The EFL has announced provisional plans for the Championship to restart behind closed doors on June 20, more than three months after it was shut down because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The resumption is subject to safety and government guidance being adhered to and clubs receiving clearance from their local authorities to host matches at their home stadiums. The United Kingdom government has permitted the return of competitive sport behind closed doors from June 1.
There are 108 regular season matches remaining, plus the end-of-season play-offs.
The restart dates mirrors that of the Premier League, which announced plans last week to return with two matches on June 17 before a full round of games on the weekend of June 20-21.
The EFL hope to complete all remaining regular season matches by July 18, with the season-ending play-off final, "on or around" July 30.
“With 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," EFL chairman Rick Parry said in a statement.
"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 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.”
Further discussions will take place over the possibility of allowing five substitutes per match and increasing the size of matchday squad from 18 to 20, to help teams handle a packed schedule that will see the remaining nine rounds of matches played over the space of just five weeks.
Derby's 3-0 win over Blackburn on March 8 was the last Championship match to be played before the competition joined most major leagues across Europe in shutting down because of the coronavirus outbreak.
Players resumed training in small groups on Monday, with full contact training set to start from next week.
Players and staff from all 24 clubs will be regularly tested for COVID-19, with the latest round of tests on Friday yielding 10 positive results from eight clubs.
Leeds United were one point clear of West Brom at the top of the table when the league was suspended, with Fulham, Brentford, Nottingham Forest and Preston occupying the play-off positions.
