France Football, the group which organizes and awards the prestigious Ballon d’Or prize for the top soccer player in the world, has decided that it will not award a trophy for the first time in its long history.

Since 1956, the Ballon d’Or has been awarded to the top player in the world according to the organization’s decision. Considered the most prestigious individual prize in the sport, it has been won by legends such as Lionel Messi, Franz Beckenbauer, and Ronaldo.

Messi, the reigning title-winner, will have to look to 2021 to win another trophy due to the “exceptional circumstances” caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, which forced France Football to call off this year’s prize.

The organization simply felt that, due to the long break experienced from March to May in the sport, that it would have been impossible to make a fair decision as to who had been the best player in the world.

Some of the favorites for the award had included Messi, Bayern Munich striker Robert Lewandowski, and Juventus forward Cristiano Ronaldo.

Instead, the world’s biggest starts will have to instead wait for next summer in order to see who the world’s best player is after an unprecedented and abnormal 2020.

The post 2020 Ballon d’Or to be Cancelled appeared first on SportzBonanza.

The 2019-20 UEFA Champions League is finally set to wrap up in August, and it looks as if the organization’s plans to host the rest of the tournament in Lisbon, Portugal will have a small asterisk next to it.

While some of the Champions League Round of 16 matchups were able to be completed before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, others were left unfinished after only one draw was played.

UEFA has decided that instead of playing these remaining Round of 16 games in Lisbon like they will with the rest of the matches, they will instead be played at each team’s host stadium.

This means that Manchester City will host Real Madrid, Bayern Munich will host Chelsea, Juventus will host Lyon, and Barcelona will host Napoli in early August before the winning teams travel to Lisbon to join Atletico Madrid, Paris Saint-Germain, Atalanta, and RB Leipzig.

The same rule will be applied to the UEFA Europa League as well, which was left in the same situation as the Champions League.

While the games will be played in teams’ home stadiums, the matches will be held behind closed doors.

So, at least teams will now know that they won’t have to “forfeit” a home game if they were unable to finish their Round of 16 draw in March.

The post Remaining Champions League Round of 16 Games to be Played at Team Stadiums appeared first on SportzBonanza.

Ever since soccer leagues around Europe and the rest of the world have returned from the COVID-19 pandemic, one of the notable changes that have been implemented is the introduction of a five substitution rule which increases the number of players that coaches can bring off of the bench.

The IFAB, the overseeing governing body for association football around the world, is reportedly planning to extend that rule change for the 2020-21 season due to concerns about player fitness.

Leagues such as La Liga and the Premier League have played games at a frenetic rhythm ever since returning from the coronavirus-caused break, which was the reason given for the five substitutes rule.

Normally, teams are only allowed to bring in three players off of the bench during a match. The five substitutions rule allows two more fresh players to be brought onto the pitch during the course of a game.

In the 2020-21 season, at least, this new rule appears to be set to stick around as soccer organizations look to protect player health and safety in the wake of the pandemic.

Whether or not this rule is around to stay for good is yet to be seen, but teams and coaches can now at least keep this change in mind for the upcoming season as they begin to build rosters and strategies.

The post Five Substitution Rule for Soccer Set to Remain for 2020-21 Season appeared first on SportzBonanza.

FIFA, the international governing body of association football, has introduced a new change in the game’s rules that will allow for teams to stay fresh during the ramped-up schedules that will become common after leagues get back underway due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

FIFA has announced that, until the end of the calendar year 2020, teams will be allowed to make five substitutions per match. This is an increase over the three substitutions that have traditionally been allowed per team, per match.

This increase in the number of available substitutions is meant to keep players fresh and injury-free as they begin to play more games due to the compressed schedules caused by the absence of games since early March in most leagues.

Soccer leagues are slowly beginning to formulate plans to return to action, with major leagues such as Germany’s Bundesliga and Spain’s La Liga planning to return in May or June.

Leagues will be forced to play at least two games per week during the summer in order to accommodate the number of games that will need to be completed. This, in combination with higher summer temperatures, would make it difficult for the three substitution rule to be realistic.

So, FIFA will grant teams some extra flexibility and allow them to make this change in order to keep their players fresher until things get back to normal.

The post FIFA: Teams Will Be Allowed 5 Substitutions Per Match When Soccer Returns appeared first on SportzBonanza.

With the COVID-19 pandemic having postponed and canceled nearly all soccer leagues across the planet, decision makers have a tough task ahead of them. They must choose whether to restart their leagues in the coming months, scrap them and act as if 2019-20 never happened, or end the leagues with the current standings intact.

While some European leagues are looking to continue their competitions, such as Spain’s La Liga, others like France’s Ligue 1 have already announced their plans to not continue with the rest of the season.

In the case of the UEFA Champions League, the best solution to the dilemma would be to simply cancel the rest of the competition and look ahead to next season.

