Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on association football

Club football

By 25 May 2020, the Turkmenistan Ýokary Liga, the Belarusian Premier League and the Liga Primera de Nicaragua were the only three known top flight national football leagues not suspended due to the pandemic.

Africa

Both the CAF Champions League and CAF Confederation Cup semi-finals were postponed from their original schedules, to be resumed in October 2020.

Burundi Ligue A was one of the few football leagues still playing during the COVID-19 pandemic, until it was suspended after the conclusion of matchday 27 on 5 April 2020. However, the season resumed on 30 May 2020 and the competition concluded on 24 June 2020.

Asia

In China, the 2020 Chinese Super League was postponed as a result of the pandemic. In Hong Kong, the 2020 Lunar New Year Cup was cancelled on 23 January 2020, 2021 Lunar New Year Cup was cancelled on 2 February 2021 and 2022 Lunar New Year Cup was cancelled on 7 January 2022. Other leagues in Asia were affected, including South Korea's K League 1 and Japan's J1 League. The K League of South Korea announced that the K League 1 would return on 8 May, changing the original scheduling start of 29 February.

On 16 March 2020, the Football Federation Australia due to restrictions imposed by the Australian Government of gatherings involving more than 500 people, announced that the remainder of the season of the A-League would proceed with all games being played behind closed doors. The season was suspended on 24 March.

The AFC Champions League and AFC Cup were also impacted, with a number of group stage and play-off matches being postponed.

Ýokary Liga of Turkmenistan was one of the few football leagues still playing during the COVID-19 pandemic, until it was suspended on 23 March 2020. It resumed on 19 April with spectators. However, on 17 August 2020, the competition was suspended again. The league resumed later.

On 27 March, the Tajikistan Football Federation announced that the Tajik Super Cup and the opening of the Tajikistan Higher League would be played behind closed doors due to the threat of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, on 25 April, the Tajikistan Football Federation announced the suspension of football, following the completion of Round 4 on 26 April, until 10 May. On 6 May, the Tajikistan Football Federation extended the suspension of football indefinitely due to the spread of COVID-19 pandemic in Tajikistan.

On 12 April 2020 Taiwan Football Premier League began. It was one of the few football leagues in the world to begin and proceed without disruption, due to the relatively light situation in Taiwan compared to most other countries. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Taiwan, no fans were allowed to attend the first round of the competition.

In India, the remaining I-League matches were postponed and the Indian Super League final was played behind closed doors.

Owing to the surge in new COVID-19 cases, the Beijing Municipal Sports Competitions Administration Centre announced on 15 June 2020 the suspension of the 2020 CSL season. On 1 July, it was announced that the season would start on 25 July.

On 9 July, it was announced that the AFC Cup would return on 23 September and conclude on 12 December, with the group stage matches to be held in centralised venues. However, the season was later abandoned on 10 September and was declared void the following day.

In the AFC Champions League, the AFC announced that Qatar would host all West Region matches after restart. Al Wahda were unable to travel to Qatar to play their remaining matches of the group stage due to several team members testing positive for COVID-19. They were considered to have withdrawn from the competition, and all their previous matches were considered "null and void". The same happened with the defending champion Al-Hilal, when they failed to name the required 13 players and were unable to play their final match of the group stage against Shabab Al-Ahli due to them having only 11 players left with the remaining team members testing positive for COVID-19; hence, they were also considered to have withdrawn from the competition, and all their previous matches were considered "null and void", and would not be taken into consideration in determining the final group rankings.

Qatar also hosted all AFC Champions League East Region matches after restart. However, Malaysian club Johor Darul Ta'zim were unable to travel to Qatar to play the final four matches of the group stage due to the COVID-19 pandemic travel restrictions after they were denied permission to travel by the Malaysian government. Their matches were considered "null and void" and would not affect the final group rankings.

On 25 January 2021, AFC announced the cancellation of the 2020 AFC U-16 Championship following two postponements due to the COVID-19 pandemic, leaving the hosting rights for the next tournament with Bahrain.

In the 2021 AFC Champions League, the three teams from Australia, Sydney FC, Melbourne City and Brisbane Roar, withdrew from the competition after the draw. Moreover, Chinese teams, Guangzhou, Beijing Guoan and Shanghai Port, opted to participate with a mixture of their youth and reserve teams.

