Cardiff City and Swansea City will restart their Championship campaign on June 20, according to latest reports.
The date could mean that English football's second tier gets underway before the Premier League, with top-flight bosses pushing for a full month's preparation before resuming their own campaign.
But there is a huge drive from the English Football League to get the campaign back up and running quickly and safely in order to finish the season before July 31, when nearly 40 percent of players' contracts run out.
And, according to The Express, the league are now targeting a June 20 resumption with an incredibly packed schedule, which includes playing on five Saturdays and four midweek slots in order to finish by July 18.
That, of course, would leave enough time for play-offs to take place, which would be a huge boost to the likes of Cardiff and Swansea, who, with nine games remaining, sit two and three points off the top six respectively.
EFL clubs have been given the green light to return to training next week, with players being permitted only when they return negative Covid-19 tests. It is understood Cardiff City players will undergo those tests, which are being carried out by a private company, over the next 48 hours.
While the lockdown restrictions in Wales are still far stricter than in England, Wales First Minister Mark Drakeford has stated he is not planning to block Cardiff and Swansea from restarting their season..
The Express report states that Hull City are currently the only team against resuming the season, with the club's vice-chairman, Ehab Allam, having this week penned a letter to all Championship clubs to outline his "serious concerns" over football's return amid the coronavirus pandemic.
But this latest news will certainly represent encouraging news for Cardiff and Swansea supporters.
Numerous ideas over how or either whether to restart the season have been thrashed out in recent weeks, with one proposal even stating that the top two, Leeds United and West Brom, would be promoted and the only games which would be played would be play-off games between the teams currently occupying third to sixth in the table.
That, of course, would have been detrimental to the South Wales clubs.
A congested fixture schedule at least gives both the Bluebirds and the Swans their rightful shot at propelling themselves into the top six and, in doing so, keeps their promotion hopes well and truly alive.
