The Premier League will tell clubs at Thursday’s shareholders meeting that they want the 2020/21 season to start on the weekend of September 12-13, regardless of when the current campaign is completed.
Premier League football looks set to return behind closed doors next month following a lengthy suspension due to the coronavirus crisis and the end of the campaign is likely to be in August.
However, there will be a very quick turnaround before the 2020/21 season begins as The Daily Mail states the Premier League will set a hard deadline for the current campaign to be completed before the next season begins.
Due to the tight timeframe, this means that the season will likely be curtailed if there are any further lengthy delays to the season - which remains under threat amid the risk of a second peak in the coronavirus pandemic.
While many within football have called for the 2020-21 campaign to be delayed to ensure this season is completed and due to uncertainty over coronavirus, there is no appetite at the Premier League for a major delay.
Executives are conscious of the need to ensure their revised timetable is similar to that of the rest of Europe, to help clubs still involved in Europe and national teams.
The Bundesliga will finish their third round of fixtures since returning on Wednesday, while Spain will resume on June 11 and Italy have set a deadline of August 20 for the Serie A season to be completed, with the next campaign to begin on September 1.
If this plan on the 2020/21 season goes ahead, the Premier League season will begin immediately after September’s international break - which remains in the calendar despite the widespread disruption to football across the globe.
The proposed timetable for completing the campaign is already extremely tight but it was always likely that mid-September would be the start date for the 2020/21 campaign but it does show the frailty that remains for the 2019/20 season.
Premier League clubs are set to discuss the protocols for the worst-case scenario this week in the event of the season being unable to be completed, although the focus is very much on playing the remaining 92 matches.