The last UEFA Champions League games that were played took place in early March, with half of the Round of 16 matches having had both legs completed. Four of the eight matchups, however, were unable to complete the second leg of draws.

That means that the Round of 16 would have to be completed, and the entirety of the two legs of quarter-finals and semi-finals matchups would have to be completed before two teams could even be decided for a theoretical final.

In total, five sets of games remain between a potential final, something that seems nearly impossible considering the current context of the sport.

Most European leagues that would be allowed to continue play will not be able to restart their leagues until early June at the earliest, meaning that the Champions League would be on a similar time table. These leagues will have to pack a lot of games into a short amount of time, requiring that at least two be played per week in most potential scenarios.

So, how would the Champions League even be able to fit into this potential scenario? It seems nearly impossible, and teams whose leagues do continue play would be at a huge competitive disadvantage compared to teams like Paris Saint-Germain, who won’t have domestic play to worry about.

While it might seem sacrilegious to end a Champions League campaign in his way, the circumstances resulting from the current global health crisis will make uncomfortable and unprecedented solutions necessary. Instead of putting players’ health at risk, both from a COVID-19 and a fitness perspective, the best solution is to simply write down this competition as a loss and look forward to starting anew in the fall.

The post Canceling the Remainder of the 2019-20 Champions League is the Fairest Solution For All appeared first on SportzBonanza.

After seeing the postponement of the season in March bring a sudden halt to the league, Italy’s Serie A soccer competition will allow its teams to return to group training on May 18th.

The COVID-19 pandemic, which had an especially severe impact in the country of Italy, has kept teams away from the field and from practice facilities since March 9th. Players have been forced to train individually at their homes in order to prevent the spread of the virus.

With the number of cases and deaths now falling in Italy and across Europe, the league has now given teams preliminary guidelines about their returns to the pitch.

Teams will begin to be able to work with players on an individual, non-team basis for training on May 4th. However, teams will not be allowed to congregate and practice in a group setting at team facilities until May 18th, over two months after the last time that teams were together.

Italy plans to resume play for its league sometime in June, however, the plans do not include games played with fans in the stands.

Juventus currently holds a one-point lead for the Scudetto in front of upstart Lazio. This race, as well as the race for the final two Champions League spots, are worth keeping an eye on once the league resumes play.

The post Serie A Teams to Return to Training on May 18th appeared first on SportzBonanza.

France Football, the group which organizes and awards the prestigious Ballon d’Or prize for the top soccer player in the world, has decided that it will not award a trophy for the first time in its long history.

Since 1956, the Ballon d’Or has been awarded to the top player in the world according to the organization’s decision. Considered the most prestigious individual prize in the sport, it has been won by legends such as Lionel Messi, Franz Beckenbauer, and Ronaldo.

Messi, the reigning title-winner, will have to look to 2021 to win another trophy due to the “exceptional circumstances” caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, which forced France Football to call off this year’s prize.

The organization simply felt that, due to the long break experienced from March to May in the sport, that it would have been impossible to make a fair decision as to who had been the best player in the world.

Some of the favorites for the award had included Messi, Bayern Munich striker Robert Lewandowski, and Juventus forward Cristiano Ronaldo.

Instead, the world’s biggest starts will have to instead wait for next summer in order to see who the world’s best player is after an unprecedented and abnormal 2020.

The post 2020 Ballon d’Or to be Cancelled appeared first on SportzBonanza.

The 2019-20 UEFA Champions League is finally set to wrap up in August, and it looks as if the organization’s plans to host the rest of the tournament in Lisbon, Portugal will have a small asterisk next to it.

While some of the Champions League Round of 16 matchups were able to be completed before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, others were left unfinished after only one draw was played.

UEFA has decided that instead of playing these remaining Round of 16 games in Lisbon like they will with the rest of the matches, they will instead be played at each team’s host stadium.

This means that Manchester City will host Real Madrid, Bayern Munich will host Chelsea, Juventus will host Lyon, and Barcelona will host Napoli in early August before the winning teams travel to Lisbon to join Atletico Madrid, Paris Saint-Germain, Atalanta, and RB Leipzig.

The same rule will be applied to the UEFA Europa League as well, which was left in the same situation as the Champions League.

While the games will be played in teams’ home stadiums, the matches will be held behind closed doors.

So, at least teams will now know that they won’t have to “forfeit” a home game if they were unable to finish their Round of 16 draw in March.

The post Remaining Champions League Round of 16 Games to be Played at Team Stadiums appeared first on SportzBonanza.

Ever since soccer leagues around Europe and the rest of the world have returned from the COVID-19 pandemic, one of the notable changes that have been implemented is the introduction of a five substitution rule which increases the number of players that coaches can bring off of the bench.

