FA offer Wembley Stadium to Premier League to help complete halted 2019/20 season

With COVID-19 pandemic leaving the sporting calendar shattered, many events and tournaments have been either postponed or cancelled. One of the most popular football leagues in the world – Premier League – are looking to resume the halted campaign behind closed doors given the situation surrounding COVID-19 improves in coming weeks.

The Football Association (FA) has reportedly handed over the iconic Wembley Stadium and St George’s Park to the Premier League in a bid to finish the paused 2019/20 season. The general consensus is that the Wembley can host as many as four matches per day and the move will keep travelling at minimum for players, officials, staffs and media.

A report in Reuters stated that the National Football Centre at the St George’ Park is also set to be available. The venue has 228 hotel rooms and 13 football pitches. The clubs will be able to use it as a quarantined training area to keep their players and support staff together. The rollout of coronavirus testing will also be available, as per reports.

Clubs in Germany and Spain have started to return to training with a view to complete the halted season. Premier League club Crystal Palace’s manager Roy Hodgson said the English league has to be finished.

"Everyone is in total agreement we need an end to this season," the 72-year old told the Palace website.

"We don't want artificial means of deciding who wins the league, who gets into the Champions League, who gets relegated and promoted. Ideally, our players would have three or four weeks minimum to prepare for the first match back, but I accept there may have to be a squeeze on that timeframe.

"It might mean extra restrictions at our place of work ... It may also mean that we have to play our ... remaining matches in a shorter period of time than we normally would have done, and subsequently receive a shorter break between the seasons."