Credit: Rui Vieira/AP

It’s soccer o’clock.

The English Premier League, one of the major international football organizations (that’s soccer football, not American football), has been sidelined since February due to, you guessed it, the COVID-19 pandemic. In order to get things rolling again, the EPL has been carrying out what they have named “Project Restart,” a massive effort to ensure the safety of players and spectators before league play resumes.

During phase one of the project, all staff and players were tested twice a week for coronavirus. Anyone who tests positive has to self-isolate for at least a week. Since testing started earlier this month, 2,752 tests have been carried out. Of those tests, 12 people tested positive, approximately 0.2%. Another round of testing will begin soon with an additional ten tests allocated to each club. The point, though, is that the league seems to be in a good place, health-wise. It’s for this reason that the clubs unanimously voted to proceed to phase two of the project, which is resuming contact training.

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“Squads are now able to train as a group and engage in tackling while minimizing any unnecessary close contact,” the league said in a statement.

With everyone’s health looking good and training once again in progress, the EPL now has enough information to give a concrete return date. League play will officially resume on June 17, starting with the two fixtures left over from the last round before the pandemic stopped everything. These fixtures will feature Manchester City vs. Arsenal and Aston Villa vs. Sheffield United. Afterwards, full rounds will resume the following weekend. In an effort to get things up to speed, games may even be played back-to-back, so if you’re a football fan, you’re going to be in for some pretty interesting weekends in the near future.