After the weekend’s football fixtures were postponed following the Queen’s death, organisations are releasing details this week of when their programmes will restart.
On Friday, the Premier League, EFL, WSL and SPFL all decided to call off their weekend matches, with grassroots games also postponed across the country.
This move was out of step with other sports in the UK, prompting a mixed response, while some doubt remains over Premier League fixtures going ahead this weekend as well.
Here’s everything we know so far…
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Premier League
i chief football correspondent Sam Cunningham reported on Friday that policing concerns could affect the Premier League for a second weekend.
The Queen’s funeral is on Monday 19 September, and police and security officials have met to discuss the Herculean effort involved for what could be the largest state funeral the United Kingdom has held.
With the EFL going ahead (see below), it remains to be seen whether the Premier League will follow suit, with talks being held on Monday to discuss when English football’s top tier can resume.
It has been reported by the Daily Mail that, while some Premier League matches could go head this weekend, a lack of TV trucks could see Sky’s televised games postponed. Sky Sports are set to show Aston Villa against Southampton on Friday, Tottenham vs Leicester on Saturday, and then Brentford vs Arsenal and Chelsea vs Liverpool on Sunday.
What about the Champions League and Europa League?
The full Champions League and Europa League schedule is set to go ahead this week.
Liverpool host Ajax at Anfield on Tuesday, with Tottenham away at Sporting. Rangers’ match at home to Napoli was pushed back to Wednesday, with away fans banned, with Chelsea hosting RB Salzburg and Manchester City welcoming Borussia Dortmund to the Etihad on Wednesday as well.
On Thursday, Manchester United travel to face Sheriff and Arsenal are at home to PSV in the Europa League. That same night, West Ham are away to Silkeborg and Hearts at Latvian side RFS in the Europa Conference League.
EFL
On Monday morning, the EFL confirmed that its programme would resume from Tuesday 13 September.
There is a full midweek set of fixtures in the Championship, League One and League Two, where there will be tributes paid to the Queen across the grounds.
There will be a minute’s silence before the matches, with the National Anthem to be played out as well, while black armbands will be worn by participants and flags flown at half-mast.
“With a national policing plan now in operation, the league and clubs will continue to work with forces in respect of any challenges that may emerge regarding policing of specific fixtures,” the EFL added in a statement. “Consideration to individual circumstances will be made on a case-by-case basis, in line with standard match Safety Advisory Group (SAG) protocols.”
Scottish football
The SPFL will also discuss this week whether to resume from Saturday.
SPFL CEO Neil Doncaster had said on Friday: “We will update clubs and supporters when we have clarity over official arrangements for Her Majesty’s funeral.”
And with the funeral confirmed for Monday, a day which the UK Government advised for sporting fixtures not to clash with the Queen’s funeral, the SPFL could be set to restart on the weekend.
Women’s Super League
The new Women’s Super League (WSL) season was supposed to start this past weekend, with four games scheduled to be played at men’s stadiums.
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In line with the rest of English football, that proved not to be the case, with the Women’s Championship also scrapped.
The next WSL match pencilled in is Arsenal against Brighton on Friday before five more weekend matches. If the WSL gets the green light, they will go ahead as scheduled.
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