Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic

* In 2020 all 'blue states' (like irl + Massachusetts, New Hampshire, West Virginia and Texas) enforced closures of all entertainment and sporting venues except for venues that hosted "elite and NCAA-sanctioned" sporting events which will have a 30% limited capacity.
* Lockdown lasted from April 1 until July 21. On 21 January 2021, 1 day after inauguration, new US President Joe Biden announced a federal lockdown starting from 31 January until 1 May, elite sports were allowed to continue but behind closed doors. Biden created a 4 tier alert system after the US came out of lockdown, 26 states went into Tier 4, 10 states went into Tier 3, 5 states went into Tier 2 with the rest into Tier 1. CDC also banned all large-scale gatherings. Biden announced on the 11th August that the country will go into a 2nd federal lockdown for 174 days with COVID restrictions relaxed for a few weeks leading up to Christmas Day (however this was overturned and only Christmas Day would have no restrictions), lockdown lifted 1 February 2022 whilst maintaining the 4 tier system once US came out of lockdown. New US president Kamala Harris (Biden stepped down) announced a 3rd federal lockdown on 7 July 2022 until 8 February 2023 with a 3 day of lifted restrictions over Christmas.
* In March, numerous federal countries (USA, Australia, Brazil and Switzerland) all devolved COVID 19 responses to state/province level. Only Roraima and Rondônia in Brazil didn't lock down. The US has eased travel restrictions for 61 countries but the UK is not on the list.
* All "non-elite" sports during 2020–21 and 2021–22 seasons were cancelled due to lockdown measures which banned "non-elite" sports being played during lockdown, this includes all indoor and outdoor youth and adult grassroots sports, including U18s (except organised outdoor football for disabled people) and Women's football. Indoor sports including Karate, Taekwondo, Swimming and Badminton and outdoor sports courts, outdoor gyms, golf courses, outdoor swimming pools, archery/driving/shooting ranges and riding arenas must also close were also banned. Elite sports can continue behind close doors. This occurred in all countries that entered into a 2nd lockdown (and Finland, Iceland, Estonia and Uruguay who didn't lockdown in the 1st place but placed restrictions on mass gatherings)
* After increasing cases in January 2021. The countries' sports federations and league associations meet and agreed with the government of those countries to introduce a 2-week "fire-breaker", this meant that no professional sports will be played for 2 weeks and players and staff must stay in "lockdown" conditions for that period. **This started on the 10 January 2021 until 24 January 2021**. This occurred in all EU member states (except for Netherlands and Belgium), Norway, Liechtenstein, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Israel and Armenia.
* All 2nd lockdowns were from 27 December until 5 May. Netherlands, Belgium, New Zealand, Poland and Hungary were the only countries not to lock down again (UK, Ireland and Japan did not lockdown in the 1st place)

## **Sport**

### **Football**

#### **International**

* On 17 March 2020, UEFA announced that the Euro 2020 would be postponed by a year due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Europe, and proposed it take place from 11 June to 11 July 2021, which was confirmed on 17 June 2020. The competition was postponed in order to reduce pressure on the public services in affected countries and to allow time for the completion of domestic leagues that had been suspended
* UEFA announced they will be moving 2021 Euros from a Pan-European to the UK; Old Trafford, Manchester (3 group matches, 1 quarters, 1 semi-final, final), New White Hart Lane, London (3 group matches, 1 quarters), Anfield, Liverpool (3 group matches), Sportsdirect.com Park, Newcastle (3 group matches), Elland Road, Leeds (3 group matches), Villa Park, Birmingham (3 group matches), Murrayfield Stadium, Edinburgh, Scotland (3 group matches, 1 quarters) and Principality Stadium, Cardiff, Wales (3 group matches, 1 quarters, 1 semi-final).
* On 17 March 2020, CONMEBOL announced that due to the COVID-19 pandemic in South and North America, the tournament had been postponed for a year, in conjunction with UEFA's decision to also postpone UEFA Euro 2020 to 2021
* England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland played in a one-off revived "Home Nations Championship" in the summer of 2020 due to delayed Euros as the club competitions in Britain had already finished by its original planned date. It was won by Wales in surprise fashion who beating England 3-0 after a Cantona hat-trick in Cardiff, beat Scotland 4-0 at Murrayfield and beat Ireland 4-0 at Blanchflower Stadium.
* 2021 Confederation Cup went ahead with 4 teams; Australia (hosts), Algeria (2019 AFCON winners), Qatar (2019 AFC Asian Cup winners) and Senegal (2019 AFCON runner-up). This is due to European and the Americans nations competing in delayed continental competitions.
* The draw for the 2022 FIFA World Cup was held as a virtual event without any representatives of member associations present, this was conducted on December 2021.

#### **Europe**

* On 15 March, UEFA announced a halt to all 3 competitions (UCL, UEFA Cup and UEFA Cup Winners' Cup). UEFA announced that all 3 competitions in 2019–20 from the quarter-finals onwards were played as mini-tournament style single legged knockout ties at neutral venues over 8 days in August. Fans within the UK and Ireland are allowed to enter the stadiums 50% of the revised capacity the rest will be wrap covering seats.
* Final 3 rounds of the UCL was held in Blanchflower Stadium, East Belfast, Ulster, Ireland (home to Ireland's national football team) and Croke Park in Dublin (home to GAA), Blanchflower Stadium hosted the final. Cup Winners Cup was held in Birmingham with Villa Park (home to Aston Villa) and St. Andrews' (home to Birmingham City) with Villa Park hosting the final. As 2 UEFA Cup QF managed to complete their 1st leg fixtures, those matches will play their 2nd leg at a home stadium, the other 2 matches will be played single legged at Liverpool, England: Anfield (home to Liverpool F.C.) and Goodison Park (home to Everton)
* 2020–21 UEFA competitions was delayed until October.
* UEFA announced the 2020–21 competitions (UCL, UEFA Cup and UEFA Cup Winners Cup) will play the entire tournament single legged in a neutral venue, extra time will be used, an extra time sub will be allowed, the final 3 rounds will be played much like 2019–20. In the 2020–21 UCL final 3 rounds were held at Battersea Power Stadium and Barrack Field in London. UEFA did announced that this will be a one-off and will never happen again regardless of COVID-19 pandemic.
* To make sure British teams don't need to self-isolate UEFA decided to keep a match featuring a British match in Britain but not in the team's home ground for fairness. The opposing team playing the British side will have to postpone the previous 2 league (and possibly cup) games to allow the team to quarantine for 2 weeks to adhere to UK's COVID rules. To accommodate this, 1 game will be played on a Friday and another game will be played the following Tuesday (upcoming next weekend game) and then a game the following Friday
* In the 2020–21 UEFA Cup group stage, to reduce travel and overcome travel restrictions imposed by country governments, UEFA agreed to pair (as much as possible) 2 teams from the same country together (e.g. pair 2 English teams together, and then pair the 3rd English team with an Irish team or 2 of them). This was the first team in history of UEFA Cup, as usually this would not happen as a draw rule until Round of 16. This was exclusively for the 2020-21 UEFA Cup group stage, as the 'no nation paired together' rule would be enforced in the qualifying round and from Round of 16 until semis.
* In the 2021–22; UCL held at Old Trafford in Manchester (brought forward), UEFA Cup Winners Cup at SportsDirect.com Park in Newcastle hosting the final
* Everybody in the red zone must adhere to Britain's COVID rules (including quarantining for 14 days upon arrival).

**UEFA Cup Winners Cup Qualifying round**

1. Groupama Arena, Budapest
2. New Sivas 4 Eylül Stadium, Sivas, Turkey
3. Estádio D. Afonso Henriques, Guimarães, Portugal
4. Maksimir Stadium, Zagreb, Croatia
5. Philips Stadion, Eindhoven, Netherlands
6. Cluj Arena, Cluj Napoca, Romania
7. Ernst Happel Stadion, Vienna, Austria
8. Silesian Stadium, Chorzów, Poland
9. Lech Stadium, Poznań, Poland
10. Wrocław Stadium, Wrocław, Poland
11. Stade Louis II, Monaco
12. St. Jakob-Park, Basel, Switzerland
13. Liberty Stadium, Swansea, Wales, UK (Sheff Utd match)

**UEFA Cup Winners Cup Round of 32**

1. Puskás Aréna, Budapest, Hungary
2. Juventus Stadium, Turin, Italy
3. Stadio Olimpico, Rome, Italy
4. Estadio de la Cerámica, Villarreal, Spain
5. Karaiskakis Stadium, Piraeus, Greece
6. San Mamés, Bilbao, Spain
7. Stade Pierre-Mauroy, Lille, France
8. Stade de Nice, Nice, France
9. Metalist Stadium, Kharkiv, Ukraine
10. De Kuip, Rotterdam, Netherlands
11. St. Jakob-Park, Basel, Switzerland
12. Filbert Street, Leicester, England, UK (either Swansea or Sheff Utd)
13. Bramall Lane, Sheffield, England, UK (either Swansea or Leicester)
14. Liberty Stadium, Swansea, Wales, UK (either Sheff Utd or Leicester)

#### **Spain**

* On 12 March 2020, all Spanish football leagues were suspended until 31 March as the Spanish government prohibited events due to the COVID-19 pandemic. On 15 March this period was extended until 6 April. The Spanish government to prohibit all gatherings and events until 1 September 2020, as a result, the LFP announced on the same day that it did not intend to resume the 2019–20 season. A final decision would be taken after consultation with the UEFA and debating the consequences with the clubs involved.
* All teams played 27 games equally, Barcelona awarded the title, Real Madrid qualified for UCL, Sevilla, Getafe and Atlético Madrid qualified for UEFA Cup. Real Sociedad qualified for Cup Winners Cup beating A. Bilbao in Copa del Rey final
* 2019/20 Copa del Rey final was delayed until July and played in King Abdullah Sports City in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
* On 6 May 2020, the Royal Spanish Football Federation announced the premature end of the Segunda División B, revoking all relegations and planning an eventual promotion playoff to be played if possible. Also, the expansion of the league to 5 groups of 20 teams each for the 2020–21 season (due to promotion from the curtailed Tercera División groups being applied) was approved
* On 6 May 2020, the Royal Spanish Football Federation announced the premature end of the Tercera División, revoking all relegations and planning an eventual promotion playoff to be played if possible. Each regional federation would be allowed to plan their own group for the 2020–21 season
* 2020 Supercopa de Espana was cancelled.
* All games in the 2020–21 season was held behind closed doors.
* 2020–21 La Liga start date originally 14th August will now began on 12 September 2020 and is scheduled to conclude on 23 May 2021
* On 14 October 2020, the RSFF announced that all 1st round matches involving amateur teams would be postponed until 1 and 2 December as a result of new measures taken by the government to stop the spread of the virus. If the amateur teams are still not allowed to play matches by 2 December they will be excluded from further participation. On 17 November 2020, the RSFF's director of amateur football confirmed that the Copa Del Rey would continue without amateur teams
* 2020–21 Copa Del Rey semifinals will be single-legged rather than 2-legged. 2021 Copa Del Rey final will be held in April.
* 2020–21 Copa Del Rey Round of 32 dates was pushed to 26–28 January 2021, Round of 16 to 2–4 February, Quarter-finals to 10th and 11th February with the semifinals held 3rd and 4th March. The final will be held on the 3rd April 2021
* All leagues in 2020–21 below Segunda División were prematurely ended, revoking all promotions and relegations. The new Primera División RFEF division intended to be introduced 2021–22 was delayed by a season.

