2019–20 in Australian soccer, National teams, Australia men's national under-17 soccer team, Friendlies
The following is a list of friendlies played by the men's under 17 national team in 2019–20.


2019–20 in Australian soccer, National teams, Australia women's national soccer team, Friendlies
The following is a list of friendlies played or originally scheduled to be played by the women's senior national team in 2019–20.


2019–20 in Australian soccer, National teams, Australia women's national under-17 soccer team, Friendlies
The following is a list of friendlies played by the women's under 17 national team in 2019–20.


2019–20 in Australian soccer, Men's football, National Premier Leagues
The Final Series featured the winner of each Member Federation's league competition in the National Premier Leagues, where the overall winner was to qualify directly for the 2020 FFA Cup Round of 32. Since that competition was cancelled, Wollongong Wolves qualified directly for the 2021 FFA Cup Round of 32.


2019–20 in Australian soccer, Men's football, State club winners
These are the winners for each top-tier state competition in 2020.


2019–20 in Belgian football
The following article is a summary of the 2019–20 football season in Belgium, which was the 117th season of competitive football in the country and ran from July 2019 until August 2020.


2019–20 in Belgian football, National teams, Belgium national football team
After starting with four wins out of four during the previous season, Belgium continued its stroll through UEFA Euro 2020 qualifying Group I, also winning all remaining six matches and thereby qualifying for UEFA Euro 2020 with a perfect record. The tournament itself was however postponed to 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Europe. and both the preparation matches against Portugal and Switzerland in March which were to be held in Qatar as well as two other matches in June against opponents which were still to be announced, were cancelled.


2019–20 in Belgian football, National teams, Belgium national football team, UEFA Euro 2020
Belgium was to play Denmark, Finland and Russia in Group B in June 2020, however all matches were postponed to 2021.


2019–20 in Belgian football, National teams, Belgium national football team, Friendlies
Four friendlies were to be played in preparation for the UEFA Euro 2020 tournament, the first two would have been played in March in Qatar against Portugal and Switzerland, while the two others were scheduled for June, with the opponents still unknown. Eventually, all matches were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Europe.


2019–20 in Belgian football, National teams, Belgium women's national football team
Qualification for the UEFA Women's Euro 2021 started perfect for the Belgians with four straight wins, with also Switzerland holding the maximum after four games. A few weeks before the crucial match between the joint-leaders, all remaining matches were postponed to the following season, due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Europe. The UEFA Women's Euro 2021 tournament was pushed back a year to become the UEFA Women's Euro 2021, to avoid coinciding with both the 2020 Summer Olympics and UEFA Euro 2020. Meanwhile, the team did compete in the 2020 Algarve Cup, reaching 6th place out of 8 teams, while two other friendlies were cancelled.


2019–20 in Belgian football, National teams, Belgium national under-21 football team
The U21 started their 2021 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualifying campaign and were scheduled to play their first five matches. However the final match against Bosnia-Herzegovina was postponed to the following season due to COVID-19.


2019–20 in Belgian football, National teams, Belgium national under-19 football team
The U19 took part in the 2020 UEFA European Under-19 Championship qualifying campaign. The team easily passed the qualifying round, moving into the elite round, before the tournament was cancelled entirely and qualification was stopped.


2019–20 in Belgian football, Men's football, League season, Promotion and relegation
The following teams had achieved promotion or suffered relegation going into the 2019–20 season.


2019–20 in Belgian football, Men's football, League season, Coronavirus impact & License troubles
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Belgium, all professional matches were postponed mid-March. A few weeks later the board of directors of the Belgian Pro League proposed to cancel permanently all remaining matches, take the standings as of March 12 counting as final and award the title to Club Brugge, with the proposal to be accepted at the general meeting on 15 May 2020.


2019–20 in Belgian football, Men's football, League season, Coronavirus impact & License troubles
UEFA criticized the decision to stop the competition early, threatening to not allow any Belgian clubs to take part in the 2020–21 UEFA Champions League and 2020–21 UEFA Europa League unless they tried everything possible to complete as many matches as possible before the extended deadline of early August. In the amateur leagues, all remaining matches were canceled as well, and points of teams that had played fewer matches were scaled up before completing the final standings, while all playoff matches were canceled and only direct promotions and relegations were carried out.


2019–20 in Belgian football, Men's football, League season, Coronavirus impact & License troubles
Despite stopping all matches in both the 2019–20 Belgian First Division A and 2019–20 Belgian First Division B, several unresolved issues remain, which were to be solved by a group of experts to come with a proposal by mid-May:


2019–20 in Belgian football, Men's football, League season, Coronavirus impact & License troubles
The easiest solution would involve having no relegation and allowing both Oud-Heverlee Leuven and Beerschot to be promoted, playing one season with 18 teams without playoffs. Meanwhile, the 2020 Belgian Super Cup (scheduled to be played towards the end of July) could be canceled, with the cup final to be played on that date instead. While many clubs seemed to support this proposal, no final consensus was reached in the months of March and April, as the general meeting was postponed several times.


