All eyes on League One as Championship gets the green light to resume

All eyes are on League One ahead of next week's critical EFL meeting after the Championship announced a restart date of June 20.

The League Two season was effectively curtailed more than two weeks ago while England's second tier has been planning for a return over the past month, and that was confirmed on Sunday evening.

However, ahead of next Monday's crucial meeting, League One is still yet to find a solution. It is thought that the majority of clubs - around 15 - want the season cancelled immediately while others are desperate to play out the remaining fixtures.

It seems likely that the campaign will eventually be curtailed at next week's meeting, paving the way for Cobblers to play in the League Two play-offs later this month.

On the Championship, the EFL said: "Following Saturday’s announcement by the Government to allow elite sporting events to return behind closed doors, the EFL has this weekend agreed to a provisional restart date of the weekend of June 20 for matches in the Sky Bet Championship.

"The date is subject to the strict proviso that all safety requirements and Government guidance is met; and that clubs receive clearance from their local authorities in order to stage matches at their home grounds."

It was also confirmed that clubs will be allowed to use five substitutions and therefore matchday squads will increase from 18 to 20.

EFL chairman Rick Parry said: “With Sky Bet Championship Clubs set to return to full contact training later this week and following Saturday’s Government announcement, we are edging closer towards resuming the 2019/20 EFL season. We have therefore today consulted with the board’s Championship directors and agreed to fixtures restarting behind closed doors on 20 June.

“Whilst matches will unfortunately have to take place without supporters, we are working with our broadcast partners, EFL Championship clubs and all relevant stakeholders to broadcast the remaining 108 games plus Sky Bet Championship play-offs either live on Sky Sports, iFollow or a club’s equivalent streaming service.

“We must stress that at this stage the date is only provisional and will only be confirmed once we have met all the requirements, as the health, safety and well-being of all participants, staff and supporters remains our top priority.

“Clearly completing the season in a safe manner is going to require a significant effort by all concerned and, whilst not unprecedented, it will need clubs to play a significant number of matches over a relatively short period of time.”