Arsenal’s European involvement could resume during the club’s pre-season preparations for the 2020/2021 season according to the latest comments from UEFA president Aleksander Cerefin.
The Gunners are set to meet French club Paris Saint-Germain in the quarter-finals of the UEFA Women’s Champions League but the competition has been suspended since mid-March due to the Coronavirus pandemic.
BBC Sport have reported that UEFA president Cerefin has reiterated that European football’s governing body have a ‘concrete plan’ to conclude 2019/2020 European competition in August, meaning that Arsenal’s continued involvement in the UEFA Women’s Champions League could impact their pre-season plans.
The Football Association are expected to draw a line under the 2019/2020 Barclays FA Women’s Super League this week with that solution potentially being the best option. Next season could again be pencilled in to start in early September, depending upon the Coronavirus situation, meaning that clubs may resume for pre-season training in late July or early August.
UEFA could look to pack the footballing calendar with European fixtures in August in an attempt to complete all of their club competitions before the start of domestic campaigns meaning that Arsenal could clock up some air miles before the new season kicks-off. At this stage, UEFA are set to run all of their 2020/2021 club competitions as planned, although there could be some changes to fixture dates.
One other factor which could yet hinder Arsenal’s hopes of completing their participation in this season’s UEFA Women’s Champions League could sit with the French government. French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe has ended the 2019/2020 football season in France and is not expecting sporting events to resume in the country until September, it remains to be seen what that means for PSG’s European involvement.