2019–20 in Belgian football, Men's football, League season, Coronavirus impact & License troubles
To complicate matters further, on 8 April 2020, the license commission decided not to award a professional football license to no less than seven (of 24) professional clubs, nearly always for insufficient proof of financial solvency. This included three teams from the 2019–20 Belgian First Division A (Standard Liège, Excel Mouscron and Oostende) and four from the 2019–20 Belgian First Division B (Lokeren, Lommel, Roeselare and Virton).


2019–20 in Belgian football, Men's football, League season, Coronavirus impact & License troubles
All seven clubs appealed the decision at the Belgian Court for Sports Arbitrage, but only Standard Liège, Excel Mouscron, Oostende, and Lommel were awarded a license while Lokeren went bankrupt and ceased to exist and both Roeselare and Virton were refused a license and thereby forced to relegate. As a result, there are only 21 professional teams left, meaning more than just one team will need to be promoted from the 2019–20 Belgian First Amateur Division. In that division, only had two teams received a professional football license (Deinze and RWDM47) at first instance, but eventually, the appeals of Seraing and Lierse Kempenzonen were upheld, meaning there are four eligible teams.


2019–20 in Belgian football, Men's football, League season, Coronavirus impact & License troubles
In the days before the decision by the general meeting, several clubs sent around their proposal with their vision on how the season should come to an end, with opinions differing hugely:


2019–20 in Belgian football, UEFA competitions
Champions Genk qualified directly for the group stage of the Champions League, while runners-up Club Brugge started in the qualifying rounds. Cup winners KV Mechelen were banned from European football after being found guilty of match-fixing as part of the 2017–19 Belgian football fraud scandal, resulting in their place in the group stage of the Europa League being taken by Standard Liège for finishing third in the league. Finally Antwerp and Gent started in the UEFA Europa League qualifying rounds after respectively finishing fourth and fifth.


2019–20 in Belgian football, Managerial changes
This is a list of changes of managers within Belgian professional league football:


2019–20 in Croatian football
The following article presents a summary of the 2019–20 football season in Croatia, which was the 29th season of competitive football in the country.


2019–20 in Dutch football
The 2019–20 season is the 130th season of competitive football in the Netherlands.


2019–20 in Egyptian football
The 2019–20 season was the 102nd season of competitive association football in Egypt.


2019–20 in English football
The 2019–20 season was the 140th season of competitive association football in England.


2019–20 in English football
The season was suspended 13 March 2020 due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the first time that an entire football season was suspended since the 1939-40 season was abandoned due to the onset of World War II. On 26 March, the season was abandoned in divisions below the National League, with all results being expunged, one relegation and one expulsion taking place.


2019–20 in English football
The Premier League resumed on the 17 June and the Championship on 20 June with all matches played behind closed doors.


2019–20 in English football, UEFA competitions, UEFA Super Cup
This was the first Super Cup to feature two English teams.


2019–20 in English football, Men's football, Premier League
Amid uncertainty and calls for the season to be rendered null and void in the midst of the pandemic, the FA voted for both the Premier League and the Championship to finish their respective campaigns – a decision that finally helped Liverpool, after decades of heart-break, near-misses and rebuilding, to end their long wait and win their first league title since 1990, breaking the record for the earliest top-flight win in history, whilst also extending their unbeaten league run at Anfield to a third successive season and 59 games – despite a succession of dropped points in their remaining games ensured they'd miss out on breaking any of the previously set title-winning records on top of an early exit in the Champions League knockout stage, the Reds won both the UEFA Super Cup and the Club World Cup in the first half of the season to mark one of their most successful campaigns since 2001.


2019–20 in English football, Men's football, Premier League
Finishing second were Manchester City, who had been widely tipped to build on their domestic treble the previous season – however, they endured arguably one of the most disappointing title defences in the club's history, losing ground on Liverpool as early as their second game and suffering a number of unexpected and poor defeats, including home-and-away to both Wolverhampton Wanderers and city rivals Manchester United, a decision ultimately put down to the club's failure to replace departing captain Vincent Kompany and then losing key players Leroy Sane and Aymeric Laporte to long-term injuries; despite this, City were at least able to earn silverware, winning their fifth League Cup in seven seasons.


2019–20 in English football, Men's football, Premier League
In similar circumstances to the previous season, the battle for the remaining top-four spots went down to the final day – and saw Chelsea and Manchester United scrape through at the expense of Leicester City; Chelsea's first season under new head coach and former player Frank Lampard proved largely indifferent, conceding far more goals than all of the top ten, but they managed enough consistency to ensure Champions League football, whilst a largely underwhelming 2020 went against Leicester, who lost a winner-takes-all final day game against United, the Red Devils securing Champions League football despite an inconsistent 2019 – the arrival of midfielder Bruno Fernandes in the winter transfer window helping to reinvigorate the team.