The IFAB, the overseeing governing body for association football around the world, is reportedly planning to extend that rule change for the 2020-21 season due to concerns about player fitness.

Leagues such as La Liga and the Premier League have played games at a frenetic rhythm ever since returning from the coronavirus-caused break, which was the reason given for the five substitutes rule.

Normally, teams are only allowed to bring in three players off of the bench during a match. The five substitutions rule allows two more fresh players to be brought onto the pitch during the course of a game.

In the 2020-21 season, at least, this new rule appears to be set to stick around as soccer organizations look to protect player health and safety in the wake of the pandemic.

Whether or not this rule is around to stay for good is yet to be seen, but teams and coaches can now at least keep this change in mind for the upcoming season as they begin to build rosters and strategies.

The post Five Substitution Rule for Soccer Set to Remain for 2020-21 Season appeared first on SportzBonanza.

FIFA, the international governing body of association football, has introduced a new change in the game’s rules that will allow for teams to stay fresh during the ramped-up schedules that will become common after leagues get back underway due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

FIFA has announced that, until the end of the calendar year 2020, teams will be allowed to make five substitutions per match. This is an increase over the three substitutions that have traditionally been allowed per team, per match.

This increase in the number of available substitutions is meant to keep players fresh and injury-free as they begin to play more games due to the compressed schedules caused by the absence of games since early March in most leagues.

Soccer leagues are slowly beginning to formulate plans to return to action, with major leagues such as Germany’s Bundesliga and Spain’s La Liga planning to return in May or June.

Leagues will be forced to play at least two games per week during the summer in order to accommodate the number of games that will need to be completed. This, in combination with higher summer temperatures, would make it difficult for the three substitution rule to be realistic.

So, FIFA will grant teams some extra flexibility and allow them to make this change in order to keep their players fresher until things get back to normal.

The post FIFA: Teams Will Be Allowed 5 Substitutions Per Match When Soccer Returns appeared first on SportzBonanza.

With the COVID-19 pandemic having postponed and canceled nearly all soccer leagues across the planet, decision makers have a tough task ahead of them. They must choose whether to restart their leagues in the coming months, scrap them and act as if 2019-20 never happened, or end the leagues with the current standings intact.

While some European leagues are looking to continue their competitions, such as Spain’s La Liga, others like France’s Ligue 1 have already announced their plans to not continue with the rest of the season.

In the case of the UEFA Champions League, the best solution to the dilemma would be to simply cancel the rest of the competition and look ahead to next season.

The last UEFA Champions League games that were played took place in early March, with half of the Round of 16 matches having had both legs completed. Four of the eight matchups, however, were unable to complete the second leg of draws.

That means that the Round of 16 would have to be completed, and the entirety of the two legs of quarter-finals and semi-finals matchups would have to be completed before two teams could even be decided for a theoretical final.

In total, five sets of games remain between a potential final, something that seems nearly impossible considering the current context of the sport.

Most European leagues that would be allowed to continue play will not be able to restart their leagues until early June at the earliest, meaning that the Champions League would be on a similar time table. These leagues will have to pack a lot of games into a short amount of time, requiring that at least two be played per week in most potential scenarios.

So, how would the Champions League even be able to fit into this potential scenario? It seems nearly impossible, and teams whose leagues do continue play would be at a huge competitive disadvantage compared to teams like Paris Saint-Germain, who won’t have domestic play to worry about.

While it might seem sacrilegious to end a Champions League campaign in his way, the circumstances resulting from the current global health crisis will make uncomfortable and unprecedented solutions necessary. Instead of putting players’ health at risk, both from a COVID-19 and a fitness perspective, the best solution is to simply write down this competition as a loss and look forward to starting anew in the fall.

The post Canceling the Remainder of the 2019-20 Champions League is the Fairest Solution For All appeared first on SportzBonanza.

After seeing the postponement of the season in March bring a sudden halt to the league, Italy’s Serie A soccer competition will allow its teams to return to group training on May 18th.

The COVID-19 pandemic, which had an especially severe impact in the country of Italy, has kept teams away from the field and from practice facilities since March 9th. Players have been forced to train individually at their homes in order to prevent the spread of the virus.

With the number of cases and deaths now falling in Italy and across Europe, the league has now given teams preliminary guidelines about their returns to the pitch.

Teams will begin to be able to work with players on an individual, non-team basis for training on May 4th. However, teams will not be allowed to congregate and practice in a group setting at team facilities until May 18th, over two months after the last time that teams were together.

Italy plans to resume play for its league sometime in June, however, the plans do not include games played with fans in the stands.

Juventus currently holds a one-point lead for the Scudetto in front of upstart Lazio. This race, as well as the race for the final two Champions League spots, are worth keeping an eye on once the league resumes play.

The post Serie A Teams to Return to Training on May 18th appeared first on SportzBonanza.