Premier League could resume in June

The Premier League has been cleared to resume their season anytime after June 1st, as the British government has allowed closed-door sporting events to take place as part of their phased reopening of the country after the coronavirus pandemic.

The Premier League has been suspended since mid-March, when the COVID-19 outbreak forced the shuttering of sporting events in England and around the world. The British government has laid out a plan to emerge from their country-wide lockdown, and the second phase of that plan includes “permitting cultural and sporting events to take place behind closed-doors for broadcast, while avoiding the risk of large-scale social contact.” Sporting events, including Premier League matches, would be closed to fans until a vaccine is readily available, meaning that it could be a long time before the sounds of fans at matches will be heard on weekends.

Premier League teams have called players back to England as they meet to decide when training can resume as part of Project Restart, the plan they submitted to the government for the restart of the season. They are aiming for training to resume on May 18th, with matches to come back sometime in June. The players want the final say on when training and matches would resume, with most favoring a return to work with strict guidelines in place regarding social distancing and other measures to keep them safe.

With the Bundesliga set to resume this weekend, we could also see the return of Christian Pulisic, DeAndre Yedlin, and Indiana Vassilev to club action in the next few weeks. The Premier League may not begin on June 1st, but it looks like there is a plan in motion to have the league back in the near future.