The longest season in football is finally over. But there is no breathing room for journalists

With the Champions League coming to its conclusion in Lisbon on Sunday, the longest season in football history is finally over.

Bayern Munich are champions of Europe for a sixth time after Kingsley Coman’s goal was enough to see off Paris Saint-Germain at the Estadio da Luz.

The win sealed a treble of trophies for the German giants to go with their league and cup crowns and was a fittingly historic end to a campaign like no other.

After coronavirus forced a football drought, there came the most intense schedule we’ve encountered on the game’s resumption with domestic and European competition crammed into the tightest of windows.

The impact of so much football in so little time will be fascinating with pre-season preparations for the 2020/21 season already well underway, and long before the 2019/20 campaign even finished.

Just 28 days after winning the FA Cup at Wembley to close out last term, Arsenal will be back at the home of football this weekend for the FA Community Shield, the traditional curtain-raiser to the new season. They will face Premier League champions Liverpool, the sternest of tests for Arsenal coach Mikel Arteta’s young side.

For journalists it simply means the coverage must go on unabated. Transfers always take centre stage at this time of year with supporters desperate for a new face or two to cheer on. Interest in pre-season is always high too as fans hope that this time it really might be their year.

This week saw the new fixture schedule for every Premier League club confirmed as well, another sign the new season isn’t far around the corner.

Coaches in sport often say there is no off-season. In 2020, both for those playing and for those covering it, it couldn’t be more accurate.

Yours,

Ben Burrows

Sports editor