Europe

In Europe, various knockout matches in the Champions League and Europa League were played behind closed doors in February and March 2020. On 12 March 2020, UEFA announced that the elite qualification round of the men and women's under-17 and under-19 youth international tournaments had been postponed. The following day, UEFA postponed all fixtures for the following week in the Champions League, Europa League and Youth League. On 17 June UEFA announced that the Champions League would resume in Portugal, and the Europa League in Germany, in August, but all rounds would be single-match affairs, with the exception of the Europa League round of 16 where the first game had already been played.

Many of the domestic European leagues were impacted in February and March 2020. After various fixtures were rescheduled or played behind closed doors, Serie A was postponed on 9 March 2020. On 12 March, La Liga and the Segunda División were suspended for at least two weeks after a Real Madrid basketball player tested positive for the virus, which resulted in Real Madrid's footballers being put in quarantine as the two teams share the same training facilities in Valdebebas. The Eredivisie was also suspended (it was officially declared abandoned on 24 April with no champion awarded), while Ligue 1 and the Bundesliga followed suit shortly afterwards. Ligue 1 would eventually end on 27 April after the French Prime Minister ordered all sporting events to be cancelled until 1 September, with Paris Saint-Germain being declared champions and on 23 June Amiens and Toulouse were relegated to the 2020–21 Ligue 2. The Bundesliga eventually returned on 16 May following the suspension of play.

On 10 March, the Premier League match between Manchester City and Arsenal, due to be played the next day, was postponed after a number of Arsenal players made close contact with Olympiacos owner Evangelos Marinakis, who had tested positive for coronavirus, when the two teams had met in the Europa League 13 days earlier. Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta tested positive for the disease, prompting the team's Premier League match against Brighton & Hove Albion for that weekend to also be postponed. As of 13 March, there has been at least one recorded case of the disease affecting a player in the aforementioned leagues; Serie A footballers Daniele Rugani and Manolo Gabbiadini, 2. Bundesliga footballer Timo Hübers, and Premier League footballer Callum Hudson-Odoi. Rugani tested positive while being asymptomatic. On 13 March, English elite football was suspended until early April, including the Premier League, English Football League, FA Women's Super League and FA Women's Championship.

On 17 March, the Russian Premier League was suspended.

By 19 March 2020, the Belarusian Premier League was the only active top flight in all 55 UEFA member associations. Only a few matches were postponed due to outbreaks of the disease in some teams and only one was cancelled due to the lack of influence of the result in November 2020.

On 5 May 2020, Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) chief executive Neil Doncaster summed up the situation in his country during a video conference involving the Scottish Football Association, Scottish Rugby and others in respect of the COVID-19 pandemic; he stated that "gate receipts make up a far higher proportion of our income than in England, which benefits from huge TV deals, so until we get back to playing in front of crowds, our game will remain in grave peril."

On 16 May 2020 the Bundesliga became the first major European league to return with matches played behind closed doors. In the subsequent weeks, other leagues followed suit. The Nemzeti Bajnokság I and the Czech First League resumed on 23 May; the Ekstraklasa and Serbian SuperLiga resumed on 29 May 2020; The Primeira Liga returned on 3 June; La Liga on 11 June; the Premier League on 17 June; and Serie A on 20 June.

On 2 June 2020, the Russian Premier League published specific dates for each remaining game of the season, with the first game upon resumption scheduled on 19 June. On 5 June, the league announced that some fans would be allowed in the stands, following limitations established by the appropriate local authorities, but away fans would not be allowed in.

That same day chairman of Premier League football side Tottenham Hotspur, Daniel Levy, revealed that the club has taken a loan of £175 million from the Bank of England. The chairman said that money has been taken to tackle with the gripping effects of coronavirus pandemic on the club.

On 30 June 2020, Premier League chief executive Richard Masters announced £1,000,000 as aid for next seasons of the Women's Super League and Championship to mitigate the effect of coronavirus.

On 19 June 2020, FC Rostov lost 1–10 against PFC Sochi in the Russian Premier League, as they fielded their junior team, after six players of the senior team have been infected with COVID-19; hence, the whole team was quarantined.

The Spanish Copa del Rey final was originally scheduled for 18 April 2020 in Estadio de La Cartuja, but the match was postponed with the agreement of both participating clubs (Athletic Bilbao and Real Sociedad) on 11 March (with no new date decided at that point), in the hope that the delay would provide time to contain the outbreak and allow the final to take place with a full stadium as in normal circumstances. Despite this, the final was played on 3 April 2021 behind closed doors.

