{"id":134286,"date":"2020-04-28T08:30:25","date_gmt":"2020-04-28T15:30:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=134286"},"modified":"2020-04-28T11:58:17","modified_gmt":"2020-04-28T18:58:17","slug":"blow-for-bookies-as-france-follows-holland-in-abandoning-soccer-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/blow-for-bookies-as-france-follows-holland-in-abandoning-soccer-season\/","title":{"rendered":"Bookies Hit Hard as France Follows Holland in Abandoning Soccer Season"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sports-starved European bookmakers were dealt a fresh blow Tuesday with the news that French soccer<\/a> will not resume the 2019-20 season. The decision was taken after the country\u2019s prime minister, Edouard Philippe, announced that all sports would be banned until at least September because of the coronavirus crisis. Officials from France\u2019s top two tiers, Ligue 1 and Ligue 2, had hoped to finish the season behind closed doors from June 17 to July 25.<\/p>\n

\"French
Paris Saint-Germain’s Uruguayan striker Edinson Cavani scores his team\u2019s first goal of a doomed season back in August against Nimes Olympique. (Image: France 24)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

On Friday, the Dutch Football Federation (KNVB) also took the decision to void its current season after the Dutch government issued a similar extension to the ban on mass gatherings.<\/p>\n

The news comes as UEFA, European soccer\u2019s governing body, announced it would give all leagues until May 25 to decide whether they want to finish their seasons or cancel them entirely.<\/p>\n

The organization urged leagues to “explore all possible options\u201d to finish domestic seasons so that teams could qualify legitimately for European competitions, such as the UEFA Champions League and Europa League.<\/p>\n

If this cannot be achieved, UEFA said national leagues would need to select teams to qualify. But this must be done on \u201csporting merit,\u201d leaving this direction up to the imagination of league officials.<\/p>\n

EPL\u2019s Project Restart<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Meanwhile, EPL Officials will meet Friday to map out a return to action<\/a> for the world\u2019s most bet-upon sports league, an operation it has dubbed \u201cProject Restart.\u201d<\/p>\n

The league\u2019s top brass has been determined to complete the 2019-20 season ever since its \u201cindefinite\u201d suspension on March 13 with nine rounds of fixtures remaining.<\/p>\n

\n

There\u2019s a lot at stake, and not just for the teams. Global media partners have paid billions for broadcast rights and could sue if the league doesn\u2019t fulfill its quota.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

The league foresees a three-week pre-season beginning in May and a resumption of the season, with games played behind closed doors, from June 9.<\/p>\n

Government Will Decide<\/strong><\/h2>\n

On Tuesday, the BBC reported that some EPL teams, including Arsenal, Brighton, and West Ham, had reopened their facilities for players to resume training, with time limits and restrictions on the number of athletes on the pitch at any one time.<\/p>\n

UK Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden said he has been in talks with teams about restarting the EPL “as soon as possible in order to support the whole football community.\u201d But he also cautioned that any such move would have to be signed off by public health officials and the government.<\/p>\n

Letwin is expected to be present at Friday\u2019s meeting, as are representatives of Public Health England.<\/p>\n

It has been estimated that, including the black markets, up to $1 billion is bet on each individual EPL game globally.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sports-starved European bookmakers were dealt a fresh blow Tuesday with the news that French soccer will not resume the 2019-20 season. The decision was taken after the country\u2019s prime minister, Edouard Philippe, announced that all sports would be banned until at least September because of the coronavirus crisis. Officials from France\u2019s top two tiers, Ligue […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":134287,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nBlow for Bookies as France Follows Holland in Abandoning Soccer Season<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Ligue 1 and Ligue 2 will join Dutch soccer in discontinuing the current soccer season while EPL launches \u201cProject Restart\u201d as some teams resume training.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Blow for Bookies as France Follows Holland in Abandoning Soccer Season\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Ligue 1 and Ligue 2 will join Dutch soccer in discontinuing the current soccer season while EPL launches \u201cProject Restart\u201d as some teams resume training.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/blow-for-bookies-as-france-follows-holland-in-abandoning-soccer-season\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Casino.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-04-28T15:30:25+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-04-28T18:58:17+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/PSG.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1240\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"698\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Philip Conneller\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@casinoorgphilc\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Philip Conneller\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/blow-for-bookies-as-france-follows-holland-in-abandoning-soccer-season\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/blow-for-bookies-as-france-follows-holland-in-abandoning-soccer-season\/\",\"name\":\"Blow for Bookies as France Follows Holland in Abandoning Soccer Season\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/blow-for-bookies-as-france-follows-holland-in-abandoning-soccer-season\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/blow-for-bookies-as-france-follows-holland-in-abandoning-soccer-season\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/PSG.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-04-28T15:30:25+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-04-28T18:58:17+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/58769b72851c8cf117fb58ca150ebf8b\"},\"description\":\"Ligue 1 and Ligue 2 will join Dutch soccer in discontinuing the current soccer season while EPL launches \u201cProject Restart\u201d as some teams resume training.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/blow-for-bookies-as-france-follows-holland-in-abandoning-soccer-season\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/blow-for-bookies-as-france-follows-holland-in-abandoning-soccer-season\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/blow-for-bookies-as-france-follows-holland-in-abandoning-soccer-season\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/PSG.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/PSG.jpg\",\"width\":1240,\"height\":698,\"caption\":\"Paris Saint-Germain's Uruguayan striker Edinson Cavani scores his team\u2019s first goal of a doomed season back in August against Nimes Olympique. 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