Expert: Bin this season
UEFA have hi red a world-renowned Belgian expert for advice on the coronavirus crisis - and he’s urged them to abandon this season immediately.
Scottish football is in limbo after the SPFL vote on Friday. But any slim hopes of the campaign continuing at a later date could be snuffed out entirely if European football’s governing body - headed by president Aleksander Ceferin - listen to the advice of Marc Van Ranst.
Van Ranst is virologist and epidemiologist at the KU Leuven research university and regarded as one of the world’s leading authorities on COVID-19.
Belgian football initially incurred UEFA’s wrath af ter declaring their season over, only to announce a U-turn. Now UEFA have turned to a Belgian to get a verdict on when football can return.
And Van Ranst said: “Playing football in the next few months is not an option. I’ve advised UEFA this and I am convinced they now realise this.
“Even talk of playing football behind closed doors, that can’t be allowed because we have seen fans gather together to have their own parties and that defeats the point.
“The facts are we are now in early April and there are thousands of new cases every day across Europe. How can anyone talk about restarting football if we don’t even know if we are at the peak of what is only the first stage of the virus?
“Football is very much a side issue for the moment but it will become important again when we examine our exit strategy.
“I ’m af ra id mass events like football and music festivals will be the very last things to be allowed again.”