THE Bundesliga returned this weekend, and talks are continuing for the Premier League's comeback.
But Scotland's SPL has been abandoned – with Celtic winning the title, and Hearts relegated with the league decided by average points per game.
Follow all the latest coronavirus in sport updates below, underneath our quick poll…
HYPE TRAIN
The Premier League have released a statement confirming every club returning to individual training tomorrow.
It read: “Premier League Shareholders today voted unanimously to return to small-group training from tomorrow afternoon, the first step towards restarting the Premier League, when safe to do so.
“Step One of the Return to Training Protocol enables squads to train while maintaining social distancing. Contact training is not yet permitted.
“This first stage has been agreed in consultation with players, managers, Premier League club doctors, independent experts and the Government.
“Strict medical protocols of the highest standard will ensure everyone returns to training in the safest environment possible.
“The health and well-being of all participants is the Premier League’s priority, and the safe return to training is a step-by-step process.
“Full consultation will now continue with players, managers, clubs, the PFA and LMA as protocols for full-contact training are developed.”
WORLD CUP'S IP-HELL
This autumn's Twenty20 World Cup is set to be replaced by the IPL with sweeping changes to be made due to the coronavirus crisis.
England will be forced to wait another year in their bid to own both cricket World Cup titles under proposed plans.
Due to the IPL's enforced delay, the shortest format's major tournament is set to be pushed back until 2021.
England, of course, won their first-ever cricket World Cup in the 50-over tournament last summer.
And Eoin Morgan and Co were hoping to clinch the T20 format too, with that tournament due to start in October.
However, with the 2020 World Cup set to be pushed back a year, the 2023 50-over World Cup could also be shunted back, with a knock-on effect across the cricketing world, say The Times.
ONE & ONLY
UFC president Dana White revealed Rose Namajunas is the only fighter to raise concerns about returning due to coronavirus fears.
The American promoter's MMA brand came back with a bang having staged three events in just a week, all held at the VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville after sports in Florida were allowed to resume.
White said: “Guys are training, people are training right now.
“People want to fight. So I don’t see an issue making a fight with anybody right now.
“Other than Rose — there might be others, I don’t know if this is a fact — but I don’t think there is anybody else who has brought up issues about fighting right now.”
STEP FORWARD
Premier League clubs have voted to approve a formal return to the training ground, writes Martin Lipton.
The agreement to move to “Stage One” of the training protocols will see all 20 top-flight squads beginning basic work from tomorrow, allowing individual training and groups of no more than five players per pitch, with training times staggered.
The green light came as part of the latest video meeting of the 20 “shareholder” clubs, which lasted around two and a half hours.
Clubs discussed a number of other issues, including their desire to play all the remaining 92 games this season in home stadiums rather than at neutral venues.
The proposed £330m rebate to broadcasters was also raised around the virtual boardroom table.
Some clubs are unhappy at being asked to give more live games and access to TV companies in exchange for less money than had originally been agreed as part of the total £9bn three-year deal for domestic and overseas rights. But the only vote taken was in favour of the official return to training, although with a number of strict conditions.
NO CONTACT
Dedryck Boyata insists he was 'explaining a set piece' to Marko Grujic after being accused of breaking social distancing rules.
The former Celtic and Manchester City defender was part of the Hertha Berlin side that returned to action in the Bundesliga on Saturday.
But he appeared to break strict coronavirus distancing rules by appearing to kiss his team-mate during the 3-0 win over Hoffenheim.
However, Boyata has now attempted to explain what was actually going on in that moment.
Posting a picture of the “kiss” on Instagram, the Belgian international said: “I was explaining a set piece, a corner to Grujic.
“Not kissing or celebration or whatever has been said.”
READY AND WAITING
Glasgow's Hampden Park has reaffirmed its commitment to host matches at Euro 2020, when it takes place next year.
There is uncertainty that all venues from the original tournament will be able to fulfill their matches in 2021.
According to AP, Glasgow wrote to Uefa on Thursday to assure that the Scottish city is not withdrawing from hosting games.
Hampden Park is due to host Czech Republic and Croatia in Group D, as well as a play-off winner that could be Scotland.
FINAL TABLE
With the news of SPFL's season coming to an early end, the official final table has been released.
On a points-per-game basis, St Johnstone move up to sixth despite playing a match less than Hibernian – which was due to be against Rangers.
Celtic are comfortable champions with Hearts dropping down to the Championship.
