and Aston Villa, who met on March 1 in the League Cup final and which will respectively receive Arsenal and Sheffield United.

The following weekend, between Friday the 19th and Monday the 22nd, the first of the 9 full days remaining will be held. But before the return of football, horse racing will be the first sporting competitions to resume with the Newcastle meeting on Monday.