Between wanting and being able, there are not only two letters of difference. Football is realizing it. In France in particular. Stopped since March 13 due to the Covid-19 epidemic, Ligue 1, the elite of the financially hard-pressed hexagonal round ball, has in recent weeks put together recovery plans, which could lead to resuming the championship in June to conclude it at the latest on July 25, even if it means playing matches behind closed doors.
But the evolution of the epidemic, as well as the vagueness that still surrounds the conditions for the end of the confinement period, is not likely to give hexagonal football the assurance that its will can become reality.
Jean-Michel Aulas, president of Olympique Lyonnais (OL) has explicitly recognized this. " We are for the resumption of Ligue 1, in solidarity with everyone, we will do everything to resume, but I have the impression that each day that goes by may bring us closer to a championship that would not end in 2019-2020 ", he said in a daily interview The Progress of Lyon, published Friday April 17 in the evening.
In the current situation, it is only from May 11 that the Ligue 1 teams could return to training, before they can consider playing matches from mid-June to better and in camera. This would allow the various French clubs to receive the television rights that remain due for the end of the season and without which their financial balance will be threatened.
The precautionary principle put forward by the players
If the conditional is appropriate, it is that the date of May 11 for the beginning of the deconfinement remains, for the moment, theoretical; that the details of this deconfinement process have not yet been decided by the public authorities; and that there is, above all, a condition: all this can only be implemented if the health context allows, warned the sports ministry.
Leaving containment in mid-May, if it is confirmed, players should, for example, not benefit from tests at Covid-19, according to the sports ministry. Emmanuel Macron had explained, Monday April 13, that the tests should target in priority the people presenting symptoms.
While their counterparts in handball, volleyball or basketball have chosen to say stop and put an end to the current season (rugby has not yet decided), the leaders of French football assure that they are well aware that this prerequisite sanitary is essential.
Quoted by The team Saturday April 18, Gérard Lopez, the president of Lille, declares that the"We are not going to push for a risky recovery". For his part, Xavier Thuilot, CEO of Saint-Étienne, points out that "If we do not immediately recall this absolute imperative that is the health of our employees, we will say that football thinks only of money, which is not at all the reality of our exchanges between clubs" .
Among the main stakeholders – the players -, the precautionary principle also seems to prevail and they do not seem willing to take risks. The majority of footballers say they do not want to replay without guaranteeing their health and safety, according to an express survey conducted in recent days by the National Union of Professional Footballers (UNFP) and revealed by The team Friday.
The Italian federation wants to resume "late May-early June"
Italian football intends to resume and end the current season on the field. It is, in any case, the will reiterated, Friday, April 17, by the president of the Federation, Gabriele Gravina. Referring to a period of three weeks to prepare after the deconfinement, scheduled for May 4, he assured that "Late May-early June, we can start." "Those who talk today about the cancellation of the season do not like football or the Italians, because they take away hope for the future and the recovery", accused Gravina, who explained that“There will be a period of control to guarantee the negativity of all those who take part in the events. If they are all negative, there is no problem with distancing or contagion. " He also said he hoped "That everyone can play in their own stadium, if this is not possible we will find other solutions".