Aberdeen and Motherwell qualify for the Europa League, along with Rangers.
BREAKING NEWS
Celtic have won the Scottish Premiership.
A “unanimous” verdict between clubs has been reached to curtail the 2019/20 campaign.
A statement read: “The SPFL has today announced that, following consultation with all 12 top-flight clubs, the Board of the SPFL has determined that the 2019/20 Ladbrokes Premiership has been concluded with immediate effect.
“As with the Ladbrokes Championship, Ladbrokes League One and Ladbrokes League Two competitions, final season placings have been determined by points per game in league matches played to 13 March 2020 by each club.
“The decision means that Celtic are crowned 2019/20 champions and Hearts have been relegated to the Ladbrokes Championship.”
LONG-TERM DAMAGE
Arsene Wenger believes football remaining behind closed doors for any longer than it has to will damage the game in the long run.
Bundesliga kicked off on the weekend after two months away due to the coronavirus pandemic, with fans banned from stadiums.
Wenger, currently working with Fifa as head of global development, is worried by reports of next season also starting without supporters.
He told beIN Sport: “Will it survive long-term? Will it damage the show long-term without supporters? I am convinced of that.
“You cannot imagine a whole season without any spectators. That’s why I believe it is a short-term solution.
“It is still the best possible way to get a verdict for the end of the season. It’s better than any other decision.”
ACCESS ALL AREAS
Sky Sports and BT Sport are set to introduce radical changes to their match-day coverage for the eagerly-anticipated return of the Premier League.
Top-flight chiefs are set to open talks with broadcasters over giving them unprecedented access to all areas on match-days.
Broadcasters hope to share footage from inside the dressing room, while broadcasting audio from the technical areas.
They also want fans to hear what's being screamed by bosses – and even the bench-warmers – by adding mics to the technical areas.
And Sky and BT are hoping to get more access to both managers and players at half-time to catch their thoughts on how the game is going.
PROYECTO REINICIO
LaLiga is a step closer to ending Spanish football's shutdown after agreeing to commence group training tomorrow.
A statement read: “The Spanish Government has given the green light to the next phase of the LaLiga Return to Training Protocol, representing a milestone on the journey to restart LaLiga Santander and LaLiga SmartBank, which is planned for June.”
Javier Tebas, the top-flight's president, believes the next step is vital in matches beginning on an equal footing.
He told Movistar: “The start of the next phase in LaLiga’s Return to Training protocol is another step towards the restarting of the competition.
“It will be good to be able to set all training routines on an equal footing. It’s very important that every club have the same chance to be in good shape.
“It’s not essential, but it’s very important and we’re grateful that it will be like that.”
FAN TRIBUTE
Atletico Madrid have declared that all 32 club members to have died during the coronavirus crisis will be honoured by having their membership renewed.
A statement from the LaLiga club this morning confirmed their “symbolic gesture” to those who have died.
It read: “Due to the difficult circumstances we are going through due to the health crisis, the club has decided to respect and maintain the membership number of all those who have died during these pandemic months, for the new 2020/21 season.
“This is a symbolic gesture in their memory and in gratitude for the support they gave to Atleti for so many years.
“The membership numbers, which have great sentimental value given that it indicates uninterrupted seniority as a club member, will be updated as usual in other cases, but will be maintained for the next season to pay tribute to all those who left us in this health crisis.”
LIFE IN PLASTIC, NOT FANTASTIC
South Korean club FC Seoul have apologised after admitting their “premium mannequin” fans were, in fact, sex dolls.
With matches taking place behind closed doors the K League outfit gave the phrase ‘plastic fans’ new meaning when deploying the troop of replica ladies to fill seats.
Manufacturer Dalcom offered their models for the club’s league opener at Seoul World Cup Stadium on Sunday, with 30 supplied – 28 female and two male.
However adverts for X-rated websites, banned in the country, were spotted on some of the dolls, which Dalcom thought had been removed.
FC Seoul official Lee Ji-hoon has since admitted to the BBC that his side failed to run background checks on the “very human” fans that were dropped off.
FREE FOR ALL
Premier League games are set to be shown for free on TV from mid-June to stop people going out.
Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden today confirmed the Government were desperate to bring football back if it could be done safely.
Appearing on Sky News, the minister claimed making games free to watch was important to make sure people stayed home.
He said: “We are working hard with them to try and get it back, I am aiming for mid-June. The number one test is public safety.