On 1 July 2020, Wigan Athletic fell into administration after being negatively affected by the pandemic lockdown. By appointing Paul Stanley, Gerald Krasner and Dean Watson from Begbies Traynor, it became the first professional club in England to call up administrators since the pandemic had begun. In addition, many small English football clubs were affected by the pandemic as they rely on ticket sales for revenue.

On 4 July 2020, the DFB-Pokal final was played behind doors between Bayer 04 Leverkusen and FC Bayern Munich. The match was originally scheduled for 23 May 2020 but the German Football Association postponed the final on 24 April due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Germany.

On 24 July 2020, the Coupe de France final was played behind doors between Paris Saint-Germain F.C. and AS Saint-Étienne. The match was originally scheduled for 25 April, but was postponed due to concerns over the COVID-19 pandemic in France.

On 25 July 2020, the 2020 Russian Cup final was played at Yekaterinburg Arena contested by FC Zenit Saint Petersburg and FC Khimki. Attendance was limited to 10% of the arena's capacity and as a result there were only 3,408 spectators.

On 1 August 2020, the FA Cup final was played behind closed doors between Arsenal F.C. and Chelsea F.C. It was originally scheduled for 23 May, but it was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom. As part of precautions against COVID-19, Arsenal received the trophy on the pitch and not, as in previous seasons, by climbing steps to the Royal Box for the presentation.

That same day, the Taça de Portugal final was played behind doors between S.L. Benfica and FC Porto. The final was originally scheduled to take place on 24 May 2020 at the Estádio Nacional venue in Oeiras. However, on 12 March, the Portuguese Football Federation (FPF) announced that it would be postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Portugal. On 2 July, it was announced that the final would be played at the Estádio Cidade de Coimbra in Coimbra.

On 7 August 2020, the 2020 Russian Cup final was played at VEB Arena in Moscow contested by FC Zenit Saint Petersburg and FC Lokomotiv Moscow. Attendance was limited due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Russia.

The 2019–20 UEFA Champions League was resumed in August. The quarter-finals onwards were played as single-match knockout ties at neutral venues in Lisbon, Portugal (Estádio da Luz and Estádio José Alvalade) behind closed doors from 12 to 23 August.

The schedule and the format of the 2020–21 UEFA Champions League was changed. The tournament would originally have started in June 2020, but was delayed to August due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Europe. The new schedule was announced by the UEFA Executive Committee on 17 June 2020. All qualifying matches, excluding the play-off round, were played as single leg matches, hosted by one of the teams decided by draw (except the preliminary round which was played at neutral venue).

In the 2020–21 UEFA Champions League preliminary round, Kosovar club Drita's match against Linfield in Nyon, Switzerland was called off, due to two players from Drita testing positive for COVID-19 and the whole team being put into quarantine by the Swiss authorities; eventually, Linfield was awarded a 3–0 win. In the first qualifying round of the same competition, Faroese club KÍ was awarded a 3–0 win over Slovan Bratislava, in which the match was initially postponed after one staff member from the latter tested positive for COVID-19, followed by a player from this same team, eventually the whole team was put into quarantine by the Faroese authorities, and KÍ were subsequently awarded a technical victory.

On 17 September 2020, a German team, SG Ripdorf/Molzen ll, lost 37–0 against SV Holdenstedt ll in 3. Kreisklasse. SV Holdenstedt II who came into contact in a previous game with someone who tested positive for COVID-19, refused to reschedule the match; hence, SG Ripdorf/Molzen ll competed with only seven men for fear of infection and did not offer any resistance.

On 24 September 2020, the UEFA Super Cup was played. The match was originally scheduled to be played at the Estádio do Dragão in Porto, on 12 August 2020. However, after the COVID-19 pandemic in Europe caused the postponements of the previous season's Champions League and Europa League, the UEFA Executive Committee chose to award the rescheduled Champions League final to Portugal, and postponed and relocated the Super Cup to Puskás Aréna in Budapest. The UEFA Executive Committee decided to use the event as a pilot match for which a reduced number of spectators, up to 30% of the capacity of the stadium, were allowed in, becoming the first official UEFA match to have spectators since their competitions were resumed in August 2020.

