The big Cardiff City and Swansea City questions as Championship football is suspended due to coronavirus
By Tom Coleman
Saturday 14th March 2020
Professional football across the UK has been suspended due to coronavirus
Football in the UK has been heavily impacted by coronavirus, with it announced on Friday that fixtures across the Premier League and EFL would be suspended.
Lasting until April 3 in the EFL, the news has put the brakes on Cardiff City and Swansea City's respective pushes for the Championship play-offs.
Swansea were due to travel to Middlesbrough this weekend, while Cardiff were gearing up for a huge clash against title-chasing Leeds United at Cardiff City Stadium.
As things stand, the season has now been put on hold and, with the government warning that the peak of the virus may not hit the UK for a few weeks, there are still plenty of questions to be answered.
Both Cardiff and Swansea will be keeping a close eye on developments over the next few weeks.
Here are the key issues that both clubs, and indeed the rest of the EFL and Premier League will have to consider.
When will the suspension end?
Currently, the plan is for the suspension to end on April 4 in the Premier League and April 3 in the EFL - which is ending slightly earlier due to the clash between Blackburn Rovers and Leeds United.
However, there is still a possibility that the suspension could be extended.
The UK government has already warned that the spread of coronavirus is expected to get worse over the coming weeks, and the statement from the EFL has already confirmed that the situation would be reassessed.
Cardiff City's clash with Leeds is one of several high-profile games to be called off (Image: Huw Evans Agency)
When will the fixtures be rearranged for?
Currently, the plan is for the suspended fixtures to be rearranged before the end of the season, which is currently achievable as there will be around two to three fixtures per club that need to be rescheduled.
As well as their home clash with Leeds, Cardiff's games with Preston (a) and Charlton (h) have also been postponed.
Meanwhile, following their postponed trip to Teesside, Swansea have also seen games with Luton Town (h) and Millwall (a) called off due to the virus.
Those run-ins could have a considerable impact on not just Cardiff and Swansea, but also the entire race for promotion, which presents something of a headache for football bosses.
There is no news on potential dates as of yet and, should the suspension be extended, it would become increasingly difficult to play all the fixtures before the end of the season.
That makes UEFA’s meeting next week significant, where the Champions League and Europa League will be among the topics discussed, as well as the upcoming European Championships.
In regards to Euro 2020, one possibility believed to be on the table is the option of pushing the tournament back to next summer, allowing leagues across Europe to be completed.
However, there will still be questions on how that would affect the start dates of the 2020/21 season, the summer transfer window and players who are approaching the end of their contracts.
Will the clubs be training during the suspension?
In the statement issued by the leagues, it was mentioned that clubs would be making their own decisions on whether training goes ahead - with Arsenal, Chelsea and Everton currently self-isolating.
That raises further questions too, as a number of clubs will be unable to train over the course of the coming weeks and may not be at full fitness when football returns.
Equally, clubs that are currently clear could continue to train but then encounter problems towards the end of the suspension, which would put them in a difficult situation if their games were to go ahead.
Will the players be fit?
Again, the answer is unclear. While some clubs currently have no issues and could continue training, others have entered a period of isolation and there will be concerns about players picking up the virus.
If they do, a 14-day isolation period is required and that is a significant period of time for footballers who are used to training most days of the week.
What about out of contract players?
Should the European Championships be postponed and the league season extended into the summer, further uncertainty will orientate around the players who are due to see their contracts expire at the end of the season.
Contracts for footballers are heavily orientated around the usual season dates, with most players in England seeing their deals run until July.
Because of that, extending the season into the summer would create problems for a number of clubs, who could face the prospect of a player being eligible one week and then available for a free transfer just a few days later.
Swansea would undoubtedly be one of the clubs to be affected most, with Mike van der Hoorn, Kyle Naughton, Nathan Dyer, Wayne Routledge and Erwin Mulder all seeing their current deals run out this summer.
Then there's the six loanees. Rhian Brewster, Conor Gallagher, Freddie Woodman, Marc Guehi, Ben Wilmot and Aldo Kalulu come into question here.
Cardiff too will have questions over loanees Albert Adomah, Brad Smith and Dion Sanderson, while the likes of Danny Ward and Jazz Richards are also out of contract.
When does Euro 2020 start?
The European Championships, joint-hosted by 12 nations including the UK, is due to get under way on June 12 in Rome, with the final taking place exactly a month later at Wembley Stadium in London.
Should the tournament go ahead of those dates, there is an extremely small window for matches to be completed.
When does the transfer window open?
FIFA demands that the transfer window in the summer must be open for around 12 weeks, so it is currently scheduled to open for business shortly after the season is due to come to a close on May 12.
However, new signings cannot be registered until the start of July, and are subsequently unable to feature for their new clubs until after that date.
If the season was to be extended into the summer though, that raises further problems for the usual transfer window structure - especially as FIFA regulations currently state that a player cannot represent more than two clubs during the course of a single season.
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