#### **Italy**

* The 2nd leg of Coppa Italia was cancelled. Because Napoli beat Inter Milan 1–0 in the 1st leg and Juventus beat A.C. Milan 2–1, Napoli and Juventus will play each other in the final 'behind closed doors'.
* The Coppa Italia Final was held in 1 August at King Saud University Stadium in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia; Napoli beat Juventus 2-0 on ADG as the result within 70 minutes (extra time was scrapped for 2020 edition) finished 0–0
* The 2020 Italian Super Cup was cancelled
* The 2019-20 Serie A-C season was originally scheduled to run from 24 August 2019 to 24 May 2020. However, on 9 March 2020, the Italian government halted the league until 3 April 2020.
* On 2 April 2020, the Serie A-C was prematurely ended, in Serie A PPG was used; Internazionale won the Scudetto with 2.42, A.C. Milan qualified for UCL with 2.38. Juventus (2.16), Lazio (1.92) and Atalanta (1.73) all qualified for UEFA Cup, 18th - Lecce (0.96, GD-16), 19th - SPAL (0.69) and 20th - Brescia (0.62) were relegated to Serie B. 6th - A.S. Roma (1.50), 7th - Hellas Verona (1.40, GD+3), 8th - Parma (1.40, GD+1), 9th - Napoli (1.38), 10th - Bologna (1.31), 11th - Sassuolo (1.28, GD+2), 12th - Cagliari (1.28, GD+2), 13th - Fiorentina (1.15), 14th - Udinese (1.08), 15th - Torino (1.08), 16th - Sampdoria (1.04), 17th - Genoa (0.96, GD-16)
* The 2019–20 Serie D season was ended in advance by the Italian Football Federation on 20 May 2020, after a 2-month suspension, due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Italy. On 22 May, the Lega Nazionale Dilettanti formally proposed the 9 1st-placed teams for promotion to Serie C, with the 4 bottom teams in each group as the ones to be relegated in the Eccellenza league.
* All results further down the pyramid were declared null and voided. Promotion from further down the pyramid was also revoked.
* The Italian football season kicked off on the 4th September with a Serie A match, no winter break will take place except for a break during Christmas and New Year's. All games were played behind closed doors
* Due to firebreaker sports lockdown (see right at the top of page), the Round of 16 matches were moved to 26th and 27th January. Quarter Final was moved to 2nd and 3rd February.
* Due to the 2nd wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in Italy, the Lega Nazionale Dilettanti, who is responsible for the organization of the league, decided on 5 November 2020 to suspend the regular Serie D programme until 29 November, instead using this prolonged break to reschedule all games that could not be played due to COVID-19 related health concerns
* 2020–21 Coppa Italia semifinals will be single-legged rather than 2-legged. Juventus beat Inter Milan 2–1 at Inter's San Siro on the 9th February.
* All leagues in 2020–21 below Serie C were prematurely ended, revoking all promotions and relegations

#### **Germany**

* Germany went into lockdown starting from the 20 March 2020 lasting 102 days ending on the 30 June 2020
* The German government decided to prohibit the organisation of "mass events" until 31 August 2020 this included sports even behind closed doors. Because of this all league football was prematurely ended
* The DFB-Pokal Final was rescheduled to the 29th August and held at National Stadium, Warsaw, Poland and will be a curtain raiser played behind closed doors with Bayern Munich beating Bayer Leverkusen 4-2
* The 2020 DFL Super Cup was cancelled
* Relegation-promotion playoffs were cancelled, only 2 teams will be relegated
* All teams have played 25 match equally, this meant Bayern Munich were awarded the title. Paderborn and Fortuna Düsseldorf were relegated to 2. Bundesliga. Borussia Dortmund qualified for UCL as a runner-up. Borussia Mönchengladbach (3rd), RB Leipzig (4th) and Hoffenheim (5th) all qualified for the UEFA Cup. Bayer Leverkusen qualified for the Cup Winners Cup on the basis of finishing runner-up of the DFB-Pokal (Bayern won the competition but already qualified for UCL)
* All teams in Bundesliga 2 played 26 games equally so Arminia Bielefeld, Hamburger SV and VfB Stuttgart were promoted to the Bundesliga. Wehen Wiesbaden, Karlsruher SC and Dynamo Dresden were relegated to 3. Liga
* All teams in 3.Liga played 27 games equally so MSV Duisburg, Waldhof Mannheim and SpVgg Unterhaching were promoted to 2. Bundesliga. Hallescher FC, FSV Zwickau, Preußen Münster, Sonnenhof Großaspach and Carl Zeiss Jena were relegated to Regionalliga
* In Regionalliga; VfB Lübeck, Lokomotive Leipzig, SV Rödinghausen, 1. FC Saarbrücken and Türkgücü München were all promoted to 3. Liga. Regionalliga Bayern was the only league without PPG
* All results further down the pyramid were declared null and voided. Regionalliga relegation was revoked and promotion from further down the pyramid was also revoked.
* The German football season kicked off on the 4th September with a Bundesliga match. All games in the 2020–21 season were played behind closed doors and there will be no winter break but teams will be allowed Christmas and New Year's off (similar to Spain's La Liga)
* The German Government announced that they will enter a 2nd lockdown starting 1st October 2021 lasting for 111 days with lockdown ending on the 20 January 2022. Chancellor Saskia Esken announced a ban on non-elite sports, because of this the DFB announced the cancellation of all leagues below 3.Liga meaning no team will be relegated from 3.Liga.

#### **France**

* France went into lockdown starting from the 17th March 2020 lasting for 103 days, ending on the 28th June 2020.
* On 28 April 2020 Prime Minister Edouard Philippe announced all sporting events in France (even behind close doors) would be cancelled until September. This meant that Ligue 1 & 2 and Championnat National was prematurely ended and
* The 2020 Coupe de la Ligue Final was cancelled, as PSG already qualified for UCL as league champions, Lyon (the runner up) qualified for the Cup Winners Cup
* It was announced that Coupe de France would be played outside France for the first time in its history. Saputo Stadium, Montréal was chosen, and will be played to no fans on the 31 July
* The 2020 Trophée des Champions was cancelled.
* Paris Saint-Germain were awarded the championship on a PPG basis. Amiens and Toulouse were both relegated to Ligue 2.
* All teams in Ligue 2 played 28 games equally. Lorient and Lens were both promoted to Ligue 1, Le Mans and Orléans were both relegated to Championnat National
* Pau and Dunkerque were both promoted to Ligue 2. Le Puy, Béziers, Gazélec Ajaccio and Toulon were all relegated to Championnat National 2
* On 16 April 2020, the FFF announced the termination of Championnat National 2, with promotion and relegation decided by points earned per game played
* On 16 April 2020, the FFF announced the termination of Championnat National 3, with promotion and relegation decided by points earned per game played
* French football season will start on the 4th September, with all games in the 2020–21 season were played behind closed doors. There will be no winter break but teams will be allowed Christmas and New Year's off (similar to Spain's La Liga)
* On 28 October 2020, French President Emmanuel Macron announced a 2nd COVID-19 lockdown will begin on the 30th October 2020 lasting until 1 April 2021, during lockdown non-elite sports was banned. On the 29 October 2020, the FFF confirmed the suspension of senior football at all levels below Championnat National, the FFF subsequently cancelled all football below Championnat National meaning no team will be relegated from that division. Teams below Championnat National were still able to compete in the Coupe de France.
* 2020–21 Coupe de France Round of 32 was postponed by a week (originally suppose to play on 15–18 January 2021) meaning it'll play on 22–25 January 2021, Round of 16 will be held 9–11 February 2021, Quarter-finals on the 6–7 March 2021, Semifinals 7 April 2021 and the Final on the 21 April 2021
* France went into a 3rd lockdown on the 1st October 2021 lasting for 69 days until 9 December 2021

#### **Netherlands**

* On 12 March 2020, both Eredivisie and Eerste Divisie were suspended for at least 2 weeks due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The league became suspended indefinitely on 23 March. The season resumed on 11 June, with matches being played every single day until 13 July, all games in the penultimate round were held on 16 July, with all final round matches being played on 19 July.
* The KNVB Cup was postponed to July
* Netherlands football leagues all started on the 5 September 2020, all games in the 2020–21 season were played to no fans (behind closed doors). There will be no winter break but teams will be allowed Christmas and New Year's off (similar to Spain's La Liga)

#### **BLEU (Belgium and Luxembourg)**

* On 2 April 2020, the Pro League 1's board of directors agreed to propose to cancel the season early during the COVID-19 pandemic. Should this proposal be accepted, Club Brugge will be awarded the title. In the meantime UEFA has threatened to ban teams in Europe in case their respective leagues were terminated early without trying to have all remaining matches completed. The decision of whether to accept this proposal was initially meant to be decided by a vote at a meeting on 15 April 2020, but had been postponed 3 times.
* The proposal was finally accepted by the General Assembly on 15 May 2020, confirming Club Brugge as 2019–20 Pro League 1 champions.

