If there’s a non-military equivalent to DEFCON 1, then the Liga Nacional de Fútbol Profesional office in Madrid may have hit it on April 28.
The coronavirus pandemic remained in full swing in Europe, and that afternoon, as La Liga officials continued to work on their plan to restart the Spanish soccer season, French Prime Minister Édouard Philippe announced the definitive cancellation of the Ligue 1 and Ligue 2 campaigns. Thus, France became the first of Europe’s “Big Five” to cut short its season. Worse still, there were reports that President Emmanuel Macron and sports minister Roxana Maracineanu were lobbying their counterparts in England, Germany, Italy and Spain to do the same.