The propagation of the virus SARS-CoV-2 officially started at the beginning of December 2019 in Wuhan (China), where the first COVID-19 victim was diagnosed with a new type of coronavirus. The virus first spread over different states in China before reaching other countries. On March 11th 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared COVID-19 a pandemic, pointing to more than 118000 cases of the coronavirus illness in over 110 countries around the world.
The evolution of the pandemic, which is (in May 2020) still affecting many countries worldwide, has been a matter of debate, since different strategies can be adopted to mitigate the spreading of COVID-19, some of them with unclear or unpredictable consequences. But since the outbreak of a deadly coronavirus in the city of Wuhan in late 2019, many governments across the world have placed their countries under a constant lockdown and the rest of the world have been on high alert including China.
Moreover, despite taking measures in an attempt to contain the spread of the virus, by each authority across the globe, the virus is growing more without control all over the world as the United Kingdom is on the verge of their second Lockdown and some part of the Europe are looking to halt their activities in order to reduce the rate of infection.
Despite the second phase of the United Kingdom lockdown, The Premier League will not be affected when the United Kingdom goes into a new phase of lockdown which will commence on the 5th of November.
The government of the country announced on Saturday that the country will go into lockdown for four weeks starting from Thursday until December 2, 2020. But the impact of the COVID-19 on footballing competition cannot be overemphasized.
However, how has the COVID-19 affected the football competition globally? This question has been raised by many football followers across the globe, however, the outbreak of the coronavirus has had a serious impact on a number of football events in places where the spread of the virus has been most severe but below are some of the ways the COVID-19 had impact the football competition.
Compact Fixtures
The traditional pattern to start of the season have been majorly impacted by the coronavirus pandemic due to the fact that football all over the world was suspended for nearly three months during the first wave of the coronavirus lockdown on the verge of ending; last season.
The UEFA Champions League and league across Europe and other parts of the world resumed behind a closed door and some were even rushed to ensure that the time lost was made up in the space of footballing resumption.
Just like the end of last season, the ever-compelling football competition all over the world and mostly Europe has been further shrunk with Champions League playing teams facing probability of fatigue with every week UCL and UEL matches.
Furthermore, English football is facing compelling activities of compact fixtures footballing in the midst of UCL, UEL, Carabao cup and intending FA Cup for the big guns in the league. Also, the likes of Spanish, German, Italian and French leagues might have redefined their competition and other forms of marketing strategies but the compact fixture caused by the halt in footballing activities would have no doubt have effects on the league activities as they all look forward to having a prosperous outing in all competition this campaign.
To make up for the lost time this season and to find a balance for the subsequent ones, the compact fixture is relevant to the fixture and other competition across all continent footballing activating and these wouldn’t have been a question if not for the effects of the coronavirus pandemic that hit the highest point in early March 2020.
Change in footballing calendar
The football calendar is one of the most relevant activities of the footballing bodies all over the world. It is a mechanism that ensures the balance between each competition and players management.
Many would have argued by this time of last year that league across European leagues would not have started by September and the transfer window would not have closed by October but a year, all the impossible imagination has suddenly become a reality that have tampered with the calendar shuffle of the competition all over the world.
More so, UEFA Nations cup could have been done and dusted already, but was shifted till 2021 due to the impact of COVID-19, still not much has change sports wise France, Spain and Belgium remain the favorites.
In March and some other international competition with the likes of Olympic, African Nations cup and other relevant matches were postponed due to these pandemic effects.
More importantly, the change in the football calendar is a serious threat to the ever-static football cycle. However, due to the after effect of the COVID-19, the football calendar would have to change to accommodate the new football wave.
Impaired Football Economy
Just a few days ago, the European giant club, FC Barcelona was reported to go bankrupt if an agreement wasn‘t reached with the players for a wage cut that would enable the club to stay afloat. The club was reportedly making more than 600 million Euro annually, but the COVID-19 have plummeted their chance making more or equal, thus their chances of signing a statement player or renewing the contract of some players became so difficult which prompted the club to enforce the contract breach with Luis Suarez.
Beyond Barcelona, many clubs have faced similar issues, if not all the economic issues. More so, many clubs across the globe could not reach their potential target due to the financial constraint which was promoted by the global coronavirus pandemic. Furthermore, each football competition is facing TV right renegotiation due to the absence of match day spectators which contribute largely to the financial stance of any football competition.
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