大象传媒

Championship, League One & League Two clubs to meet on 8 June

  • Published
EFL corner flagImage source, Getty Images
Image caption,

Elite football in England has been suspended since 13 March

English Football League clubs are set to meet on 8 June as the league aims to rubber-stamp proposals on how to end a season early because of coronavirus.

The EFL board "unanimously" agreed upon a framework at a meeting on Wednesday, but now needs clubs to approve it.

The new framework was laid out on 21 May, including promotion, relegation and play-offs remaining.

Teams in League Two have already indicated they wish to end the season, but League One sides remain undecided.

Championship clubs, whose players returned to training on Monday, are hoping to resume their campaign in June.

Two rounds of coronavirus testing have been conducted to date across the 24 clubs in the second tier, with more than 1,000 tests carried out each time.

Two people at Hull City tested positive in the first round revealed on Sunday, while two unnamed Fulham players and Blackburn captain Elliott Bennett tested positive in the second round of results.

On Thursday, the Premier League announced a provisional restart date of 17 June with up to six games at neutral venues. The EFL said it was their intention to play all remaining fixtures at clubs' home grounds.

"At the same time as advising on its proposed approach last week, the board had asked clubs to give it appropriate consideration and provide any feedback," the EFL said in a statement.

"Communications were submitted from clubs across all divisions and those proposals, some of which have been made available publicly, suggested how the framework in the event the season is ended prematurely could alternatively work.

"A decision on whether or not to curtail the season is a matter to be considered by clubs in any affected division, but only once a framework for resolving open issues in such circumstances has been agreed by all members across all divisions through a regulation change."

Clubs have been given until next Tuesday to continue submitting any alternative proposals for how the framework could work.

A 51% majority of clubs in the Championship, League One and League Two is required to approve the curtailment of the campaign in each division.

Currently, unweighted points-per-game would decide final league placings in all three divisions if the respective seasons cannot be completed.

Meanwhile, the National League will await a decision by the EFL on how to conclude the League Two campaign before deciding their next steps.

The regular season is over at non-league level, but the National League wants to preserve two teams being promoted into the EFL and that may involve play-off games being staged.