The UEFA Champions League season was put on hold in March due to the COVID-19 outbreak, with four of the eight round of 16 ties concluded.

Today, August 6th everything restarts in Lisbon (Portugal) getting ready for the final on Aug., 23rd.

A definitive guide from our friends at UEFA.com, who else?

Not sure it is the result of this Sport Hiatus phase or of a more generalized innovation push into new ways of engaging with fans, but still every day something new pops up that make you consider how this very challenging times at times offer exciting novelty.

English soccer giants Manchester City have announced a new partnership with mobile game developer Capstone Games covering Asia Pacific, North America and the United Kingdom. Mobile game to feature Manchester City players, kit and stadium

Football restarted but not for all, and we are not talking about France but Women football in the UK. A passionate take on why it is still happening after an amazing FIFA Women World Cup last year.

As the Premier League season gets back into its rhythm following the immense energy and investment put into Project Restart, it is easy to look at the cancellation of the Women’s Super League with disdain, especially in light of women’s football restarting elsewhere.

By Julie Elliott, The Guardian

All eyes are on NWSL as the first league to restart in the US, women soccer pioneers the challenge of playing in constrained conditions and surreal empty stadiums, as most of European leagues have.
The difference though in these days is that the virus seems a bit more under control in Europe than in the US.
“It hasn’t really been put out there enough — there’s been a lot of social handles that haven’t said the NWSL is the first league back but have talked about all these other leagues besides us,” Portland Thorns midfielder Lindsey Horan said on a conference call Thursday. “It’s really frustrating. I don’t understand that.”
Google has agreed to sponsor the tournament.

Liverpool just won the Premier League in the UK, an amazing period for Jurgen Klopp and the team. It was a long wait for them, always getting more and more close but never there on top.

As images are more powerful than words, this chart from Statista really shows the long path to success in a very understandable and visual way.

Sport Hiatus staff take

Bundesliga domestic rights for the next cycle have been sold to Sky Germany and DAZN, in the first major rights deal after the pandemic started.
It is too early to draw conclusions even if some initial findings signal few things: Sky staying a leader, DAZN investing more and global value slightly lower than the previous cycle, no Eurosport, Amazon not in the picture for now.
This is a first step in a season of renewals in the next year also going to redesign US major sports.

If you don’t know this story from the UK, please read this!

Marcus Rashford, 22, Manchester United player in the Premier League, pressured the government Tuesday into extending free school meals for poor children over the school summer break. With his own surprise the government after refusing to do it for a while, eventually caved.

This goes a long way to the power of football players in our society and the impact that the pandemic and the request of more attention for the less represented is having.