#### **Rest of Europe**

* On 17 March 2020, the Russian league was suspended until 10 April 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Russia. On 1 April 2020, Russian Football Union extended the suspension until 31 May 2020. On 2 June 2020, the league announced specific dates for each remaining game, with the first game upon resumption scheduled on 19 June between PFC Krylia Sovetov Samara and FC Akhmat Grozny. On 5 June, the league announced that some fans will be allowed in the stands, following limitations established by the appropriate local authorities, but away fans will not be allowed in. On 26 June 2020, the league members voted to amend league regulations, with the most notable change being removal of the automatic league expulsion as the punishment for 2 forfeited games. Teams will be allowed to forfeit 2 or more games and remain in the league as long as they don't finish in the relegation position in the table. The restriction for the minimum number of players registered for a specific game (16 outfield players and 2 goalkeepers) was also removed, so the teams would be able to play if they have fewer players available than 18. The changes had been approved by the Russian Football Union. RFU approved the changes on 29 June 2020
* On 15 May 2020, the Order of St John Premier Division was abandoned, the title was not awarded, and no teams were relegated,
* 2019–20 Serbian SuperLiga was suspended on 15 March 2020, and was resumed on 29 May 2020. The season was shortened and the play-offs (championship round and relegation round) were cancelled, and no teams would be relegated.
* In March 2020 the Austrian Bundesliga was postponed after the completion of regular rounds and before the league spilt. The league spilt period of the league resumed on the 3 June.
* On 4 June 2020, the Football Federation of North Macedonia announced that the competition was abandoned due to the increasing number of COVID-19 cases in North Macedonia. Vardar was awarded the title, but no teams were relegated. The teams playing in Europe will be decided once the teams which successfully obtain a UEFA licence are known
* On 13 March 2020, the Bulgarian Football Union decided to suspend all fixtures until 13 April. On 3 April 2020, the state of national emergency was extended until 13 May 2020 and on 11 April the Minister of Youth and Sports Krasen Kralev confirmed that no mass participation sports events and full training sessions will be held until that date. On 14 May, it was announced that footballers would be given the opportunity to train together over the course of the next 3 weeks, subject to the observance of strict rules and a gradual increase in the number of participants. The competitive matches resumed on 5 June (with the post-regular season phase – the championship and relegation rounds – shortened in half). The expectations in mid May were that no fans would be allowed, but on 2 June a decree by Minister of Health Kiril Ananiev permitted the presence of spectators, subject to the restriction that no more than 30% of the stadium capacity is occupied and social distancing in terms of seating is adhered to. On 12 June, it was decided that since 15 June the stadiums could be filled up to 50% capacity. On 23 June, a requirement of no more than 1000 spectators per section of the stands was imposed. The match between Vitosha and Tsarsko Selo was postponed from 26 June to 27 June after it was reported that 4 Vitosha players and a physiotherapist had tested positive for COVID-19, but their PCR tests eventually produced negative results. Due to a number of fans and Lokomotiv Plovdiv players who had tested positive in the aftermath of the Bulgarian Cup final, the 9 July match between Lokomotiv Plovdiv and CSKA Sofia (the same teams that contested the final) was held behind closed doors. After a continuous rise in the number of infections in the period between mid June and early July, in a decree valid from 10 July, spectators were once again forbidden to attend football matches.
* Croatia First Football League was temporarily postponed from 12 March to 5 June 2020
* On 12 March, the League Football Association announced that all Czechoslovakia First League games had been postponed for the foreseeable future due to the COVID-19 pandemic. After 2 months, on 12 May, the League Football Association announced that the First League would resume on 25 May. The regular season concluded on 14 June 2020. On 23 July, when the Champions group and the Europa League playoffs have already been finalized, the SFC Opava - a team currently holding 15th place in the table has been suspected for coronavirus by 1 of their team members. The League Football Association said it is not possible to complete the league's group rescue as a result of this, and the team was forced to quarantine. None of the 3 teams in danger of falling into the 2nd league, namely Karviná, Opava and Příbram, will be relegated. The victorious Pardubice, and the 2nd place Zbrojovka Brno will advance to the First League, while 3rd-place Dukla Praha will not. The relegation group matches have been suspended and no team was relegated. Europa league play-offs were cancelled; Slovan Liberec qualified as the 3rd UEFA Cup team.

#### **USMCA (USA, Mexico and Canada)**

* MLS 2020 season continue playing to its conclusion but all games after March 1st were held to no fans except for Orlando City, Fort Lauderdale CF and Real Salt Lake who allowed 30% capacity (Orlando - 7,650. Fort Lauderdale - 5,400 and RSL - 6,064).
* The 2021 MLS season was cancelled before the season began and replaced with the "MLS is Back" Tournament played at ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex in Orlando, Florida in July and August which are played in a 'bio-secure bubble' (medical protocol). The 24 teams will be drawn into 6 groups of 4 teams, top 2 teams + 4 best 3rd placed teams advance to the Round of 16. The Finalists will qualify for next year's Copa Libertadores, the semi-finalists will qualify for next year's Copa Sudamerica.
* In the Liga MX on 22 May 2020, the season was cancelled, while no official champion was crowned for that season officially, Cruz Azul was awarded a spot in the 2021 Copa Libertadores, as the 1st placed team of the regular season at the time of suspension
* 2020–21 Liga MX season played behind closed doors. Due to the poor condition of Estadio Azteca, CA America shared Estadio Olímpico Universitario with Pumas
* 2021 Campeones Cup (winner of MLS vs. winner of Liga MX) was cancelled due to no MLS winner.
* The CPL announced a 14-day hold on all pre-season training on March 13, 2020. On March 20, the league announced that it would be postponing the start of the season from the previously scheduled date of April 11. A shortened 2020 season tournament, branded as The Island Games, was played at the University of Prince Edward Island from August 13 to September 19. All matches were played behind closed doors (the venue did not have any grandstands to begin with), and all players were required to self-isolate for 14 days before travelling, self-isolate for five more days upon arrival, and receive two negative COVID-19 tests before being allowed to play. As of July 29, PEI had the lowest number of COVID-19 cases among provinces, at 36.
* The 2021 CPL season was cancelled outright.

#### **Women's Football**

* The 2020–21 and 2021–22 all women's football (leagues and cups) was cancelled due to COVID lockdown rules which banned women's football as it was a non-elite sports (only elite sports were allowed to play during lockdown behind closed doors)
* All teams in the FA Women's Premier League agreed to end the season with immediate effect on 13 March 2020. The FA Women's Board decided to award places on a points-per-game (PPG) basis. The 2020–21 was cancelled per agreement of all clubs despite no lockdown or restrictions on women's football in the UK (see above), this was due to spiralling cost of women's football combined with lack of fan interest and sponsorships, so they cancelled it to keep costs under control (numerous women's football clubs faced wave of bankruptcies).
* However the Women's FA Cup will continue (deviation: the Continental League Cup never existed) but played to no fans per decision by FA Women's Board (despite sports allowed to be played to fans in UK)
* Because of this the FA Women's Community Shield was cancelled.
* On 24 April 2020 the 2019–20 BeNe League was abandoned, with no winner.
* After 16 match weeks, the Ligue 1 Feminine season was abandoned due to the COVID-19 pandemic in France. Lyon were declared champions with no relegations. Coupe de France Féminine and Trophée des Championnes Féminine were both cancelled, as well as 2020–21 and 2021–22 editions.
* After 21 match weeks, the Royal Spanish Football Federation announced the premature end of the league, revoking relegations and naming Barcelona as league champions 5 years after their last title. The 2019–20 Copa de la Reina de Fútbol was cancelled without a winner.
* 2019–20 Frauen-Bundesliga was cancelled, a PPG was used and VfL Wolfsburg were declared champions with USV Jena and 1. FC Köln relegated
* 2019–20 Serie A Women season was terminated on 8 June 2020. On 25 June, Juventus was awarded the championship title by the FIGC and Tavagnacco & Orobica were relegation to Serie B Women. 2019–20 Coppa Italia di Calcio Femminile was abandoned without a winner.
* 2019–20 UEFA Women's Champions League was abandoned meaning no winner was determined.
* 2020–21 UEFA Women's Champions League was cancelled due to COVID lockdown which banned women's football as it was a non-elite sports, meaning that matches were unable to occur.
* 2021–22 UEFA Women's Champions League was cancelled due to numerous 2020–21 domestic leagues being cancelled resulting in 0 teams qualifying for the tournament.

#### **Copa Libertadores and Copa Sudamericana**

* CONMEBOL announced the postponed of 2020 Copa Libertadores. The tournament was suspended after group stage matchday 2 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and resumed on 15 September 2020, ending with the final on 30 January 2021
* The 2021 Copa Libertadores and Copa Sudamericana will be played entirely single-legged with all games played to no fans, for the qualifying round the first team drawn will play at home.
* For the Round of 16 the group winners will play at home, for the Copa Sudamericana home team will be based on seeding according to the second stage draw, higher seeded team will play at home.
* The final 3 rounds of Copa Libertadores will be played at Exploria Stadium in Orlando, Florida, USA behind closed doors.
* The final 3 rounds of Copa Sudamericana will be played at River Plate Stadium in Buenos Aires, Argentina
* If there are travel restrictions related to the COVID-19 pandemic that prevent the away team from entering the home team's country or returning to their own country, the match may be played at a neutral country or the away team's country that allows the match to take place.
* If a team refuses to play or is considered responsible for a match not taking place, they are considered to have forfeited the match. If both teams refuse to play or are considered responsible for a match not taking place, both teams are disqualified.
* If a team has players and/or officials tested positive for SARS-2 coronavirus preventing them from playing the match before the deadline set by UEFA, they are considered to have forfeited the match.
* On 24 September 2020, CONMEBOL announced that 5 substitutions would be permitted, with a 6 allowed in extra time. However, each team is only given 3 opportunities to make substitutions during matches, with a 4th opportunity in extra time, excluding substitutions made at half-time, before the start of extra time and at half-time in extra time. Consequently, a maximum of 12 players can be placed on the bench
* Canadian teams announced they will withdraw from 2021 Copa Libertadores and Copa Sudamericana after the draw was made due to travel restrictions imposed by the Canadian Government. CONMEBOL awarded the teams about to face Canadian teams a forfeit victory.

#### **Other**

* On 9 March 2020, FIFA and AFC announced that the 2020 AFC Futsal Championship in Ashgabat was postponed to 5–16 August
* 2020 Intercontinental Cup and Supercopa Euroamerica was cancelled
* AFC announced the postponed of 2020 AFC Champions League. It restarted on 14 September 2020. All matches after the restart were played in Qatar, with the final played at the Al Janoub Stadium. Johor Darul Ta'zim (Malaysia) withdrew from tournament due to travel restrictions, Al-Hilal (Saudi Arabia) and Al-Wahda (UAE) both withdrew from the tournament due to several team members testing positive for COVID-19. In the knockout stage, the 16 teams played a single-elimination tournament, with the teams split into the two regions until the final. Each tie was played as a single-leg match at centralised venues, instead of the usual home-and-away two-legged basis as planned before the COVID-19 pandemic. Extra time and a penalty shoot-out were used to decide the winners if necessary.
* The semi-finals and final of the CAF Champions League was postponed until October and November 2020. Moreover, for the 1st time, the final was played as a single match at a venue pre-selected by CAF, and was originally to be played at the Japoma Stadium in Douala, Cameroon. However, Cameroon decided to withdraw from hosting, and instead, the final was played in Egypt, at the Cairo International Stadium in Cairo.

#### **European Super League**

* On 23 April 2021, after the all 12 ESL teams announced they will go through with the plan, they all resigned European Club Association (ECA), Nasser Al-Khelaifi resigned as ECA chairman
* UEFA announced all 12 ESL teams will be banned from all UEFA competitions and any of them that is UEFA club competitions (UCL, UEFA Cup and Cup Winners Cup) will be thrown out of them, from UCL quarter-finals; Paris Saint-Germain v Bayern Munich match was cancelled, Tottenham Hotspur was awarded a 3–0 technical forfeit victory against Borussia Dortmund, Liverpool was awarded a 3–0 technical forfeit victory against Real Madrid, and Porto v Juventus match was cancelled
* Paris Saint-Germain (in 2nd place), Lyon (in 4th place) and Marseille (in 6th place) had all their victory's overturned and instead their opponents were awarded 3–0 technical forfeit victory, for the rest of the season 3–0 technical forfeit victory were awarded to their opponents as the 3 French teams were throw out of the Ligue 1. Lille went on to win Ligue 1, with Monaco qualifying for UCL by finishing runner-up. Relegation was revoked, meaning no team was relegated from Ligue 1 into Ligue 2, promotion however was still maintained to fill PSG's, Lyon and OM's places. Nîmes and Dijon were the 2 teams who finished in the bottom 2 places.
* Barcelona were stripped of their 2021 Copa Del Rey and awarded to Athletic Bilbao, A. Bilbao were also awarded 3–0 technical forfeit victory against Barcelona after originally finishing 4–0 to Barcelona
* Montpellier were awarded a 3–0 technical forfeit victory against Paris Saint Germain in the French Cup semi-finals
* Atalanta were awarded a 3–0 technical forfeit victory against Juventus in the Coppa Italia Final and thus were crown Coppa Italia champions.

