This is how European football was programmed for 2020-21

France was radical. Ligue 1 decided to declare the champion of the 2019-20 season deserted in order to start its 20-21 calendar in traditional times. It was the only one who did it and for that reason, it has already played several matches at this point in September. The rest of the elite leagues are just getting started.

PSG, still the reigning champions after being crowned in 2019, began their title defense against Metz in the Parc des Princes almost a month ago. The objective of the French contest was to recover their order as soon as possible and therefore, they preferred to take advantage of the wide gap that the Parisian eleventh had over the second classified in the previous encounter to consider it completed.

The League forced to change

As you will recall, the Spanish League ended with a tight final ‘sprint’ in which it was played every three days, due to how contested the title was between Real Madrid (ultimately champion) and FC Barcelona.

Precisely, these two teams together with Atlético de Madrid subsequently played in the Champions League in August, so the first modification they received in the first changes this season 20-21 was that the three main clubs in this country did not start with the rest of the participants on the first day. The novelty will be the return of Cádiz, a team with tradition, to the highest category.

According to AS, and also reflected by Depor.com, the measure was promoted, of course, by the great teams in Spain, who looked for a way to give their teams more rest after a very short and unusual vacation. The duels between these teams will be held before the end of 2020.

What about the Premier?

Obviously, the Premier League suffered an impact on its calendar for the 2020-21 season. The 2019-20 season was cut and recovered due to the coronavirus, and was widely won by Liverpool with a notable points advantage, but, from the outset, the 20-21 looks to be more competitive, with rivals that maintain their base such as Manchester City, and the usual ones: Manchester United, Chelsea, Tottenham and Arsenal.

Also read: All about Ronald Koeman, the new Barcelona coach

Since July it was established that the EPL would start on September 12 and that it will run until May 23, 2021. The only rest month will be February, possibly for a couple of weeks. 20 teams will compete in the tournament, coming out of the 17 best placed from the previous season and three promoted teams from the Championship.

Italy is paired

The 89th edition of Serie A also started in September. The so-called “calcium” was the last elite tournament in Europe to culminate the spectacular 2019-20 season due to the Covid19 pandemic, exactly the first week of August.

The main novelty of the 2020/21 edition is the rise of Benevento from Serie B, a team that returns to the category of honor. A total of 20 teams will participate in this competition, the favorites being the nine times champions Juventus, as well as Inter, Lazio, Milan, Napoli, and Roma.

Regarding the league’s competition system, they will face everyone against everyone on two occasions, once at home and once as a visitor to accumulate the traditional 38 days.