Coronavirus pause could force global football to change

Football has ground to a halt due to the coronavirus pandemic, and the immediate concern is the simple survival of many clubs because of the financial impact, but there is hope that the global game could ultimately emerge better from this crisis.

"We are living through something none of us were used to and which will change us profoundly," Everton manager Carlo Ancelotti told Corriere dello Sport.

Not since World War II has the sport been forced to stop across Europe. The sudden interruption has exposed the deficiencies of a system intoxicated by huge sums of money.

Cutbacks are inevitable in the short term.

"TV money will go down, players and coaches will earn less. Tickets will cost less because people will have less money. The economy will be different and so will football. Maybe it will be better," said Ancelotti.

"As with most things, crisis is an opportunity," football historian and academic David Goldblatt, author of recent book The Age of Football, told AFP, before sounding a warning.

- Fairer distribution of money? -
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"It could actually get worse. For there to be real change there has to be a change in the way power and ownership is distributed in the game."
- Fewer games -
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"It is now high time that we find some rules to say ok, let's get out of this crisis as well as we can, but let's also put safeguards in that manage player loads successfully moving forward," warned Jonas Baer-Hoffmann, general secretary of global players' union FIFPro, as he called for "a much healthier set-up than we what have had lately."
FIFA president Gianni Infantino has acknowledged the calls for change, telling La Gazzetta dello Sport that "we can perhaps reform world football by taking a step back. With different formats. Fewer tournaments, maybe fewer teams, but more balanced."