EFL plans Championship restart on weekend of June 20

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The Championship will restart on the weekend of June 20, subject to all safety and government guidelines being met.

The Championship will restart on the weekend of June 20, subject to all safety and government guidelines being met.

The EFL has announced that the Championship will restart on the weekend of June 20, subject to all safety requirements and government guidelines being met.

The EFL is then planning to complete the season with the play-off final on or around July 30, due to the importance of completing the season in a similar timeline to that of the Premier League to avoid any potential issues with promoted and relegated clubs.

lt has also been agreed to consider changing the regulations to allow teams to use five substitutes in the remaining fixtures and field matchday squads of 20 players rather than 18.

The Premier League announced on Thursday that play is due to return on June 17, following the coronavirus suspension that began in mid-March.

And in a statement on Sunday night, the EFL said: “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.

“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.”

EFL chairman Rick Parry said: “With Sky Bet Championship Clubs set to return to full-contact training later this week and following Saturday’s government announcement, we are edging closer towards resuming the 2019/20 EFL season.

EFL chairman Rick Parry says Championship clubs will need “to play a significant number of matches over a relatively short period of time”.

“We have therefore today consulted with the Board’s Championship Directors and agreed to fixtures restarting behind closed doors on 20 June.

“Whilst matches will unfortunately have to take place without supporters, we are working with our broadcast partners, EFL Championship clubs and all relevant stakeholders to broadcast the remaining 108 games plus Sky Bet Championship Play-Offs either live on Sky Sports, iFollow or a club’s equivalent streaming service.

“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.”

Leeds and West Brom currently sit in the Championship’s automatic promotion places, while Charlton, Luton and Barnsley are in the relegation places with nine matches apiece remaining.

West Brom are currently on course for promotion to the Premier League

The EFL announced on Saturday that 10 positive Covid-19 tests had been returned in the Championship, including Preston’s Jayden Stockley, an unnamed Fulham player, a member of staff at Cardiff and one unnamed individual at Middlesbrough.

Eight Championship clubs returned positive tests, from a total base of 1,058 tests.

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