There has been vast number of things that the COVID 19 pandemic has affected, with football being a major one. From international tournaments to Sunday league, many matches were forced to be postponed. The pandemic started just before the Euros were set to begin, and it didn’t help that for the first time, there wasn’t just one host country, with countries all over Europe set to host a match. National leagues like the English Premier League and the German Bundesliga had the end of the season delayed, prolonging the ever so close title fights. As the number of those infected picked up, seemingly the whole world entered lockdown, and everything froze. There were no matches being played, so no club was making any money. This didn’t help, as the running costs of big football clubs such as Bayern Munich and Barcelona are high, not to mention the lucrative wages of the footballers that need to be paid. Eventually, the financial strain became too much for many of the smaller football clubs to take, unfortunately forcing them to shut down. Many people lost the club they held close to their heart, as they have no team left to cheer on. After lockdowns and laws were relaxed, football started again, but due to the pandemic, new guidelines were put in place. The new rules had to be respected, and obviously were put in place in an attempt to reduce the spread of COVID, while allowing people to still watch the beautiful game. However, for fans including myself, it did take a while to get used to. To start, stadiums were empty; the atmosphere has completely changed. There was not a single fan in sight and the lack of a crowd seemed surreal, as if it was a video game. Moreover, arguably the hardest competition at club level, the UEFA Champions League was changed, from having two legs to one, so teams only had one chance to get through to the next round. Furthermore, the long lockdown period meant many footballers were out of practise, leaving the first few matches back a pain to watch, as they tried to regain fitness. Nevertheless, me and I’m sure many others have gotten used to this new format of football, and we know that it probably will remain this way for the foreseeable future.