### **Rugby**

#### **Internationals**

* 2020 June rugby internationals were all cancelled
* 2020 November internationals were all cancelled, replacing it is the Autumn Nations Cup with the Five Nations (Ireland, Scotland, Wales, England and France) + Georgia, USA and Canada. Canada's "home" match was played at Parc y Scarlets, Llanelli. Georgia's "home" matches was held at the University of Bolton Stadium. France's "home" matches was held at Elland Road, Leeds and USA's "home" matches was in New White Hart Lane, London. England played 1 home match at Anfield, Liverpool and the other home group match at London Stadium, London. The final was held at Old Trafford in Manchester. Italy were originally going to join but withdraw due to COVID travel restriction enforced by their government, Georgia replaced them
* 2021 Rugby Championship changed to a 5-team tournament following the format of the former Five Nations Championship in which a nation plays the other 5 nations once for a total of 5 games. South Africa confirmed their withdrawal due to South African government travel restriction and player welfare & safety concerns related to COVID-19, Japan withdrew due to travel restrictions and Fiji withdrew due to a COVID-19 outbreak in their team camp. This meant that Australia, NZ, Argentina, Tonga and Samoa all played. This took placed in June due to all June internationals being cancelled, all games were played in Australia behind closed doors. The global quarantining measures and need to maintain a bubble meant that match official neutrality was not possible, and the team of match officials came from Australia and New Zealand.
* 2020 Americas' Six Nations was cancelled.
* France, Italy, Georgia and Germany all pulled out of the 2021 8 Nations Championship due government travel restrictions, player welfare & safety concerns and their playing squads had contracted COVID-19. The tournament was rebranded the 'Home Nations Championship' in which the Home Nations will play each other twice (6 games) in a round-robin format with the nation that finishes 1st declared the champions.
* The 2021 Home Nations tour of South Africa was postponed to 2025, Australia will host 2029 tour, New Zealand will host 2033

#### **Club**

* National Rugby League's first 7 round was played (to full capacity) before the season was suspended on 16 March, but a resumption to a revised format started again on 2 August with the league cut to 20 rounds (final 2 rounds were cancelled). Among the changes were the cancellation of the annual State of Origin and changed the way league positions were determined. For the 1st time, league position was determined by win % (number of wins divided by number of games played) rather than by competition points, acknowledging that some clubs may be unlikely to fulfil all their fixtures.
* The NRL agreed to extend the play-offs to include the top 6 clubs, the top team in each conference playing in the semis, the 2nd played the 3rd in the quarters. Teams were placed on stand-by in case they were unable to do so. The highest ranked losing team from the semi-finals remained on standby to compete in the grand final, if either finalists were unable to do so. This never happened however. The entire season will be played to no fans (behind closed doors)
* Victoria Thunderbolts played all their home matches at Stadium Australia in Sydney, NSW and will train at Sydney due to Victoria ordering a 6-week lockdown and banned travel to and from other Australian states to deal with a surge in cases.
* 2020 NRL playoffs is played in 2 neutral sites; Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane and Queensland Country Bank Stadium, South Townsville, Suncorp Stadium hosting the NRL Grand Final due to Sydney, NSW busy hosting ARL Playoffs.
* The 2021 NRL season was pushed to last weekend of March. All matches were played behind closed doors at 1 neutral venue. The NRL also agreed to follow 2020 format (win %, and 20 rounds will be played rather than 22) and playoff venues
* 2021 NRL Women's Premiership was cancelled due to non elite sport being banned and women's sports was considered "non-elite" during lockdown.
* 2019–20 Top16 was ended prematurely and places were awarded by win % (number of wins divided by number of games played), play-offs were cancelled and the championship was awarded to the team that finished top of the table. No relegations will take place.
* The 2020–21 Top16 were cancelled before its start.
* 2021 Major League Rugby was cancelled before it began.
* The 2020 and 2021 World Club Challenge was cancelled due travel restrictions, the Celtic League champions did play the English SRL champions in a pre-season 'Charity Shield'
* Traditionally played in South Africa's winter, the Currie Cup began later than usual in the 2020 season and extended into summer. The tournament was scheduled to start in late August, subject to government approval, but no rugby was allowed to be played in South Africa between mid March and late September 2020. It began on the 9th October and because South Africa's national team have no scheduled November international matches played throughout November

### **Cricket**

* Numerous international matches played from April until June were postponed and instead played from July until September. All international matches from July 2020 until March 2021 are played to no fans (except for England home tour) in bio-medical conditions.
* A women's quadrangular series was scheduled to take place in Thailand in April 2020, but was cancelled a month before it was due to start. The 2020 Malaysia Cricket World Cup Challenge League A, scheduled to take place in March 2020, was postponed, along with two T20I matches between a World XI and Asia XI side.
* The 2020 Africa T20 Cup Finals was scheduled to take place in Kenya in March 2020, before it was postponed in line with the Kenyan government's 30-day ban on international gatherings
* On 13 March 2020, the Netherlands tour to Namibia was cancelled due to the pandemic. 3 days later, Ireland's tour to Zimbabwe also got cancelled. On 24 March, Namibia tri-series was postponed.
* On 23 March, the T20I series between Brazil women's team and Argentina women's team was postponed. The 2020 South American Cricket Championship were also cancelled after being postponed from October 2020
* On 10 June 2020, the International Cricket Council (ICC) confirmed that the Scotland tri-series, also involving Nepal and Namibia has been postponed due to the pandemic. Australia were supposed to tour Scotland for a solitary T20I. However, on 17 June 2020, Cricket Scotland confirmed that the match had been cancelled
* On 11 June 2020,the ICC also confirmed that the Namibia Tri-Nation Series, scheduled to take place in September 2020, had also been postponed
* On 30 June 2020, Zimbabwe's ODI tour to Australia was postponed. On 4 August 2020, the West Indies T20I tour to Australia was also postponed. On 25 September 2020, Cricket Australia confirmed that the one-off Test match against Afghanistan, and the limited-overs series against New Zealand had both been postponed due to the pandemic
* On 9 July 2020, the 2020 Asia Cup was postponed until the following July, with the 2020 Asia Cup Qualifier tournament cancelled. On 25 August 2020, the ICC confirmed that the 2020 Malaysia Cricket World Cup Challenge League A tournament had been postponed due to the pandemic. The following month, it was confirmed that the 2020 edition of the Women's Asia Cup, scheduled to take place in September in Bangladesh, had also been cancelled due to the pandemic. On 28 September 2020, Bangladesh's planned tour to Sri Lanka was postponed for a second time, after both cricket boards could not agree on the quarantine requirements.
* In August 2020, Afghanistan's tour to Zimbabwe was called off, following an increase of COVID-19 cases in Zimbabwe. Later the same month, the Netherlands' tour to Zimbabwe was also called off, along with Pakistan's planned tour to South Africa
* In November 2020, Ireland and Scotland women's planned tour to Spain was postponed, after Scotland withdrew. In September 2020, the seventh edition of the Central Europe Cup in Prague was one of several annual associate member tournaments to be cancelled.
* In January 2021, the Ireland cricket team were scheduled to play 4 ODIs against the UAE. However, a COVID-19 outbreak in the UAE team meant that the tour schedule was changed multiple times, resulting in only two of the four matches being played
* In early February 2021, Australian men announced that they would postpone their upcoming Tour of South Africa because of the unacceptable risk of contracting COVID-19 whilst on Tour, along with difficulty in repatriating any Tour party members were some to contract the disease
* Teams from Austria, Luxembourg and Romania were to tour Belgium for their T20 international series in April and May. All the three series got cancelled
* The 2021 T20 World Cup was moved from India to England due to rise in cases in India, Australia (original 2025 hosts) could not host due to restrictions. The 2025 T20 World Cup was held in India, and 2029 in Australia.

#### **Domestic**

* All One-Day domestic tournaments (except in England) in 2020 and early 2021 were all cancelled.
* On 11 March 2020, English teams Worcestershire and Surrey both cancelled their pre-season warm-up tours to the United Arab Emirates
* On 12 March, the Pakistan Cricket Board announced that all remaining matches of the Pakistan Super League's ongoing fifth season being played in Karachi (where the majority of cases in Pakistan had been concentrated) would be closed to spectators. On 16 March 2020, the remaining play-offs in the 2020 Pakistan Super League were postponed due to a huge spike in the number of coronavirus cases around the country.
* The 2020 IPL season was originally scheduled to commence on 29 March 2020, but was suspended until 15 April due to the COVID-19 pandemic. After Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced on 14 April that the lockdown in India would last until at least 3 May 2020, the BCCI suspended the tournament indefinitely. On 2 August 2020, it was announced that the IPL will be shortened (a team will play the other 9 teams once) and played between 19 September and 10 November 2020 in the United Arab Emirates
* In October 2020, the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) confirmed that there would be no edition of the Bangladesh Premier League in 2020, due to the pandemic
* The 2020 Mzansi Super League was cancelled
* The 2020 Sri Lanka Premier League was cancelled
* The 2020 EPLT20 was cancelled
* The 2020 Global T20 Canada was cancelled
* Minor League Cricket was postponed to spring 2022 with Major League Cricket held in 2023
* In the CPLT20 2020, the Brian Lara Cricket Academy hosted the first 10 and the last 10 league matches, along with all the matches in the playoffs. The remaining fixtures took place at Queen's Park Oval. All played to no fans
* All matches in the T20 Big Bash League will be played to no fans. The semi-final and final was played in one day much like England's Finals Day at Melbourne Cricket Ground.
* The 2021 Pakistan Super League was cancelled
* All 2020–21 Super Smash Twenty20 matches were played at Eden Park in Auckland to no fans.
* In India, the 2020–21 Ranji Trophy tournament was cancelled due to the pandemic, the first time since the tournament's inception in the 1934–35 season that the Ranji Trophy was not held
* South African cricketers withdrew from competing in 2021 IPL. In February, English cricketer also withdrew due to increase in cases in India, player welfare & safety concerns and travel restrictions. Just a week before Australian and New Zealand cricketers all decide to withdrew from the tournament also and return to their respective countries. R Ashwin left the Delhi Capitals bubble to "support family" during the pandemic. 2 KKR players tested positive for COVID-19. On the same day 3 members of the CSK camp - including their bowling coach Lakshmipathy Balaji and CEO Kasi Viswanathan tested positive. Later the same day, all of the Delhi Capitals team went into quarantine. Similarly, Mumbai Indians and Sunrisers Hyderabad skipped their practice sessions ahead of their match on 4 May. CSK players went into quarantine. Later the same day, Hyderabad's Wriddhiman Saha and Delhi's Amit Mishra tested positive for COVID-19. Later, Tim Seifert and Prasidh Krishna of KKR tested positive. Causing 2 IPL matches to be postponed. The BCCI agreed to suspended the tournament,

### **Combat sports**

#### **Mixed Martial Arts (MMA)**

* UFC Fight Night 170 was held to 0 fans at Ginásio Nilson Nelson in Brasília, Brazil. UFC's planned Thursday media day and Friday ceremonial weigh-ins were cancelled ahead of the card, with the official early morning weigh-ins being the only official fighter obligations that remained ahead of fight night
* All (except 1) UFC events from April until September was held Yas Island (Fight Island) in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. 1 UFC event was held at The O2 Arena in London, England, UK in October from its original month of March (to allow full capacity as only 60% capacity was allowed from March until September). The Fight Island bubble consists of a "safe zone" comprising hotels, training facilities, the beach, and restaurants. Events are held behind closed doors in the du Forum
* Before taking a flight to Abu Dhabi, fighters and their camps must submit a negative COVID-19 test within 48 hours prior to departure. Fighters will again be tested upon arrival in Abu Dhabi and will quarantine in their hotel rooms for up to 12 hours while waiting for the result of their test. Another test will be conducted in the hotel room following receiving the result of that test. One final pre-fight test will be conducted ahead of the fight and fighters will be tested one final time before their return flight home.
* From 2020 until 2022 UFC fights that involved British fighters were held in Britain, UFC fights that involved Irish fighters were held in Ireland. If it did not feature either British or Irish fighters than it takes place at Fight Island.

