Congested fixture schedule announced by English football due to the Coronavirus pandemic.
Citing late opening of the 2020-21 season, and UEFA’s Champions League and Europa League fixtures, English football has announced a congested fixture list.
Due to the global COVID-19 pandemic, English football has released a congested fixture-list with many changes from the regular season. Due to the three-moth break from March to June, England’s football leagues and cup competitions were postponed to be finished by July-end. This has pushed the new season in England, by a month.
Revised FA Cup, League Cup fixture-style, congestion of fixtures in September:
The Football Association on Thursday announced a new set of guidelines for domestic leagues and competitions which saw FA Cup replays being scrapped to assist in easing pressure on the congested program. The FA replaced the two-leg semifinals by a single match in the English League Cup competition. With this, the governing body also scheduled the first four rounds of the League Cup to take place on consecutive weeks in September. This has been done because all of the traditional midweek dates have been given to UEFA’s club and national-team competitions. This means, that only after the completion of the UEFA Champions League and Europa League group stages will the Premier League get a midweek slot, i.e. December 15-16. Premier League’s new season will kick off on September 12, and Premier League teams will enter the second and third round of the League Cup in the first month of its beginning itself. For Tottenham Hotspurs, it will be a mammoth task, as it will also play a Europa League qualifier in September, adding more fixtures to the already congested list for Jose Mourinho’s men.
UEFA Euros to take place in the summer of 2021:
In the league, teams will get a brief midseason break in January, instead of the usual February-break. The last available date for domestic leagues to finish will be May 23, which is also the date for the scheduled last round of fixtures in the Premier League. Post that, UEFA club competition finals and the 24-team UEFA Euro tournament will take place. Euro 2020 was postponed by a year to 2021 summer.
