The England government says it is “opening doors” for the return of professional football in June.
The Premier League met on Monday and held a discussion on “Project Restart”. The league hoped to return to action on 12th June with matches played behind closed doors.
In Thursday’s meeting held with the Football Association, Premier League and English Football League came out with “progressed plans” according to the culture secretary, Oliver Dowden.
“We all agreed that we will only go ahead if it is safe to do so. The health and wealth of players, coaches, and staff come first”.
The culture secretary added that plans for the sport to resume should “include widening access for fans to view the live coverage”.
“It is now up to the football authorities to agree and finalize the detail of their plans. There is combined goodwill to achieve this for their fans, the football community and the nation as a whole.”
“The government and our medical experts will continue to offer guidance and support. Plans to return should ensure finances from the game’s resumption supports the wider football family.”
Players have so far been limited to individual training. However, the League bosses hope for the first phase of team training under strict guidelines and restricted 75 minutes in the pitch.
England’s deputy chief medical officer, Jonathan Van-Tam also added, “There will be small, carefully measured, step-wise approaches to see what can be achieved safely. The first of those is to return safely to training, still observing social distancing.”
“We will have to see how that goes before we can even think about moving on to the return of competitive football matches.”
The next Premier League club meeting will be held on Monday. The meeting will come after a weekend when the Bundesliga becomes the first major league to restart.