Deviation: UFC 242: Khabib vs. Poirier was held at Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio

#### **Boxing**

* Boxers, referees and trainers will be transported to the venue wearing personal protective masks. A fighter may remove their protective mask when inside the ring but referees and teams in the corner must keep theirs on. Boxers may not spit into the spit bucket. No ring announces, ring girls or TV cameras inside the ring. All proposed venues must be reviewed and "cleaned to a medical standard" before the event. Only "essential" officials, promoters and broadcasters can attend. Individuals in high-risk categories such as pregnant women, those "seriously overweight" or people with diabetes should not attend. Everyone at an event must be tested for Covid-19. All boxers, trainers and referees must be tested for Covid-19 48 hours before fight night and self-isolate at a hotel until their test result is known
* Individuals would have their temperature taken outside of venues on the night. In addition, any individual fighting at, or attending, the event who did not fill in a new mandatory medical questionnaire would not be permitted to enter.
* All non-British/Irish professional boxing events were cancelled.
* The O2 Arena in London, England held 3 events, 2 in October and 1 in November. SSE Hydro in Glasgow, Scotland held in November. Manchester Arena in Manchester, England held on December.
* Professional fights were held at "Fight Camp" (in Diriyah Arena, Diriyah, Saudi Arabia), which is exactly similar to UFC's Fight Island.
* Amateur boxing fights in 2020 and 2021 in Britain and Ireland continued, but in the rest of the world were cancelled.
* All boxing clubs and gyms in 2020 and 2021 (except in Britain and Ireland) had to close until further notice due to COVID 19 lockdown or in some countries due to social distancing rules.

#### **Professional wrestling**

* WWE cancelled all house show events from March until August, WWE announced no house show events from August. WWE did not fall under the "elite and NCAA-sanctioned sporting events" and thus did not host events in blue states but continued touring in red states to 50% capacity.
* WWE moved to Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida from 22 January 2021 edition of SmackDown called the WWE ThunderDome, which will have no fans. WWE mass taped TV shows (Raw and SmackDown) but kept PPV’s live. The announce team fulfilled their duties at a remote location. Segments, talk shows and/or anything that requires talking, are conducted in a remote location and not in the ring. NXT continued mass taping their TV show at Capitol Wrestling Centre (WWE Performance Centre) in Orlando, Florida from 27 January, using a variant of the ThunderDome concept designed to reflect the look and feel of NXT programming, with a virtual audience on an LED screen in the studio, usually NXT is held at Full Sail University
* All British and Irish wrestlers were contract under WWE, AEW, NJPW and other non-British wrestling companies however travel restrictions made it impossible so they all took a 'sabbatical' from their companies, stayed in W.E.S.I. and joined Revolution Pro Wrestling (RPW)
* AEW pre-taped all Dynamite shows leading up to PPV’s at Nightmare Factory in Norcross, Georgia from January 2021. Promos are cut in people’s houses, commentators are in remote locations as well. PPV will still be live at Nightmare Factory.
* New Japan Pro Wrestling announced they cancelled all events until June 6, 2020 all events afterwards held were held to no fans until the "Summer Struggle in Jingu" event allowed a limited number of fans back into the arena.
* Global Force Wrestling announced they will move all their events to Skyways Studios in Nashville, Tennessee to no fans from January 2021.
* Major League Wrestling has rescheduled its upcoming May 2 event in North Richland Hills, per company press release. The MLW Fusion taping at the NYTEX Sports Centre will now take place on Saturday, October 3. Major League Wrestling announced Friday, November 13, that they rescheduled their December event due to COVID-19. The original date was December 5 and the new date is Saturday, April 10, 2021. The location of the event is the 2300 Arena in Philadelphia. All tickets purchased for December 5 will be honoured for April 10.

### **Golf**

* 2020 HSBC Champions (held in Sheshan Golf Club, Shanghai, China) and CJ Cup (held at Nine Bridges Golf Club, Jeju Island, South Korea) in January were cancelled.
* All tournaments played from April until July 2020 were cancelled except for any Majors or Rolex Series events.
* All events continued playing but to no audience, many golf courses and equipment must be cleaned, hand sanitizers must be placed on every hole and tee times was staggered to enforce social distancing
* In 2021 all tournaments from January until March except for the first 2 tournaments were cancelled.
* The 2021 PGA Championship was postponed until May replacing the Wells Fargo Championship (cancelled it) and The Masters switched with the Honda Classic. However the PGA Championship was cancelled as hosting it became unfeasible, meaning only 3 'major' events were played.
* RBC Canadian Open 2021 was cancelled. All pro-am tournaments in 2021 were also cancelled.

### **Motor Racing**

* The 2020 Supercars Championship and Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters was cancelled
* All NASCAR races after O'Reilly Auto Parts 500 were cancelled
* The Australian Supercars Championship was cancelled
* On March 12, the National Hot Rod Association suspended its season while some sportsman classes were already contesting the Amalie Motor Oil NHRA Gatornationals; the sportsman classes already active at that time would finish their runs behind closed doors, while the professional and remaining sportsman classes were sent home.
* The MotoGP World Championship cancelled 11 rounds of MotoGP (from 18) with only British, Spanish, Portuguese, Czech, Austrian, San Mariano and American Grand Prix's remaining. With a total of only 10 rounds, it was the shortest season of 500cc/MotoGP since 1980. Another British round was added along with a Catalan and Hungarian. In 2021 the same thing happened however the American race was also cancelled, meaning a Brazilian Grand Prix was added
* IndyCar Series 2021 was cancelled.
* The Formula One 2020 season was originally due to start in March but the start of the season was postponed until July with 12 races instead of 18. This occurred also in 2021. The races were: British, 70th Anniversary Grand Prix (also held at Silverstone in Britain), Hungarian, American, Abu Dhabi, Bahrain, Japanese, Saudi Arabian, Monaco, Russian, Spanish and Portuguese. The same GP race's occurred in 2021 but the 70th Anniversary Grand Prix was replaced with the London Grand Prix and American replaced with the Chinese Grand Prix.

### **Darts**

* Mercedes-Benz Arena (in Berlin, Germany) and Ziggo Dome (in Amsterdam, Netherlands) were the first 2 venues played at Premier League Darts.
* US Open was cancelled.
* Austrian Darts Championship, Hungarian Darts Open and Danish Darts Open were all cancelled.
* Belgium Darts Championship, European Darts Championship and German Darts Championship were rescheduled to September
* 7 World Series of Darts events were cancelled.
* 2020 World Cup of Darts was held entirely in Britain
* All 128 tour card holders will compete in the PDC World Series of Darts Qualifiers, the players are split into 32 groups of 4 players, the top player in their group advances to the World Series of Darts Finals. The 32 players are drawn into 8 groups of 4 players, top player in each group will advance to the knockout stages.
* A new 11 day “premier” championship held instead of Austrian Darts Championship was named the Lakeside Championship at Lakeside Country Club, Frimley Green, Surrey featuring 64 players, 32 players from PDC, 16 from WDF and 16 female players.
* A new series of 8 ranked tournaments called PDC Summer Series was created. The best 24 players from the Summer Series qualify for the Summer Series Finals which is a non-ranked event
* The 2021 World Series of Darts was cancelled once again, meaning PDC World Series of Darts Qualifiers and World Series of Darts Finals format returned
* 2021 World Cup of Darts was held entirely in Britain once again
* The German Darts Open, Austrian Darts Championship, Hungarian Darts Open, Danish Darts Open were all cancelled. The Lakeside Championship returned once again
* Dutch Darts Championship, German Darts Championship and US Open were all cancelled in 2021. PDC Summer Series returned once again in 2021
* The PDC Asian Tour was modified to reduce the amount of travel required within the context of the global pandemic. The Tour consisted of regional bubbles spread over the 6 Australian states and the Australian Capital Territory, with the top 8 players from each State qualifying for the World Championship qualifier, along with 8 players from a final knockout qualifier. Events in Tasmania were subsequently cancelled.

### **Tennis**

* In 2020, the US Open and French Open would switch due to the French PM banning all sports (including behind close doors) until September. This meant that indoor court tournaments and clay tournaments were switch too
* All tournaments (except for Ireland and Britain) will be played to 0 fans, whilst the French Open will allow 4,000 fans in.
* In 2020 the following tournaments were cancelled: Shanghai Masters, Argentina Open, Grand Prix Hassan II, Estoril Open, Monte-Carlo Masters, Hungarian Open, Geneva Open, Madrid Open, Stuttgart Open, Mallorca Open, Halle Open, Antalya Open, Kremlin Cup, Laver Cup and Next Generation ATP Finals
* 2020 Italian Open and Hamburg Open was rescheduled to September.
* For the 1st time in Grand Slam history; qualifying matches for 2021 Australian Open were held outside the country due to Australia's quarantine restrictions. The men's and women's matches were held in Doha, Qatar and Dubai, United Arab Emirates. The 8 February start will give qualifiers and 8 potential lucky losers time to travel to Australia and allow to quarantine upon arrival
* The 2021 Australian Open was moved from Melbourne, Victoria due to Victoria lockdown and Victorian Government announced they will not be hosting the Australian Open, the 2021 edition will be played to no fans. Perth Arena, Crown Perth and Royal King's Park Tennis Club in Perth, Western Australia for men's, Hope Island Resort Tennis Centre and Pat Rafter Arena in Brisbane, Queensland for women's and Ken Rosewall Arena in Sydney, NSW for all doubles
* The same tournaments from 2020 were cancelled 2021 with more such as Maharashtra Open, Rogers Cup, Indian Wells Masters, Miami Open, Brasil Open, and one of 4 'majors' the US Open for the 1st time in its history. Shanghai Masters was played however despite not being able to in 2020
* 2021 Laver Cup and Next Gen ATP Finals was played in UK
* Australian Open 2022 was moved to Aviation Club Tennis Centre in Dubai, UAE for women's and doubles, and Khalifa International Tennis and Squash Complex in Doha, Qatar for men's, following Australian Government and Australian Open organiser announcing they cannot host matches in Australia. This will be the first time in history of Australian Open to be played outside Australia.

