What has Covid-19 meant for football?

Sports writer Elana Shapiro discusses some of the potential consequences of Covid-19 on men's and women's football.

Elana Shapiro
24th April 2020
South Shields are one of the clubs that have been affected by the FA's decision surrounding Covid-19 (Image: Tom Hardwick)

With rumours being spread that the German Bundesliga might be continuing come the beginning of May, hope or fear (depending on whether you are a Liverpool fan) that some of our own English top-tier leagues might be completed grows.

 The FA have already announced the cancellation of tiers 3-6 in the men’s national league and tiers 3-7 in the women’s league, causing some outrage with clubs like South Shields FC, for whom promotion from the Northern Premier Division looked almost guaranteed. The decision to void the season will have cost countless teams financially and will have caused disappointment and devastation to even more teams at all levels of the game.

For the top tiers, such a move becomes more difficult to make, with the stakes being so much higher. To void the season in the Premier League or Championship would have a detrimental effect on player contracts, sponsorship contracts, broadcasting contracts and cup prize money. It is estimated that the FA would have to pay £200,000,000 to promotion contenders such as Leeds and West Brom in damages should such a decision be taken.

The top female sides also see their futures hanging in the balance with some teams facing the risk of folding due to the financial implications of Covid-19. The FA recognise this risk, and intend to mitigate the effect this might have on the women’s league by inviting lower-league teams to apply for Championship status in a similar fashion as to when they created the WSL and FAWC. They also are hoping for the WSL and Women’s Championship to be completed, lessening the financial impact on female sides.

Whilst there are obvious and serious problems with cancelling the season for these top tiers, the question of how these competitions can be completed amidst the current problems is not at all easy to answer. There seems little chance of the rest of the season being played out in front of fans with a leading virologist stating that it would require "a miracle" for fans to be allowed back into stadiums any time soon. There has also been some discussion of games being played on the same day at a central stadium such as Wembley without the fans being present, however, with the fans being such a major part of football this is clearly not an ideal solution.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

ReLated Articles
magnifiercross
linkedin facebook pinterest youtube rss twitter instagram facebook-blank rss-blank linkedin-blank pinterest youtube twitter instagram
Copy link
Powered by Social Snap