HawkMan

I thought it already was the primary sport in 85% of countries, or more. It isn't the primary in ; NZ, OZ, USA and Canada, India, Pakistan Sri Lanka, Bangladesh erm now I'm struggling. British Caribbean possibly....Mongolia

Premier League soon be over, don't despair.....quite a bit of footy to come. From no football for 100 days to matches almost every day for over a year. The coronavirus pandemic wreaked havoc with the sporting calendar and meant there was no domestic action for three months. But one consequence of the game's suspension is that the gap between seasons, which can leave fans starved of any competitive action for two or three months, will be dramatically shorter and packed with other matches to follow. There are likely to be seven weeks between the end of this Premier League season and the start of the next one - but there will be only eight days in that time without games in eight selected tournaments. How, you ask? Let us explain... The Premier League ends on 26 July, with the four Championship play-off semi-final matches being played later that week. The FA Cup final is on 1 August, the same day the 2020-21 Scottish Premiership season begins. The Serie A season ends the following day, with the Championship play-off final on 4 August. On 5 August the Europa League last-16 ties resume - with Manchester United and Wolves playing in successive days. Then Manchester City and Chelsea play their Champions League last-16 second legs on the following two days. There will only be three days - none in a row - without a European game until the Champions League final on 23 August. Then comes the big wait, with the Nations League not starting for another 11 days. However, in those 11 days the Scottish Premiership continues, the Community Shield could be played (30 August is a reported date for that), the Women's Champions League semi-finals and final take place and France's Ligue 1 starts (22 August). Only eight of the 48 days in question do not have either Championship play-offs, Champions League or Europa League games (including qualifiers featuring British teams), the Scottish Premiership, Italian or French football, the Nations League or the Women's Champions League. And six of those eight are either side of the international break - as there would be during any normal season. Even those eight days do have football in some of Europe's smaller leagues like Belgium, the Republic of Ireland and the Nordic countries. England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland play two games each in the Nations League between 3 and 8 September. Four days later - on 12 September - the Premier League is reportedly due to start and then there will be near continuous football for more than a year. The 2021 Champions League final in Istanbul is on 29 May, with Euro 2020 starting 13 days later. Selected games on every day between the two Premier League seasons The 2019-20 Premier League season ends on 26 July, the 2020-21 campaign is expected to start on 12 September 27 July - Championship play-off semi-final first leg 28 July - Italian Serie A games 29 July - Championship play-off semi-final second leg, Serie A games 30 July - Championship play-off semi-final second leg 31 July - French League Cup final 1 August - FA Cup final, Scottish Premiership opening day 2 August - Scottish Premiership games, Serie A final day 3 August - Scottish Premiership game 4 August - Championship play-off final 5 August - Europa League last-16 ties 6 August - Europa League last-16 ties 7 August - Champions League last-16 ties 8 August - Champions League last-16 ties, Scottish Premiership games, Champions League preliminary round (including Northern Irish team) 9 August - Scottish Premiership games 10 August - Europa League quarter-finals 11 August - Europa League quarter-finals, Scottish Premiership game, Champions League preliminary round (including Northern Irish team) 12 August - Champions League quarter-final, Scottish Premiership games 13 August - Champions League quarter-final 14 August - Champions League quarter-final 15 August - Champions League quarter-final, Scottish Premiership games 16 August - Europa League semi-final, Scottish Premiership game 17 August - Europa League semi-final 18 August - Champions League semi-final, Champions League first qualifying round (including Scottish and Welsh team) 19 August - Champions League semi-final, Champions League first qualifying round (including Scottish and Welsh team) 20 August - Europa League preliminary round (including Welsh and Northern Irish teams) 21 August - Europa League final, Women's Champions League quarter-finals 22 August - Scottish Premiership games, Women's Champions League quarter-finals, French Ligue 1 opening day 23 August - Champions League final, Scottish Premiership game, Ligue 1 games 24 August - 25 August - Women's Champions League semi-final 26 August - Women's Champions League semi-final 27 August - Europa League first qualifying round (including Scottish and Welsh teams) 28 August - 29 August - Scottish Premiership games, Women's Champions League final, Ligue 1 games 30 August - Community Shield (possibly, date not confirmed), Ligue 1 games 31 August, 1, 2 September - 3 September - Nations League games 4 September - Nations League games 5 September - Nations League games 6 September - Nations League games 7 September - Nations League games 8 September - Nations League games 9, 10, 11 September - There are actually football matches on each of the eight days without games highlighted in other smaller leagues Then it's 20/21 season followed by Euro 2020.....gulp!!

For me the cream of motorsport is the IndyCar championship. Faster than F1, furious racing on all types of circuits, road, street and oval. Some spectacular action from 2019.

