The SPFL has been given the green light to kick off the 2020/21 season as scheduled on August 1.
The Joint Response Group for Scottish football held a Zoom conference call with the Scottish Government this afternoon after drawing up plans to re-start the national sport which was suspended on March 13.
Today marked Phase 1 of the easing of Lockdown across Scotland with golf, tennis, fishing and bowls resumed with a firm plan now underway for Celtic’s 10-in-a-row campaign.
Neil Doncaster told the SPFL website:
We are delighted that the Scottish Government have given the green light to the resumption of football training in June.
We now have a firm target of starting the 2020/21 Premiership season on the weekend of August 1 and that’s a major step forward. We will continue working with the Championship, League 1 and League 2 to gauge their ability to start the season and if so, when – which may vary hugely between clubs.
We clearly welcome the prospect of resuming matches, but we have to take all necessary steps to ensure we can have a sustainable league campaign. That means a safety-first approach, with games initially played behind closed doors and a range of measures to protect players and staff.
The return of crowds is something we all want to see and we will be working with clubs, Government and medical professionals to return safely to playing in front of fans as soon as we can.
The data across Scotland will need to remain on schedule for football to resume but the authorities can now push ahead with various plans with squads able to resume training on June 10.
This weekend will be the third in which the Bundesliga plays full fixture cards with the EPL scheduled to resume on June 17.
A number of issues including season ticket sales and Pay Per View matches will now be discussed with Sky Sports who have a five year exclusive deal to screen top flight matches.