The unprecedented outbreak of the Coronavirus has effected life worldwide. Normal everyday life has been put on the back foot while this pandemic is ongoing. Many large scale sporting events have been cancelled or postponed until further notice, including the Euro 2020 Championship and the Olympics.
In England, professional premier league footballers have been called out and encouraged to accept a pay cut by Health Secretary of England, Matt Hancock, urging them to “play their part” . As of 9 April 2020, it is unknown when or if the league will be resumed, which is also the case in a number of other countries. The FAI are targeting a return of the League of Ireland on 19 June with a shortened season running until 11 December. All English leagues will not be resumed until 30 April at the earliest however will all be extended indefinitely. The last few games of the European leagues(Champions League and Europa League) were played behind closed doors as fan safety was at risk however player safety then became a growing concern as news emerged that Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta was diagnosed with Covid-19. There was a fear of a potential domino effect occurring amongst footballers and staff therefore the decision was made to suspend the league until further notice. Although all football lovers like myself miss the beautiful game, it will resume in due course when it is safe to do so however. In relation to my local league, similar measures have been put in place also. Hopefully the fitness will remain at a stable level!
The economy will be hit massively as a result of the virus. Television companies for example who retain rights to stream football games will be hit hard also as obviously there are no games to stream and so will the football clubs consequently as they inherit money from these companies for permission to show their games(in basic terms). Player value will decrease as clubs will not have the financial capabilities to make new aquisitions especially when the player market is at an astronomical level while some clubs in the lower leagues of English football may go into liquidation. Below is a list of the most valuable footballers in the world at this time according to Transfermarkt. 1 Kylian Mbappé
Centre-Forward
Paris Saint-Germain €180.00m
2
Raheem Sterling
Left Winger
Manchester City €128.00m
3
Neymar
Left Winger
Paris Saint-Germain €128.00m
4
Sadio Mané
Left Winger
Liverpool FC €120.00m
5
Mohamed Salah
Right Winger
Liverpool FC €120.00m
6
Harry Kane Harry Kane
Centre-Forward
Tottenham Hotspur €120.00m
7
Kevin De Bruyne
Attacking Midfield
Manchester City €120.00m
8
Jadon Sancho
Right Winger
Borussia Dortmund €117.00m
9
Lionel Messi
Right Winger
FC Barcelona €112.00m
10
Trent Alexander-Arnold
Right-Back
Liverpool FC €99.00m
11
Antoine Griezmann
Left Winger
FC Barcelona €96.00m
12
João Félix
Second Striker
Atlético Madrid €81.00m
13
Kai Havertz
Attacking Midfield
Bayer 04 Leverkusen €81.00m
14
Bernardo Silva
Right Winger
Manchester City €80.00m
15
N’Golo Kanté
Central Midfield
Chelsea FC €80.00m
16
Leroy Sané
Left Winger Manchester City €80.00m
17
Virgil van Dijk
Centre-Back
Liverpool FC €80.00m
18
Paul Pogba
Central Midfield
Manchester United €80.00m
19
Jan Oblak
Goalkeeper
Atlético Madrid €80.00m
20
Eden Hazard
Left Winger
Real Madrid €80.00m
21
Erling Haaland
Centre-Forward
Borussia Dortmund €72.00m
22
Frenkie de Jong
Central Midfield
FC Barcelona €72.00m
23
Paulo Dybala
Second Striker
Juventus FC €72.00m
24
Serge Gnabry
Right Winger
Bayern Munich €72.00m
25
Saúl Ñíguez
Central Midfield
Atlético Madrid €72.00m
The Beautiful Game 