### **American and Canadian Sports**

#### College/high school sports

* On 11 March 2020, the NCAA (U.S.A. sanctioning body for college sports) announced that all remaining championship events for the 2019–20 academic year would be held behind closed doors with "only essential staff and limited family attendance", except for states that did not lockdown, which can have limited capacity
* All 2020 summer sports will continue but to be held behind closed doors, except for states that did not lockdown, which can have limited capacity.
* In January, the NCAA announced that 2021 Division II championship events in winter and spring sports would be cancelled.
* All 2021 NCAA sanctioned tournaments was cancelled including the Sweet 16 Basketball Tournament, resulting in the first cancellation in the 82-year history of the NCAA basketball tournament
* 2021 Capital One Cup was cancelled.
* All non-NCAA sanctioned college and high school tournaments in 2021 were all cancelled.
* U Sports curtailed its men's and women's ice hockey championships on 12 March 2021. On 8 June, U Sports announced that it had cancelled all national championships for the fall semester of the 2021–22 academic year, including football (the first time the Vanier Cup will not be contested since its inception), cross-country, field hockey, women's rugby, and soccer. On 15 October 2020, U Sports announced it would do the same thing for the winter 2021 portion of the 2020–21, once again cancelling all winter national championships as well. Atlantic University Sport, Canada West, and Ontario University Athletics followed suit, suspending all university athletics programs initially through to 31 December 2021, but was later extended through to 31 March 2022, as announced on 15 October 2020

#### **Baseball**

* On 1 July, the 2020 Mexican Baseball League season was cancelled because of MiLB affiliations.
* The MLB announced there will be no MLB Sydney Game, MLB Mexico Game or MLB All Star-Game for the 2020 season, however the season will begin as normal with no revised game schedule. Due to the US-Canada border being shut for "non-essential" travel, and Canadian federal government denying permission to be played in their respective home stadium, the Toronto Blue Jays played their home games at Sahlen Field in Buffalo, home of their Triple-A affiliate Buffalo Bisons. Tampa Bay Rays, St. Louis Cardinals, Nashville Stars, Miami Marlins, Kansas City Royals, Cincinnati Reds, Baltimore Orioles, Arizona Diamondbacks, Atlanta Braves allowed 50% capacity, the rest allowed 30% capacity.
* 2021 MLB season was cancelled outright as a result of a players' strike
* The entire 2022 MLB playoffs was played behind closed doors (no fans); the Conference Quarterfinals games were played at the home field of the higher seeded team. The Conference Semis and Conference Final series were played at neutral sites, similar to those used for both the National Basketball Association and National Hockey League playoffs, to limit the possibility of another COVID-19 outbreak that could both disrupt the schedule and affect competitive integrity. The West Conference played at the San Diego Padres' Petco Park and the Los Angeles Dodgers' Dodger Stadium, while the East Conference played at the Texas Rangers' Globe Life Field and the Houston Astros' Minute Maid Park. The Fall Classic then took place at Globe Life Field
* On 30 April, the 2021 Little League World Series and its other associated tournaments were cancelled, and with it, the 2021 MLB Little League Classic game between the Boston Red Sox and Baltimore Orioles scheduled for 23 August in Williamsport, Pennsylvania.
* It was announced that 2021 Major League Baseball season will be cancelled. This was the first time in MLB history that no game will be played, and the first time since 1904 that there will be no World Series. On 30 June 2021 Minor League Baseball was also cancelled outright.

#### **Gridiron (Canadian football)**

* The CGL was originally scheduled to begin on June 11, 2020; on April 7, the start of the season was delayed no sooner than July. The CFL planned to obtain financial assistance from the federal government. In May 2020, the CFL delayed the 2020 season to no sooner than September, and announced that the Grey Cup was to be played as a home advantage game rather than as a neutral site game in Regina, Saskatchewan as originally planned. In July, the CFL announced plans to tentatively play all games in Winnipeg, Manitoba as a "hub city".
* On August 17, 2020, the CGL announced that the 2020 season had been cancelled, citing the league's inability to obtain appropriate loans and subsidies from the federal government in order to cover operating costs and compensate for playing behind closed doors without paid ticketholders
* The 2021 regular season is tentatively scheduled to begin on August 5, 2021 and would end on or around November 20, 2021, 14 regular season games would be played over 16 weeks with a schedule to be released at a later date. Previously, the season was scheduled to begin on June 10, 2021 and end on October 30, 2021, with 18 games being played per team over 21 weeks, but this was delayed
* The CGL once again announced that all regular season games will be played in Winnipeg, Manitoba as a "hub city". The league had placed a moratorium on re-signing players. Teams will be able to re-sign players after December 7, 2020 at 12:00 p.m. ET

#### **Yardball (American football)**

* 2020–21 NYL season played 16 games instead of 17, in a 17-week schedule with the "International Round" cancelled. The NFL cancelled of all preseason games, the 2021 Pro Bowl, the suspension of international games for the year, an allowance for players to opt out of playing the season without violating their contracts (66 players opted out). Atlanta Falcons, Arizona Cardinals, Baltimore Ravens, Cincinnati Bengals, Cleveland Browns, Indianapolis Colts, Kansas City Brigade, Miami Dolphins, Jacksonville Jaguars, St. Louis Rams, Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Tennessee Titans all allowed 50% capacity, the rest played to 30%. From January 22, 2021 all regular season games were held to no fans (behind closed doors)
* The entire 2021 NFL playoffs was played behind closed doors (no fans); the Conference Quarters was played at the home field of the higher seeded team with the rest played in a 'bubble'; The 2 venues selected are SoFi Stadium and Levi Stadium, Santa Clara, California; the Super Bowl took place at SoFi Stadium. All games in the playoffs were played behind closed doors (no fans).
* The 2021–22 was originally scheduled to begin on September 9, 2021; on April 7, the start of the season was delayed no sooner than October. The NYL planned to obtain financial assistance from the federal government. In May, the NYL delayed the season to no sooner than December, and announced that the Super Bowl will be played as a home advantage game rather than as a neutral site game in Tampa Bay, Florida as originally planned. In September, the NYL announced plans to tentatively play all games in the state of Florida as a "hub". On September 17, the NYL announced that the season had been cancelled, citing the league's inability to obtain appropriate loans and subsidies from the U.S. federal government in order to cover operating costs and compensate for playing behind closed doors without paid ticketholders. Also numerous players ere pulling out of the NYL to save costs and also due to fear of COVID and lack of player salaries/wages
* The NYL played the entire 2022–23 season behind closed doors, same as previous season

#### **Basketball**

* On August 21, 2020 the NBA announced that the 2021 All-Star Game and other weekend events would not be held during the coming season. The Indiana Pacers - who were to have hosted the weekend at Bankers Life Fieldhouse - were given the 2024 game as compensation.
* The 2021 and 2022 NBA All Star Weekend was cancelled.
* The entire 2020–21 NBA regular season (including playoffs) is played with a revised 72-game schedule. Atlanta Hawks, Cleveland Cavaliers, Memphis Grizzlies, Indiana Pacers, Utah Jazz, Miami Heat and Orlando Magic who are allowed 50% capacity in their indoor arenas, all other teams (except Raptors) played to 30%. Toronto Raptors will play all their regular season home games at T-Mobile Centre in Kansas City, Missouri behind closed doors. However from January 22, 2021 all regular season games were played behind closed doors (no fans)
* All 2021 playoff games, and the last 8 regular season games were held at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex inside Walt Disney World in Bay Lake, Florida with all games also played with 0 fans admitted, the teams stayed at Disney World hotels. The NBA produced a rule book of more than 100 pages included isolation periods, testing requirements, and the potential for financial penalties. The NBA had a hotline allowing people to anonymously report players who broke the rules of the bubble, which players referred to as the "snitch hotline". Players always had to wear masks, with eating and exercise being exceptions. Additionally, staff working at these facilities had to wear masks and gloves at all times, though the staff were not required to quarantine. Players were not required to join the bubble, at least 10 players declined to join their teams. Nobody was allowed to have guests, and all food was prepared within the bubble. Players were allowed to use many of the Disney facilities, such as pools, golf courses, bicycles, gaming areas, barbers, bowling, ping pong, and spa services. RFID-enabled MagicBands, which are normally used at Walt Disney World for hotel keys and other admissions and personalization features at theme park attractions, were utilized as a check-in and contact tracing mechanism, and could be used to restrict access to practice facilities and courts if one had not completed a daily health monitoring review.
* 2021–22 NBA season would began on December 25, 2021 with a revised 66-game schedule. The first 15 regular season gameweeks were held in the NBA Bubble at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida, afterwards clubs will play at their own venues but behind close doors (to no fans). The entire NBA Playoffs will be played at the NBA Bubble much like 2021

#### **Ice Hockey**

* The 2021 and 2022 NHL All-Star Game was cancelled.
* There will be no NHL outdoor games (such as Heritage Classic and Winter Classic) in 2021 and 2022, or international games from 2020 until 2022
* Only for this season, the NHL allowed each team to retain an extra traveling group of 4 to 6 players, including 1 goaltender, known as the 'taxi squad'. The 'taxi squad' was designed to enable swift call-ups to the NHL team in the event of positive COVID-19 cases on each team. Waiver-eligible members of the taxi squad are still subject to waiver rules. Daly stated that the taxi squad was devised only to circumvent the difficulties presented by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and is not likely to be used again in future seasons
* 2020–21 NHL season all 8 Canada were put into 1 division due to Canadian teams unable to travel to the US; Calgary Flames, Ottawa Senators, Montreal Canadiens, Toronto Maple Leafs, Edmonton Oilers, Quebec Nordiques, Vancouver Canucks and Winnipeg Jets; all matches were played behind closed doors. Columbus Blue Jackets, Nashville Predators, St. Louis Blues, Tampa Bay Lightening and Florida Panthers allowed 50% capacity, the rest allowed 30% capacity.
* The season was suspended indefinitely on Jan 22, 2021. On May 22, 2021, the NHL and National Hockey League Players' Association (NHLPA) agreed to a framework for the resumption of play, which would see the remainder of the regular season scrapped, by points percentage competing in a modified and expanded Stanley Cup playoffs, which the NHL planned to hold in two centralized "hub cities", Toronto's Scotiabank Arena and Edmonton's Rogers Place, with 0 spectators and only 'essential staff' present. Teams arrived at their hub city on July 26; they were isolated in a "secure zone" consisting of their hotels, restaurants, practice facilities, and the arena. Testing was done every day, as well as daily temperature and symptom checks. Individuals had to wear masks outside their hotel rooms except when eating, exercising, or while on the ice or bench. Other exceptions included during interviews with appropriate social distancing
* To offset reduced revenue due to games being played with limited to no spectators, the NHL is experimenting with allowing additional advertising placements that will aim to retain between $80–90 million that would have otherwise been lost, including allowing teams to sell a sponsor placement on their players' helmets (helmet entitlement partner). Sponsor logos include those along the bottom of the glass just above the boards, sponsor logos on front-row tarps covering unused seats, sponsor logos on the glass behind the benches (in addition to the boards below them), and virtual ads projected just inside the blue lines
* 2021–22 NHL season would follow 2020–21 season, including divisional setup and playoffs. The 2022 NHL Canada Divisional Playoffs will be at Calgary's Scotiabank Saddledome (due to the Flames failing to qualify for the playoffs), whilst the other 3 divisional Stanley Cup Playoff matches will be held at Anaheim's Honda Centre and San Jose's SAP Centre, as neither the Ducks nor the Sharks qualified for the playoffs. The Semifinal and Final was played at SAP Centre.