On 30 September 2020, Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund played behind doors the 2020 DFL-Supercup at the Allianz Arena, when the match is usually played in July or August prior to the start of the Bundesliga.

On 4 October 2020, Italian club Napoli decided not to travel to Turin to play a Serie A match against Juventus, following the Azienda Sanitaria Locale (ASL) protocol as two of their players tested positive for COVID-19 along with a staff member. On 14 October, Juventus were awarded a 3–0 win, and Napoli were deducted 1 point by the Disciplinary Commission as punishment for violating the FIGC COVID-19 protocol approved by the Technical-Scientific Committee of the Ministry of Health regarding the activity of professional athletes. On 22 December, the CONI Guarantee Board, overturned the previous decision of the competition judge, accepting the appeal presented by Napoli against the defeat by default and the point deduction and stating that the match must be played. The next day, Lega Serie A postponed the match to a date to be determined following the decision. On 7 April 2021, the match was finally played with a 2–1 victory for Juventus.

On 23 December 2020, FC Porto and S.L. Benfica played behind doors the 2020 Supertaça at the Estádio Municipal de Aveiro. The match was originally scheduled for the end of July or start of August, but was postponed due to concerns over the COVID-19 pandemic.

In January 2021, Arsenal received a £120m loan from the Bank of England to help offset the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

That same month took place the 2020–21 Supercopa de España. The competition was initially supposed to be held in Saudi Arabia like the previous year, but restrictions related to the global COVID-19 pandemic forced it to remain in Spain. The semi-finals were played behind doors in the cities of Córdoba and Málaga, on 13 and 14 January 2021. The final was played at Estadio de La Cartuja in Seville on 17 January 2021.

On 13 January 2021, took place the 2020 Trophée des Champions. The final was initially supposed to be held outside of France, but restrictions related to the global COVID-19 pandemic forced it to remain in the country. The match was finally played behind doors at the Stade Bollaert-Delelis in Lens.

On 20 January 2021, took place the 2020 Supercoppa Italiana. The match was initially supposed to be held in December in Saudi Arabia like the previous year, but restrictions related to the global COVID-19 pandemic forced it to remain in Italy. The trophy was finally disputed behind doors at the Mapei Stadium – Città del Tricolore.

On 17 February 2021, the UEFA Executive Committee decided to cancel the 2020–21 UEFA Youth League.

On 30 March 2021, UEFA announced that both Champions League quarter-final matches on 7 and 13 April between FC Porto and Chelsea would be played at Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán Stadium, Seville, Spain, due to travel restrictions between Portugal and the United Kingdom.

On 29 May 2021, the 2021 UEFA Champions League final between Manchester City and Chelsea was disputed. The final was originally scheduled to be played at the Krestovsky Stadium in Saint Petersburg, Russia. However, due to the postponement and relocation of the 2020 final to Lisbon as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic in Europe, the final hosts were shifted back a year, with the Atatürk Olympic Stadium in Istanbul, Turkey instead planning to host the 2021 final. Two weeks before the final, UEFA announced that it would be relocated to Porto, Portugal to allow a limited number of fans to attend the match. A capacity limit of 33% was agreed for the 50,000-seater Estádio do Dragão, resulting in an attendance of 14,110.

In December 2021, the German government imposed measures which affected the 2021–22 Bundesliga matches. As a result, the 2G+ rule was implemented and clubs were allowed an attendance of up to 50% and a maximum of 15,000 fans into stadiums in some states, while in other states spectators were once again banned from attending games. This also affected two matches in the 2021–22 UEFA Champions League – RB Leipzig vs. Manchester City F.C. and FC Bayern Munich vs. FC Barcelona – which were played behind closed doors. Restrictions were later extended to all the country, limiting the number of spectators or completely banning the presence of them, up to and including the 9 February 2022.

Other December 2021 group stage Champions League matches played without spectators due to COVID-19 restrictions in their respective countries were AFC Ajax vs. Sporting CP and FC Red Bull Salzburg vs. Sevilla FC.

North America

On 12 March 2020, the CONCACAF Champions League was suspended with immediate effect. All other CONCACAF competitions scheduled for the next month were also suspended. On 10 November, it was announced that the competition would resume in December and be played in Orlando with single-leg, neutral venue matches.

The Liga Primera de Nicaragua was the only football league in the American continent that was still underway.

Also on 12 March, the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL), whose season was not scheduled to start until 18 April, canceled its preseason matches, and also imposed a moratorium on team training that initially ran through 22 March.

