BOGOTA, May 23 -- Colombia head coach Carlos Queiroz has called for a "uniform and harmonized" return to football, urging the sport's governing bodies to extend the current season to December.
In a column published on the Colombian Football Federation (FCF) website on Saturday, the 67-year-old Portuguese said the world's major leagues should adopt a February-to-December calendar until the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
He also implored FIFA and the regional confederations to include all levels - including women's, youth and amateur football - in a global plan to restart after the coronavirus shutdown.
"It's a real challenge of uniformity and harmonization; of the need to make decisions that are more inclusive," Queiroz said. "We should question the conventional ways of thinking and acting in football, without radically cutting off its glorious past."
Most of the world's major competitions were suspended in March because of the COVID-19 pandemic. South Korea's K League and Germany's Bundesliga returned to actions this month while several other national leagues are due to follow suit in the coming weeks.
However, some domestic competitions have already been aborted. France's Ligue 1 called off the rest of the season and handed the title to leaders Paris Saint-Germain while the 2019-20 Dutch Eredivisie was canceled and declared null and void.
The 2022 World Cup in Qatar will be played in November and December, meaning European leagues will have to make significant changes to their normal calendars to accommodate it.
"We need a formula in the world of football that allows, in the short term, the impossible to become possible," Queiroz added.