2019–20 in English football, Men's football, Premier League
An uneven start to the season for Tottenham Hotspur ultimately saw manager Mauricio Pochettino sacked after five and a half years at the helm; whilst the installation of Jose Mourinho helped push the club back up the table and into a late battle to ensure Europa League football for the next campaign, an early exit in the Champions League and poor performances across domestic cup competitions put paid to any hopes of Spurs winning a trophy – with similar performances in the league raising questions about Mourinho's long-term tactics.


2019–20 in English football, Men's football, Premier League
Having been tipped to struggle in their first top-flight season since 2007, Sheffield United defied all their critics by recording both a top-ten finish and conceding fewer goals than much of the top-four, even staying in the fight for a European spot up until the final game, an effort that gave the Blades and manager Chris Wilder deserved praise.


2019–20 in English football, Men's football, Premier League
Arsenal endured one of their worst seasons since the inception of the Premier League, with a succession of draws and win-less runs across all competitions in the first half of the season extinguishing the Gunners' hopes of winning the league title and costing manager Unai Emery his job; whilst the season's second half proved to be much better under former player and new manager Mikel Arteta, including winning the FA Cup for the fourth time in seven seasons and ensuring Europa League football next season, further dropped points either side of the suspension ensured the London club would only just scrap into the top eight.


2019–20 in English football, Men's football, Premier League
Southampton endured yet another underwhelming start to the season, including suffering the worst home defeat in the history of the top-flight in late October at the hands of Leicester City – however, strong away form from that point onwards helped pushed the Saints comfortably clear of the drop, with safety ensured following an impressive home win over Manchester City.


2019–20 in English football, Men's football, Premier League
At the bottom of the table, Norwich City endured a disastrous return to the Premier League, suffering relegation with three games to go in a torrid season that saw the Canaries hit with an extensive injury crisis and fail to really make much impact both in the transfer window and in the league itself, despite an astonishing victory against Manchester City at Carrow Road early in the campaign; having been bottom but still in with a shout of survival when the season was suspended, they were ultimately undone by losing every single match after the season resumed.


2019–20 in English football, Men's football, Premier League
The battle to avoid the remaining relegation places proved to be closer than expected, but both Aston Villa – defying the odds in their first season back in the top-flight – and West Ham United survived the drop, at the expense of Watford and Bournemouth, the Hornets ultimately being let down by both an atrocious start to the season with only a solitary win in their opening sixteen games and their sacking of three different managers, with Bournemouth also being let down by a collapse in points and form either side of the season being suspended despite a remarkable victory over Everton on the final day; coincidentally, all three clubs had been promoted in the same season only five years prior, albeit Norwich had gone straight back down the following year.


2019–20 in English football, Men's football, Championship
The race for the automatic promotion spots proved to be hotly contested, both before the season was suspended and after the decision was made to resume following a vote by the FA – but in the end, Leeds United made up for their play-off semi-final collapse the previous year and returned to the Premier League for the first time since 2004 in Marcelo Bielsa's second season as manager, remaining in the promotion chase all season despite fears of a second collapse after poor January form and then ensuring both promotion and champions spot before their penultimate game, thanks to results going their way.


2019–20 in English football, Men's football, Championship
The battle for second place proved to be just as hotly contested with three teams in the mix in the last round of games, but West Bromwich Albion successfully held off strong runs of form from both Brentford and Fulham to end a two-year absence from the top-flight in dramatic fashion, giving Slaven Bilic promotion in his first season as head coach.


2019–20 in English football, Men's football, Championship
Both London clubs therefore qualified for the play-offs, alongside Welsh clubs Cardiff City and Swansea City, the Swans having inexplicably managed to leapfrog Nottingham Forest in the closing minutes of the season on goals scored - Forest being left to rue a six-game win-less run, having been all but guaranteed a top-six finish at the start of July.


2019–20 in English football, Men's football, Championship
The battle for the play-offs ultimately proved a closer affair, with many teams battling for one spot; among the teams to miss out were Derby County, who overcame a sluggish start to only narrowly miss out on a play-off position, whilst also managing to sign top-flight legend Wayne Rooney in the winter transfer window.


2019–20 in English football, Men's football, Championship
Amid yet another poor start to their season, Reading looked poised to endure a third successive relegation battle – however, the unorthodox decision of newly installed Sporting Director Mark Bowen to appoint himself as manager proved to be a successful one as the Royals rocketed away from the bottom and even looked likely to snatch an unlikely play-off position in the closing weeks of the campaign, falling short in the closing games.