On 12 March Major League Soccer was suspended for 30 days. On 19 March, Major League Soccer's suspension was extended to a target return date of 10 May. On 14 April, MLS announced that it was "extremely unlikely based on the guidance of federal and local public health authorities" that they would meet this target, and stated that "our goal remains to play as many games as possible, and while we currently have enough dates to play the entire season, we recognize at this time that it may become difficult to do so." The 2020 U.S. Open Cup, 2020 Leagues Cup, 2020 Campeones Cup and 2020 MLS All-Star Game were also all cancelled.

On 20 March, the Canadian Premier League announced a postponement of their season which was scheduled to start on 11 April.

The 2019–20 Major Arena Soccer League season was terminated early, effective 12 March.

The USL Championship suspended the 2020 season on 12 March, for at least 30 days.

The National Independent Soccer Association suspended the Spring portion of its 2019–20 season on 12 March for at least 30 days. On 27 April, following a second suspension of play, NISA announced it would cancel the rest of its 2020 Spring season.

Match week 10 of Liga MX, Women's Liga MX, and Ascenso MX took place but as of 15 March, club owners and league executives had then taken a decision to postpone all Mexican football activity until further notice. As of 22 May, Mexican football executives announce the termination of the remainder of the current Clausura 2020 championship.

On 10 June, Major League Soccer announced a return to action on 8 July with a mini-tournament, called the MLS is Back Tournament at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex at Walt Disney World near Orlando, Florida, with all group stage matches counting towards the regular season standings. The regular season was then resumed with fewer fixtures and reduced or no attendance allowed, with the playoffs beginning in November. Canadian teams in the league had to play the remainder of their fixtures in the United States, due to travel restrictions between the borders. This would later continue through the 2021 season after travel restrictions continued to remain in effect.

On 24 July, Liga MX inaugurated the 2020–21 Liga MX season, also known as Torneo Guard1anes 2020. The season was dedicated to Mexico's frontline healthcare and medical staff. Mazatlán F.C. debuted in Liga MX, replacing the dissolved Monarcas Morelia.

On 29 July, the Canadian Premier League announced a return to play on 13 August with a modified format called "The Island Games" to determine a 2020 champion. These games were played behind closed doors at the University of Prince Edward Island in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island. The shortened season ended in September with the Finals.

South America

On 12 March 2020, CONMEBOL announced that the Copa Libertadores would be temporarily suspended. The tournament was suspended after group stage matchday 2 and resumed on 15 September 2020, ending with the final on 30 January 2021. In addition, the Copa Sudamericana have been suspended after first round due to the COVID-19 pandemic, to be resumed on 27 October 2020, with the final rescheduled to be played in late January 2021.

On 15 March, all top-tier football in Brazil was suspended until April. The Campeonato Brasileiro Série A was originally scheduled to begin on 3 May and end on 6 December. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Brazil the tournament was rescheduled, starting on 8 August 2020 and ending on 25 February 2021.

Academic research analyzes and compares the safe return protocols of major football leagues and associations to those of the Brazilian Championship, as well as to survey the numbers of COVID-19 outbreaks in clubs that competed in the 2020 Brazilian Championship Series A. The documentary research was carried out through the analysis of articles published on open-source football league and federation websites. National and international return protocols were verified, as well as the documenting of isolated cases and outbreaks of COVID-19 in the Brazilian Championship. In the Brazilian Championship, the return to play occurred at a time when COVID-19 case numbers were rising, a fact that, together with the decentralization of the match cities, was likely linked to the number of positive cases.

Oceania

In New Zealand, the three main competitions, the New Zealand Football Championship, the Chatham Cup and the Kate Sheppard Cup were all cancelled by New Zealand Football. The 2019–20 New Zealand Football Championship season was concluded after 18 weeks, with Auckland City declared the winner. On 23 April, both the national Men's and Women's knock-out cups were cancelled a week before the preliminary rounds were due to kick off. It was the first time the Chatham Cup had been cancelled since the end of World War II.

On 15 January 2021, FIFA announced that Auckland City had withdrawn from the 2020 FIFA Club World Cup, due to the COVID-19 pandemic and related quarantine measures required by the New Zealand authorities. On 4 June 2021, the OFC announced that the 2021 OFC Champions League had been cancelled, and no champions would be awarded for the second season in a row.