The 2020 Premier League campaign, which saw 20 clubs battle through a 38-game schedule, was forced into a hiatus because of the coronavirus pandemic. Consequently, UEFA had to reorganize the match schedules across various countries. While the Russian League halted its games scheduled for May 2020, UEFA initially aimed to maintain its planned June-July dates for its global tournaments. By March 2020, it became clear that some events would have to be pushed back to the same period in 2021.
The pandemic hit the sport hard, with several elite players and managers testing positive for the virus. In the Premier League rankings for 2020, Liverpool occupied the top spot, followed by Manchester City, Leicester City, Chelsea, and Arsenal. The impact was felt directly when Arsenal coach Mikel Arteta tested positive, leading to the suspension of the team's activities and the quarantine of the squad. Chelsea's Hudson-Odoi also tested positive, and players from third-place Leicester City were isolated after showing flu-like symptoms. Various other attackers and wingers across the league followed health protocols by entering self-isolation.
Manchester City, the reigning Premier League champions, decided to help the fight against COVID-19 by opening their home ground, the Etihad Stadium, to the National Health Service. Given the volatility of the pandemic, the club allowed NHS staff to use executive boxes and conference rooms as makeshift training centers and storage hubs for essential medical supplies. This gesture inspired other clubs to step up: Manchester United contributed £100,000 to food banks, and Real Madrid converted the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium into a facility for medical equipment. These efforts came at a critical time, as the death toll surpassed 30,000 and daily testing reached 25,000 people.
This has initiated other football clubs to volunteer their space to fight the spread of the disease in different ways, Manchester United had donated a hundred thousand pounds to the food banks as a support, and Real Madrid football club home player’s Bernabeu Stadium was also used as the medical supplies facility by their doctors in the pandemic health crisis. Since there aren’t significant recoveries form the pandemic, the loss exceeds 30,000, and in a day, 25,000 come in for the COVID-19 tests.