Probably all TWP's fault. Bloody fifth columnists.

Good news for the rhinos.? Bad news, or is it irrelevant? Thinking of attendances, and huge publicity that may dominate all sports news in the city.

Lionel Messi unrest at Barcelona rumours, Bielsa is Argentine, is it possible? Or even thinkable, Messi to Leeds!!!!

Might be cost problem for RL, I don't know of the EFL has to pay to have their matches there, after all FA own Wembley.

Football has already played two play off finals at Wembley. They were no stranger than other games at empty stadiums. I suppose it's about honouring the ideal of players rewarded by playing at the national stadium.

Europa League Quarter-finals, 10-11 August 1. Wolfsburg/Shakhtar Donetsk vEintracht Frankfurt/Basel 2. LASK/Manchester United v Istanbul Basaksehir/Copenhagen 3. Inter Milan/Getafe v Rangers/Bayer Leverkusen 4. Olympiakos/Wolves v Sevilla/Roma Semi-finals, 16-17 August Winner of quarter-final 4 v winner of quarter-final 2 Winner of quarter-final 3 v winner of quarter-final 1 Final, 21 August

When will the 2022 European Championship be played. End of season perhaps? Isn't the Qatar World Cup better played November time? Uh oh!

Yes Everton have wasted a lot of dosh, but they ain't gone backwards, because they were never "forward" not since Kendall's days anyway. Sorry couldn't resist.

Answer to the above question is yes, Tottenham. Bergwijn and Ndombele , big signings and gone backwards big time. Though the Not -So - Special- One might be culpable to a degree.

Surely the point is post name change no one will mention RU in the same sentence. Just as no one says now, " no it's not Basketball it's Netball " Similar sports different names. Perhaps call it on a similar vein to t20 cricket, T13 Footy, ( thirteen/thirteen).

Sorry to point this out, but yesterday's Southampton vs Man City match highlights a small reason for the popularity of football. City dominated possession, had chance after chance and lost. In RL a team so dominant would have racked up 50 points, game over. Luck plays a huge part in football....thankfully.

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It's all about market forces and popularity. Big film stars and rock stars earn millions from producing crud that I don't watch or listen to, I don't begrudge them the money. If the studios are milking it in then why shouldn't the stars who create the wealth get their share. Same with footballers, they earn big time because their sport is global, it would just be plain wrong for Sky or whoever to put in billions to football and the players not getting rewarded for creating the interest that Sky are capitalising on. What really is the crux of the dislike some have for football is that they feel , possibly rightly, that RL should be getting these rewards and should be global, not football. Well as far as I know football didn't expand throughout the world by putting a gun to people's heads and say play our game or else, but got off their collective butts and put the work in , while most other sports sat on their backsides and did naff all. I'm sure if RL ever got global no one on here would begrudge them top dollar.

Agreed, people should just be honest and say they dislike football for what it is and not wrapping themselves in pious purity by banging on about wages, that presumably they wouldn't begrudge RL players.

Will there be a touch of schadenfreude from Warriors fans ? I believe they and Latics fans don't get on.?

Relegation for Wigan isn't certain. They're 8 points above third from bottom now , if they end 13 points above third bottom the 12 pts deduction won't relegate them. Wigan are playing well at present and all of Hull Huddersfield and Stoke aren't, so there's still hope.

Northampton 4 Exeter 0 Well done Northampton, thoroughly deserved. Well done EFL for playing at Wembley. The players deserved their day out despite the eerie atmosphere of the national stadium.

Do LUFC own Elland Rd ? If they do it's a bit presumptuous to think they'll be okay with hosting 10 events a year. After 16 years trying to get back to the PL won't they be wanting their pitch in pristine condition to help them stay up. Two or three events maybe, but 10 seems excessive from LUFC's perspective. I've seen a bit of Bielsa's Leeds, they're not exactly Barca's tiki taka but do like to play on the ground.

That's good, perhaps Elland Road for CC Final, as Wembley seems to be losing its lustre.

Assuming LUFC would be happy to host RL games., they certainly won't need the money if in the EPL . I'm not sure if it's the current owners or previous ones, but they did object to their ground used for Yawnion, for WC games I think.

I assume you're being funny, deliberately dense. The players keep separate after a game in case Covid has been picked up by one of them, travel back separately and if one tests positive you don't have to automatically isolate the whole team.

To flip this again, what about the managers/ coaches? Not including die hard fans how many of the public would recognise RL, RU or Cricket coaches. I'd suggest not many. What these sports need is recognisable characters on the touchline with personalities driving interest. My sister in law who knows little about football always has an opinion about Klopp, Mourinho, Guardiola etc. And will occasionally watch just to shout at the tv screen for or against a coach she is aggravated by or is intrigued with.