London, June 1 (IANS) The English Football League (EFL) has set June 20 as the provisional restart date for the Championship amid the COVID-19 pandemic. There are 108 regular season matches remaining, plus the end-of-season play-offs.
The United Kingdom government has permitted the return of competitive sport behind closed doors from June 1.
“Following Saturday’s announcement by the government to allow elite sporting events to return behind closed doors, the EFL has this weekend agreed to a provisional restart date of the weekend of 20 June 2020 for matches in the Sky Bet Championship,” EFL said in a statement.
“The date is subject to the strict proviso that all safety requirements and government guidance is met; and that clubs receive clearance from their local authorities in order to stage matches at their home grounds,” it added.
It further said that the Championship play-off final is set to be concluded on or around July 30.
In the statement, EFL also said that it has been agreed to consider changing regulations to permit the use of five substitutes in the remaining fixtures and, also increasing the matchday squad from 18 to 20 players.
EFL Chair Rick Parry said: “We must stress that at this stage the date is only provisional and will only be confirmed once we have met all the requirements, as the health, safety and well-being of all participants, staff and supporters remains our top priority.”
“Clearly completing the season in a safe manner is going to require a significant effort by all concerned and, whilst not unprecedented, it will need clubs to play a significant number of matches over a relatively short period of time,” he added.
–IANS
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