### **Aussie Rules**

* In the 2020 season, all matches from the Opening Round were played to empty stadiums.
* On 22 March 2020, the season was suspended at the conclusion of Round 3 due to health concerns and strict government regulations on non-essential travel, also due to Australia locking the country down.
* The season resumed uninterrupted on 11 June 2020 with 18 home-and-away rounds and the 4 weeks of finals; the ARL Playoffs were played in a 'bubble' in Sydney, NSW due to Victoria (especially MSG) being unable to host matches
* On 28 June, officials from the state of Victoria announced a travel ban to and from the state. The ARL announced that all teams based in Victoria would relocate to either Queensland or Western Australia for the rest of the season. This came due to Victoria ordering a 6-week lockdown and banned travel to and from other Australian states to deal with a surge in cases
* Matches were played for a shortened length of 16 minutes + time on per quarter, instead of 20 minutes + time on. The St Kilda vs Port Adelaide match at Jiangwan Stadium in Shanghai, China, as scheduled as part of the original Round 11 was cancelled.
* The league and clubs all stood down or severely reduced hours for huge percentages of their staff during the suspension. Furthermore, the ARL agreed with both the ARL Players Association (ARLPA) and ARL Umpires Association (ARLUA) to enact significant play cuts for the players and umpires for the season, amounting to 50% of their wage from the point of the suspension until the end of the season, and increasing to 70% for any period of suspension which extends beyond the end of May. The league successfully obtained a $500–600 million line of credit with the National Australia Bank and ANZ Bank, to cover its and its clubs' cash shortfalls during the suspension
* Total television revenue reduction of approximately $150 million over 2020–2022. On top of this, the cost of running the Queensland hubs, including medical costs for ongoing COVID-19 testing, resulted in a $60 million expense for the league
* At levels below the fully professional AFL, all leagues cancelled their entire season. Player payments were cut to 0 in the South Australian National Football League
* The 2020 AFL Women's Premiership was cancelled entirely, this occurred also in 2021
* 2021 AAMI Community Series was cancelled
* The 2021 AFL season was played entirely behind closed doors once again. Once again Victorian clubs had to relocate due to lockdown / stay-at-home orders and other Australian states banning interstate travel to and from Victoria.

### **Athletics**

* Parkruns all over the world (including UK & Ireland from March until September) in 2020 were all cancelled, this would also happen in 2021 except in Britain and Ireland.
* The 2020 World Athletics Indoor Championships were scheduled to be held from 13 to 15 March in Nanjing, China, but were cancelled. 2022 was held at Nanjing, China and 2024 at Belgrade in Serbia
* The 2020 World Athletics Half Marathon Championships was scheduled to be held on 29 March in Gdynia, Poland, but was postponed until October 2020. The mass participation race was cancelled, while the elite championships remained scheduled
* The first 3 events of the 2020 Diamond League, scheduled to be held in Qatar in April, followed by 2 events in China in May, were cancelled. On 12 May, a revised schedule was issued, but 0 points will be awarded for the events with meetings in Eugene, Paris and Rabat also cancelled
* The 2020 London Marathon originally scheduled for 26 April was postponed until 4 October 2020
* The 2020 Boston Marathon, originally scheduled for 20 April, was postponed until 14 September and was restricted to elites only.
* The 2020 Rome Marathon was cancelled as is with the Berlin, New York City and the Toronto Waterfront Marathons.
* The 2020 Two Oceans Marathon, scheduled for 8–11 April, has been cancelled.
* The 2020 Three Peaks Race, originally scheduled for 25 April, has been postponed to 26 September.
* The 2020 Grandma's Marathon, scheduled for 20 June, was cancelled by the organizers more than 50 days before it was to begin. They announced on 31 March that the marathon, the half-marathon, and the 5K would all be cancelled.
* Two of the Standard Chartered 2020 marathon series, Hong Kong Marathon and Kuala Lumpur Marathon was cancelled by the organizer over uncertainty of the COVID-19 outbreak.
* The 2020 Berlin Marathon was prohibited from being held on its originally scheduled dates. It would be cancelled on 24 June.
* The Atlanta Track Club originally moved the Peachtree Road Race from 4 July to 26 November, but the race was cancelled on 19 August 2021. Organisers then moved the PNC Atlanta 10 Miler from Atlantic Station to Michelin Raceway in Hall County and renamed it the *PNC Atlanta 10 Miler: Extreme Hills Edition*. Furthremore, officials announced on 2 November the 2022 Publix Atlanta Marathon will not be held in Centennial Olympic Park but will move 50 km south to Hampton, Georgia, as a multiple-loop race on the premises of Atlanta Motor Speedway in Henry County. Organisers noted a continuing ban on events in Fulton County forced the moves to closed-course motorsport venues that are not public roads.
* The 2020 Comrades Marathon were cancelled.
* Both the 2020 and 2021 editions of the Big Sur International Marathon were cancelled.
* All 2021 and 2022 USA and Canada marathons were cancelled

### **Poker**

As of 18 March most casinos and other gambling venues worldwide have been closed indefinitely, and many upcoming live poker tournaments have been either cancelled, or (in jurisdictions where currently permitted) moved to an online platform. Tournaments originally scheduled to be played live are now being played online, including the 2020 Irish Poker Open.

On 20 April, the 2020 and 2021 World Series of Poker was moved to online.

The pandemic has resulted in a massive increase in online poker traffic. It is believed to have directed both professional and recreational players who normally prefer live poker to online platforms due to the indefinite closure of most casinos and other live gaming venues worldwide, with even many unlicensed venues shutting down. In addition, the sudden dearth of live entertainment options due to the widespread disruption of the sports and entertainment schedules around the world is believed to have resulted in more than the usual number of casual players turning to online poker as an alternative. Many operators reported traffic of double or more the previous volume, depending on the time of day.

### **Other**

The following leagues and events were cancelled:

1. 2020 Summer Olympics. Tokyo will instead host the 2024, Paris host 2028 and Los Angeles hosting the 2032.
2. X Games Minneapolis 2020
3. 2020 ASEAN Para Games
4. 2020 Arctic Winter Games
5. 2020 KBO League
6. 2020 Chinese Professional Baseball League
7. All horse racing events outside of Great Britain or Ireland
8. All marathon events outside of Great Britain or Ireland
9. IIHF World U18 Championships
10. IIHF World Championships
11. IIHF World Championship Division I
12. IIHF World Championship Division II
13. IIHF World Championship Division III
14. IIHF World Championship Division IV
15. IIHF Women's World Championship
16. IIHF Women's World Championship Division I
17. IIHF Women's World Championship Division II Group A

## **Other impact of COVID**

* All educational facilities were closed worldwide except in Britain and Ireland. This meant all exams were cancelled and awarded using teacher's assessment. In Britain and Ireland a blend of in-school learning and online learning was used from April until July. Normal proceedings occurred from September.
* All mass gatherings were banned worldwide except in Britain and Ireland.
* Cinemas were closed worldwide except in Britain and Ireland. Many blockbusters originally scheduled to be released between March and November have been postponed or cancelled around the world, with film productions also halted. The Chinese film industry had lost US$2 billion by March 2020, having closed all its cinemas during the Lunar New Year period that sustains the industry across Asia. North America saw its lowest box office weekend since 1998 between March 13–15

### **Companies closing down due to COVID-19 (not relate to Britain)**

**Airlines / Aviation**

1. Air Italy
2. AirAsia Japan
3. Air Iceland Connect - merged with Icelandair
4. Air Namibia
5. Amaszonas Uruguay
6. AtlasGlobal
7. Avianca Holdings
8. Bukovyna Airlines
9. Compass Airlines
10. Condor Airlines Balearics
11. Ethiopian Mozambique Airlines
12. Ernest Airlines
13. German Airways
14. Germanwings
15. Island Express Air - Sold its assets to a group of investors
16. Jet Time - Assets were also to be transferred to Jettime, including Jet Time's CEO, a number of key employees, and five of Jet Time's Boeing 737 aircraft, for operations planned to resume by 2022
17. JetSuite - Rebrand as Superior Air Charter planned to resume by 2022
18. LATAM Airlines Group
19. Miami Air International - Purchased by Caribbean Sun Airlines, Inc. (d/b/a World Atlantic Airlines), including all of its certificates and trademarks, in late May for $3.3 million during a recent bankruptcy auction. A "new" Miami Air would operate with the same aircraft type and employ the same key personnel as the bankrupt firm, as well as some new experienced employees.
20. Norwegian Air International
21. Norwegian Air UK
22. Norwegian Long Haul
23. NokScoot
24. One Airlines
25. Ohana by Hawaiian - All of its fleet will be sold and existing employees working under Hawaiian will be reassigned elsewhere
26. Ravn Alaska
27. SunExpress Deutschland - Its route network will partially be taken over by SunExpress and Eurowings
28. SilkAir - Merged into Singapore Airlines
29. Sky Regional Airlines - assets transferred to Jazz
30. TAME
31. Trans States Airlines

**Retail**

1. Ascena Retail Group (owns Ann Taylor, Cacique, Catherines, Lane Bryant, Lou & Grey, LOFT and JusticeArt Van Furniture)
2. Art Van Furniture
3. Alex and Ani
4. Barneys New York
5. Belk
6. Brooks Brothers - assets purchased by Authentic Brands Group
7. Cascade Mall - exterior-facing tenants will be able to continue to operate
8. California Pizza Kitchen
9. Century 21
10. Christopher & Banks
11. Così
12. DavidsTea - Transitioned into e-commerce and wholesale
13. Dean & DeLuca (a grocery store)
14. Fairway Market - Awarded bids for 2 store leases in New Jersey to Amazon and 6 locations in New York City to ShopRite operator Village Super Market Inc. & Key Food Cooperative member Seven Seas Georgetowne LLC.
15. Fry's Electronics
16. Gap and Banana Republic - Close all of its physical stores and transition to a digital-only model
17. Gordmans
18. Le Tote
19. Lord & Taylor - Assets purchased by Saadia Group to operate it as an online only business
20. Lucky's Market - sold their stores to Aldi, Publix, Winn-Dixie, Hitchcock's Market and Seabra's Foods
21. L'Occitane
22. Loves Furniture
23. Metrocenter shopping mall - Remaining's to be auctioned off
24. Modell's Sporting Goods - Relaunch as an online retailer by a company called Retail Ecommerce Ventures. On August 4, 2020, Modell's intellectual property, including customer data and the marketing jingle was auctioned
25. Microsoft Store - Close all of its physical stores and transition to a digital-only model
26. Muji USA
27. NPC International - Flynn Restaurant Group purchased 163 of NPC's former sites
28. New York & Company
29. Nordstrom - also many of its stores looted during the George Floyd riots
30. Nygård International (clothing manufacturer) - Dillard would buy parts of Nygard's inventory and Allison Daley's trademark and inventory. Nygard's Winnipeg warehouse was sold in late January 2021
31. Tailored Brands
32. True Religion (clothing brand)
33. Pier 1
34. Peebles
35. PVH clothing company
36. Robinsons & Co.
37. Sur La Table
38. Stein Mart - operates instead as an online retailer
39. Simon Property Group (all sold to Amazon and converted to Fulfillment house)
40. The Paper Store LLC
41. Paper Source
42. The Collected Group
43. Tuesday Morning
44. Video Ezy