“I'm hoping that we can have something a bit more ambitious with some more free-to-air matches available so people can watch from home because that would be helpful in terms of discouraging people from leaving their homes.
“What we are aiming for is to finish the season from behind close doors from mid June onwards.”
'VERY TOUGH'
Many might feel that Troy Deeney is concerned over football's return as a way of dodging relegation with Watford, however the striker has spoken of the greater risk coronavirus poses to his family.
On GMB this morning, he stated: “The health side is very big for me because my son has breathing difficulties.
“So it's a very tough one to be going into something [like this].
“I agree that we are getting tested a lot, I agree that the first phase is possibly as safe as it could be, it's [about] phases two then into three.”
He also described “98%” of footballers being comfortable with the Phase 1 restart to training with “65% to 70%” concerned for Phase 2, where players work in groups of six.
LITTLE SYMPATHY
Troy Deeney also told Good Morning Britain that he does not have a great deal of sympathy for footballers falling foul of lockdown rules.
Chelsea winger Callum Hudson-Odoi was arrested on the weekend over a lockdown incident with Kyle Walker and Jack Grealish also caught out in recent weeks.
Deeney told GMB: “I agree, but I think it's not just for footballers, it's for people generally not taking it seriously.
“What I see at the moment is a lot of people going out with the, 'It won't affect me' mentality. It does affect you.
“Then you can't expect any kind of sympathy, in my opinion, you can't then turn around and say, 'Oh it was a mistake'.
“We've seen the trauma this disease causes so we do have a responsibility as footballers but we do also have people in fortunate positions who are still learning and still making mistakes.
“I'm a perfect example of that, so I'd like them to do a bit more research and understand this disease.”
TESTING TIMES
This morning, Troy Deeney has appeared on Good Morning Britain to discuss his thoughts on the Premier League's return.
The Watford striker outlined his concerns on the league buying up tests for players while frontline workers and the vulnerable are still awaiting tests of their own.
He said: “We see a lot about care workers not getting tested and people dying in nursing homes, yet we are expected to have just short of 3,500 tests a month.”
CORONAVIRUS NEWS
The Premier League will discover how many players have contracted coronavirus when they meet to vote on Project Restart later today.
All 20 top-flight teams have been tested for Covid-19 over the weekend — many for the first time — and should receive the results today.
In the absence of an overwhelming number of positive diagnoses, the clubs will give their official backing to taking the first tentative steps out of lockdown today.
If all goes according to plan, every team in the top flight will return to training in small groups of five or less this week.
Meanwhile the British Medical Association has launched an attack on the Premier League for buying up so much PPE – as NHS workers battle the coronavirus on the frontline.
A BMA spokesman told the Telegraph: “The latest BMA survey results seem to show the supply chain situation is improving but there are still issues in some areas.
“It is important that these are resolved first, and adequate and consistent supply is available across the health service, before we consider non-essential sectors.”
In other news, UEFA chiefs want this season's Champions League and Europa League finals wrapped up by August.
The football federation's president Aleksander Ceferin has said the summer is the deadline for all of Europe's top leagues.
Championship clubs are reportedly considering a wage cap for the 2021/22 season – in light of the coronavirus pandemic.
Salaries in the second-tier have gotten increasingly out of hand in the pursuit of Premier League riches and are coming under further scrutiny amid the virus crisis.
According to the Mirror, a £15-20million annual limit on squad wages is to be mulled over in the coming months.
And finally, One ICC board source has told The Times that there is a “99 per cent chance” the T20 World Cup will not go ahead this year.
He said: “There’s a 99 per cent chance it [the Twenty20 World Cup] is not going to happen [in 2020]. That’s my gut feel.
“They are exploring different windows already, potentially moving it to October 2021 and the India World T20 that was due to be played in 2021 would then go to October 2022.”RESULTS DAY
The Premier League will discover how many players have contracted coronavirus when they meet to vote on Project Restart on Monday.
All 20 top-flight teams have been tested for Covid-19 over the weekend — many for the first time — and should receive the results today.
In the absence of an overwhelming number of positive diagnoses, the clubs will give their official backing to taking the first tentative steps out of lockdown today.
If all goes according to plan, every team in the top flight will return to training in small groups of five or less this week.
Yet while the majority of players and managers are ready to give a cautious green light to phase one of the plan, many are unconvinced about the next stage.
That will involve full contact training with an eye to resuming the Premier League fixtures on June 12 or June 19.
