Conte, who described himself as “passionate for football”, did not say when matches will start but said when they did they would be behind closed doors. It is a similar situation in the English Premier League and Spain’s where there is no official restart date, although La Liga president Javier Tebas has offered three dates in May and June.

Polish football is set for May 29 while Sweden is aiming for June 14 and are planning on fans being in the stadium.

That seems ambitious at a time when the impact of sporting events on the spread of the coronavirus is still being figured out. The Uefa Champions League game between Spain’s Valencia and Italy’s Atalanta in Milan’s San Siro stadium has been called “a biological bomb”, while in England Liverpool City Council have announced that they are looking into the game between Atletico Madrid and Liverpool at Anfield.

Lockdown is ideal time for football to rethink laws of the game

Closed doors still mean hundreds of people there to make the match happen, The Bundesliga have capped that at 323 but West Ham’s Karren Brady said up to 500 while ESPN revealed that in the English second tier the figure still runs into the hundreds. Even in Hong Kong, where matches were played behind closed doors before the season was suspended, there were still up to 180 people involved.

Playing behind closed doors there is a risk of fans going to the game anyway, as happened at the only such game in German top flight history when Borussia Monchengladbach played Cologne and at PSG hosting Borussia Dortmund in the Uefa Champions League. Measures to prevent this will need to be in place.

Not all fans are happy with the idea.

German supporters union Fanszenen Deutschlands has been critical of games behind closed doors. “It’s an insult to society and in particular to those fighting Covid-19 on a daily basis,” it said in a statement. “Professional football has long been sick and should still be in quarantine.”

There is also the moral dilemma around testing. Spanish footballers have indicated that they do not think they should be getting priority and the association has written to the government.

Players may also refuse to commit to whatever plans are put in place, such as the solution where teams will be confined to hotels and quarantined, which has reportedly become a point of contention among Spanish footballers and could be across other sports.

Say they were all to agree, the question has to be what will sport look like on its return?

Dr Rowland Kao from the University of Edinburgh has said players wearing masks would be a “sensible precaution”.

Those who have been playing through, such as in the Nicaraguan football league have worn masks and also pointed out that coronavirus concerns have made them avoid tackles.

Pitches and balls to be sterilised for football’s return: doctor

“We try to avoid touching other players,” Carlos Mosquera, goalkeeper with Deportivo Las Sabanas told The Independent. “Football has changed, because you do not go in for a 50-50 ball with the same intensity.

“The fear of what is happening in the world is always present. Mentally, you’re not focused on the game, you are always thinking that opponents may have the disease.”

The K-League has banned players spitting and speaking while the Bundesliga has introduced guidelines. You might think they have banned sex if you only read the headlines (only if a partner is showing Covid-19 symptoms), but they limited contact in training sessions.

Arsenal to reopen training ground to players

This is without taking into consideration the fitness levels of athletes, who will still be short of match sharpness even if they have kept in shape. There’s also the question of motivation. Sure, Liverpool players will be motivated to make their English Premier League title certain but after two months in limbo what about a mid-table team with nothing to play for?

The flip side of this is that there are livelihoods at stake in sport and the industries that live off it. It is understandable that there is a desire to get back to competition as soon as is safely possible. There is validity to that argument and as some governments appear to have noticed, it would be a huge morale booster and welcome distraction.

But as much as we all want it, given the obvious risks, we should be asking a different question – is it too soon?