Disney to close almost all of its stores in Canada by August 2021 [source]

HEMA close all stores except in UK, Netherlands, Belgium and France

Universal Orlando’s Jurassic World Tribute Store closing around August 9, 2021

**Food & drink companies**

1. American Blue Ribbon Holdings (owns Bakers Square and Village Inn)
2. Ataula
3. Bailey's Taproom
4. Bar Louie Restaurants
5. Borden Dairy (dairy processer)
6. Chuck E. Cheese - Closed all brick-and-mortar stores, converted to online-only selling through food delivery services
7. Dean Foods (Food processing) - Acquired by Dairy Farmers of America
8. Dunkin' Brands Group, Inc. - Merged to Inspire Brands
9. FoodFirst Global Restaurants
10. K&W Cafeterias
11. Krystal - Closed all brick-and-mortar stores, converted to online-only selling through food delivery services
12. Inversion Coffee House
13. HopCat
14. Peter Piper Pizza
15. Ruby Tuesday (restaurant)
16. Sizzler
17. The Grilled Cheese Grill
18. Tucker's Marketplace

**Financial services**

1. Allahabad Bank - Merged with Indian Bank
2. Archegos Capital Management
3. Anbang Insurance Group
4. Aurora Bank
5. Andhra Bank - Merged into the Union Bank of India
6. Bankia - Merged into CaixaBank
7. Corporation Bank - Merged into the Union Bank of India
8. Legg Mason - Acquired by Franklin Templeton Investments
9. M&S Bank branch closures
10. IberiaBank - acquired by First Horizon
11. Oriental Bank of Commerce - Merged into Punjab National Bank
12. Tesco's Bank from end of November 2021
13. Samba (Saudi Bank) - merged with National Commercial Bank to form Saudi National Bank on 1 April 2021
14. Syndicate Bank - merged into Canara Bank
15. United Bank of India - Merged into Punjab National Bank
16. Wirecard

**Media / Entertainment / Technology**

1. Allspark - Folded into Entertainment One
2. Blue Sky Studios
3. Ambrella
4. Beamable
5. Boomers! Parks
6. BuzzFeed UK and Australia
7. Chikara (professional wrestling company)
8. Connect Studio - Absorbed into Silver Link
9. Deltic Group UK (which owns Oceana, Pryzm, Atik, Eden and Bar & Beyond). Kuda Bar & Club. Fiction and Cameo closed down. 60% of the UK's nightclubs closed. All LGBTQ+ bars and nightclubs in Britain also closed down too.
10. En Masse Entertainment
11. Fox 2000 Pictures
12. Goodrich Quality Theaters - Sold off to a few different companies with Mason Asset Management and Mark McSparin getting the bulk number of theaters (22).
13. Great Big Story
14. Kakao M - Merged with KakaoPage to form a new company, Kakao Entertainment.
15. Laurentian Media Group - Acquired by Village Media, with several of its key executives and staff taking new positions within the Village Media corporate structure
16. Loon LLC
17. Marshall Broadcasting Group - assets purchased by Mission Broadcasting
18. Orby TV
19. PR Newswire
20. Radio Disney
21. Star Theory Games
22. Stockwell - Acquired by 365 Retail Markets
23. Sprint Corporation - Merged with T-Mobile US
24. Touchstone Television - Folded into 20th Television
25. Typhoon Studios
26. TiVo Corporation - Merged with Xperi
27. Walt Disney Direct-to-Consumer & International - Moved to Disney Media and Entertainment Distribution
28. Voat

**Other**

1. 24 Hour Fitness
2. ARMS
3. Aleris - acquired by Hindalco Industries
4. Central Maine and Quebec Railway - acquired by Canadian Pacific Railway in June 2020
5. ETI Finance
6. Essential Products
7. Exide - Sold it's assets to Atlas Holdings
8. Ford Brasil
9. Greyhound Canada bus
10. Hornbeck Offshore Services
11. Justice
12. Leone and L2
13. LSC Communications - Assets purchased by Atlas Holdings
14. Mallinckrodt
15. Ovintiv
16. Raytheon Company - Merged with United Technologies to form Raytheon Technologies
17. Real Goods Solar
18. Remington Arms
19. Remington Outdoor Company
20. Town Sports International Holdings
21. Troller Veículos Especiais
22. United Technologies - Merged with Raytheon Corporation to form Raytheon Technologies
23. Vivus

XTube PornHub’s sister site closing permanently in September

### **Companies that filed for bankruptcy but did not disestablish**

1. Advantage Rent a Car
2. Akorn
3. AMC Theatres - Purchased by Walt Disney Company
4. Briggs & Stratton - Sold to KPS Capital Partners
5. Boy Scouts of America - Originally over sex abuse lawsuits, COVID-19 worsen its finances
6. California Resources Corporation
7. Chesapeake Energy
8. Clean Energy Collective
9. CraftWorks Holdings - purchased by SPB Hospitality for $93 million
10. Denbury Resources
11. Daily Mirror UK - Cut 550 jobs
12. Diamond Offshore Drilling
13. Earth Fare - relocated and doing business in the UK only
14. Frontier Communications
15. Fingerhut
16. Garrett Motion - Sold to KPS Capital Partners
17. Gold's Gym - Sold to Vitality Group. They're are now out of bankruptcy
18. GNC (store) - Sold to Harbin Pharmaceutical Group
19. The Guardian - Cut 180 job
20. Hytera
21. J. C. Penney - Sold to Brookfield Property Partners
22. J.Crew - Sold to Amazon Inc. All US stores closed but UK stores are still open.
23. Le Pain Quotidien - All of its stores (except for UK) closed down
24. Libbey Incorporated
25. Lucky Brand Jeans
26. McClatchy
27. McDermott International
28. MGM Holdings - Purchased by Amazon
29. The Hertz Corporation
30. The Lorenz Corporation
31. Neiman Marcus
32. Roman Catholic Diocese of Harrisburg - Originally over sex abuse lawsuits, COVID-19 worsen its finances
33. Roman Catholic Diocese of Rockville Centre - Originally over sex abuse lawsuits, COVID-19 worsen its finances
34. Oasis Petroleum
35. Whiting Petroleum Corporation
36. Valaris plc

## **Alternative Britain response (if COVID cases were like real life)**

#### **Football**

* The FA Cup will be played over 8 days (much like the UCL), on 16 May 2020.
* All leagues will end the season early and tables will be decided by adjusted PPG for Premier League, PPG weighted home and away from Championship down. Premier League table, Championship table, League One table, League Two table, National League table, National League North table and National League South table
* No teams will be relegated from Premier League, Championship and League Two, League One will have 1 relegation spot. Premier League will be increased to 24 teams for 2020-21 season, a team will play other 23 teams once and then play 11 'rival' matches for a total of 34 games. Championship will remain 24 but with a 38-game season, League One to National League South & North will have 22 teams
* Leeds, WBA and Fulham all are promoted automatically to the Premier League with Brentford winning the playoffs to join them. Coventry, Rotherham and Oxford United all are promoted automatically to the Championship with Wycombe winning the playoffs to join them, Bolton Wanderers were relegated after finishing bottom according to PPG weighted for home and away. Swindon Town, Plymouth Argyle and Crewe were promoted to League 1 with Northampton Town winning the playoffs to join them. Barrow and playoff winners Harrogate Town were promoted to League 2. The playoffs of Football and National Leagues were expanded to feature 6 teams.
* Higher ranked teams have home advantage in all matches, extra time and penalty shootout will be played.
* UCL final 3 rounds was played in July.
* 2020-21 season was played to no away fans and 40% capacity, no fans will sit in ends where the goals are.

#### **Rugby union**

* Gallagher Premiership was reduced to 20 rounds and playoffs were scrapped (current league position)
* The RFU Championship officially cancelled the season on 20 March 2020, after initially postponing all rugby in England including training from 17 March until 14 April 2020. As a result, Newcastle Falcons were declared champions for the season, and promoted to the Premiership on 2 April 2020 on the basis of a best playing record formula, having been undefeated and top of the table when the league was suspended, while Leeds Tykes were relegated to National League 1 at the bottom

#### **Rugby league**

* 2020 Magic Weekend was cancelled
* Super League rounds was reduced to 20 rounds, Toronto Wolfpack withdrew from the competition, Toronto announced they will not be returning to European rugby league system and will instead permanently join the North America Rugby League. There will be no relegations in the process
* Super League called an early halt to the regular season following further major disruption caused by the coronavirus pandemic and bring forward a 6 team play-off series using points percentage
* 2020 Championship and League 1 season was cancelled and declared null and void due to many teams having part time squad and not 'financial viable' to continue without any fans and thus rejected continuing the season behind closed doors.
* Toulouse Olympique withdrew from Championship, and Catalan Dragons withdrew from Super League, and will both play in the 2021 French Elite One Championship to avoid travelling to England following travel restrictions between the 2 countries, making it unfeasible for both teams to host fixtures. Ottawa Aces and New York Freedom will both withdrew from European rugby league system and instead play in North America Rugby League, Hemel Stages returned to 2021 League 1.
* Super League expanded to 16 teams for 2021 playing 22 rounds + Magic Weekend (play other teams once = 15 games + 8 "rival" matches), with the team finishing bottom (16th) directly relegated, teams finishing 15th, 14th and 13th will play in "The Qualifier", the top 5 teams in the Championship will also play in "The Qualifier". The 13th placed SRL team hosts 14th winner stays in SRL loser advances to Week 2, 1st hosts 2nd from Championship in the Championship Grand Final winner is promoted to SRL, loser advances to Week 2. 3rd hosts 4th from Championship winner advances to Week 2 whilst the loser stays in Championship. 15th placed SRL team plays 5th place Championship team loser is in Championship, winner advances to Week 2. The winner of the 1st game of Week 2 plays the loser of the 2nd game of Week 2 in the £1m Game held at Bloomfield Road in Blackpool.
* Bradford Bulls, Leigh Centurions, York City Knights, London Broncos, Featherstone Rovers and Widnes Vikings were all promoted to the Super League.