European soccer hotbeds ready to roll

When the coronavirus gripped Europe in early April, the prospect of professional soccer resuming this season felt unfeasible and even unethical.

Yet, over the next seven days, the sport will make its return in three powerhouse countries that were among the hardest hit by the pandemic — Italy, Spain and England.

This will be soccer in a very different form, though, as already demonstrated in countries like Germany, Denmark and Poland, which were among the first to restart.

With spectators not allowed in stadiums, Zoom walls and cardboard cutouts have replaced fans in the stands. A swab test for COVID-19 is as much part of the pre-match routine for players as stretching their muscles. Artificial crowd noise is now the soundtrack for matches for TV viewers, with soccer now essentially an armchair sport for the next few months.

So when the Spanish league resumes on Thursday after a three-month suspension with a match between Andalusian rivals Sevilla and Real Betis, what is usually one of the most colorful and passionate derbies in soccer will likely lose some of its appeal.

Italian soccer restarts the following day with a semifinal match in the Coppa Italia between Juventus and AC Milan, two of the most storied clubs in Europe, in an empty stadium.

Then, on June 17, the most lucrative and popular league in the world — the English Premier League — is back with two games, including Manchester City against Arsenal. This despite many schools still being closed, incoming passengers at airports being asked to quarantine for two weeks, and many deaths still being reported each day.

“We’re nearly there … and I can’t wait,” said Inter Milan midfielder Antonio Candreva, whose team plays in the cup on Saturday against Napoli. “The green grass, my teammates, the emotions that only this sport gives us.”

Ronan Evain, the director at the Football Supporters Europe network that has members in 48 countries around the continent, said there hasn’t been a widespread desire for soccer’s return among matchgoing fans.

“Southern European countries feel very strongly against it,” Evain told The Associated Press. “There’s a feeling that it’s somehow rushed, it lacks decency in countries that have been seriously hit by the virus.”

LUCA BRUNO — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Juventus’ Cristiano Ronaldo celebrates at the end of a 2019 Serie A match against Fiorentina at the Allianz stadium in Turin, Italy.