REV YOUR ENGINES
Man Utd stars have been snapped arriving at the club's training ground ahead of a potential return to Premier League action.
Marcus Rashford, Paul Pogba and goalkeeper David De Gea are among the Red Devils to have been pictured at Carrington.
SunSport understands players were booked in for 15-minute slots in order to comply with social distancing measures.
The Old Trafford aces are likely to have been getting tested for Covid-19 with top-flight action thought to eventually restart on June 19.
At least nine first-team stars were snapped driving in to the United facility today.
The players entered, stayed for a short period of time before leaving again.
It looks as if the days of park workouts and home training regimes are numbered as players edge closer to a return to squad training.
MARC'S, SET, GO!
Marcus Rashford looked raring to go ahead of a return to Manchester United training by squeezing in a quick workout at local club Altrincham.
On Sunday, the striker was seen being put through his paces at Moss Lane, near his pad to the south of the city in the footballers' enclave of Hale.
Working alongside a United fitness coach, Rashford worked with the ball in a series of dribbling skills.
Fans will be hoping the 22-year-old has shaken off a back injury that kept him out of the weeks leading up to football's shutdown.
Fears of a six-month layoff initially put him on course for a June return, putting his participation in Euro 2020 in doubt before that tournament was postponed.
Therefore a Premier League restart in the middle of next month may coincide with Rashford regaining his fitness.
After his workout at Altrincham, the England star was spotted driving into Carrington.
PREM FURY
Premier League clubs are growing increasingly unhappy with Sky Sports – complaining the broadcaster is moaning about paying LESS money for MORE games.
Today’s latest meeting of the 20 “shareholder” clubs only has one vote on the agenda, which will be to confirm a formal return to non-contact training from Tuesday.
That will be followed by discussion of a series of other issues that have divided the clubs and the League executive, which will be thrashed out around the virtual boardroom table.
Clubs now anticipate an outline agreement that “two or three” of the remaining 92 Prem games will be screened live on the BBC – the first time matches will have been shown in full on a terrestrial channel since the 1992 breakaway.
But SunSport can reveal how a significant number of clubs are furious at being forced to accept a £330m collective cut in broadcasting revenues DESPITE allowing the vast majority of the remaining matches to be shown by pay TV companies.
PREM RULES CONTINUED
TRAINING
Staggered sessions so staff and players arrive at different times.
Players will be allowed 15 minutes to warm up including gym exercises and must work in groups of no more than five (including four outfield players) on a pitch while remaining at least 2m apart.
Maximum session length of 75 minutes including ball work but no contact or tackling and spitting is banned. Players then have 15 minutes to finish “essential recovery” programmes.
AFTER TRAINING
All players must take their own equipment away with any GPS gear worn in training left in a specific area to be disinfected before being handled by staff wearing PPE.
Staff to disinfect all corner flags, cones, goalposts, GPS units, balls, gloves boots and other equipment.
Players must leave as soon as they have completed their sessions and are banned from congregating in any area. All bathing/showering to be away from training ground.
Food, fluid, nutritional supplements and medication to be collected from designated point at exit gates.
PREM RULES
Premier League clubs will today agree the “Stage One” trainingground rules for the initial step towards a resumption of football.
SunSport outlines what can – and can’t – be done:
BEFORE TRAINING STARTS
All players must have given a negative Covid-19 test within 48 hours of resuming training and be tested twice per week.
They must self-isolate for seven days if showing symptoms or if any members of their family do. All staff must confirm in writing they understand the new regulations.
ARRIVAL
All players and staff must have designated parking place at least three spaces away from any other car and arrive wearing training clothes and carrying towels and drinks bottles.
Each player or staff member must take a temperature check and complete a medical questionnaire.
No massage or soft tissue treatment unless deemed “essential”, in advance, by the club doctor.
Players can only access dressing rooms to use the toilet and wash basins and only leave their boots at the training ground.
BUG STRIFE
The British Medical Association has launched an attack on the Premier League for buying up so much PPE – as NHS workers battle the coronavirus on the frontline.
The chief doctors' union in the UK has told The Telegraph that the English top flight should not be using testing equipment, masks and gloves until it has started to make more inroads in tackling the killer bug.
A BMA spokesman told the Telegraph: “The latest BMA survey results seem to show the supply chain situation is improving but there are still issues in some areas.
“It is important that these are resolved first, and adequate and consistent supply is available across the health service, before we consider non-essential sectors.”
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