2019–20 in English football, Men's football, Championship
Newly relegated Huddersfield Town suffered a similarly dreadful start to their campaign and found themselves battling a second consecutive relegation in a row, but the appointment of Lincoln City manager Danny Cowley and several key wins picked up at crucial points ultimately proved enough for the Terriers to secure their Championship status, the win in their penultimate game that ensured safety ironically being the one to send Leeds back into the top-flight.


2019–20 in English football, Men's football, Championship
The battle at the bottom of the table ended up being one of the tightest in the history of the second tier, with all three relegation spots left wide open going into the last game – and in the end, it was ultimately Hull City, Wigan Athletic and Charlton Athletic who dropped into League One; Hull's relegation came after a complete collapse in form in the second half of the season, the accumulation of just eight points after New Year's Day and the sale of key players Kamil Grosicki and Jarred Bowen helping to condemn the Tigers to the third tier for the first time since 2005.


2019–20 in English football, Men's football, Championship
Wigan controversially took the last spot, suffering a 12-point deduction for entering administration and falling into the bottom three after the final whistle as a result, despite an outstanding run of form after the season resumed that included an 8–0 win at home over Hull. Charlton Athletic suffered immediate relegation back to the third tier, the London club being left to rue a run of just one win between the middle of October and the end of January despite securing some positive results in their closing games.


2019–20 in English football, Men's football, Championship
Having been nearly adrift at the turn of the year, Luton Town saw a resurgence of their own that saw them fight their way to safety, the Hatters being helped by the return of influential manager Nathan Jones during the suspension, whilst Barnsley defied the odds and poor form in the first half of the season to secure their place in the second tier.


2019–20 in English football, Men's football, League One
With the season postponed in March, clubs in both League One and League Two found enough votes to agree to end the season - using Points-Per-Game to help solidify a final points total, both Coventry City and Rotherham United were automatically promoted.


2019–20 in English football, Men's football, League One
the Sky Blues' promotion came just three years after relegation to League Two and eight years after having fallen out of the second tier, marking a remarkable turn of events for the club despite off-field issues that saw them being forced to ground-share with Birmingham City, whilst the Millers secured a second instant return to the Championship in two years (making this the fourth consecutive season that they moved between the Championship and League One), in spite of having fallen off the top of the table just prior to the season being suspended.


2019–20 in English football, Men's football, League One
The final qualifying spot was taken by Wycombe Wanderers, who stormed through the play-offs to record the Buckinghamshire club's first ever promotion to the Championship; whilst they had dropped off the top of the table over the festive period and then dropped further down, the Chairboys recovered enough before the season was postponed to ensure a third-place finish through Points-Ger-Game and give long-term manager Gareth Ainsworth his second promotion with the club in three seasons.


2019–20 in English football, Men's football, League One
Losing out in the play-off final were Oxford United, who missed out on a chance to return to the second tier for the first time since the end of the 20th century; none-the-less, the U's enjoyed a fantastic season, which included making the quarter-finals of the League Cup and thrashing Premier League side West Ham 4–0 along the way.


2019–20 in English football, Men's football, League One
A poor start to the season ultimately cost Sunderland a second successive chance of promotion despite an improvement with new manager Phil Parkinson, whilst a superb start for Ipswich Town completely fell apart in the New Year, consigning the Tractor Boys to another season in the third tier; both clubs had advocated resuming the season.


2019–20 in English football, Men's football, League One
Lincoln City were another club who had started well, giving hope for a second promotion in a row, but a poor start under new management after the departure of Danny Cowley to Huddersfield Town saw results drop off, leaving them closer to relegation in the table - nevertheless, safety was secured by virtue of the season ending early, a decision that gave fellow promoted side Milton Keynes Dons a second season in League One.


2019–20 in English football, Men's football, League One
Bury's season practically ended before it started, financial troubles ultimately seeing the club expelled from the Football League altogether, the first team to suffer this fate since Maidstone United in 1992. As a result, only three teams were relegated when the season concluded; Bolton Wanderers, Southend United and Tranmere Rovers.


2019–20 in English football, Men's football, League One
Bolton's relegation came amid similar finance issues to Bury, though they were able to find new ownership to avoid expulsion; however, their points deduction would have had no bearing on their battle to escape the drop, as terrible early-season form and a lack of wins helped consign the Trotters to a second consecutive relegation, meaning they would be playing in the fourth tier for the first time since 1988 next season.


2019–20 in English football, Men's football, League One
Southend United fared little better, only finishing above Bolton because of the points deduction and only avoiding conceding 100 goals because of the season finishing early, suffering relegation after five seasons in the third tier. Despite finding form in the early months of 2020, Tranmere could not escape the relegation zone before the season was suspended and suffered an immediate relegation back to League Two - though they did have some positives in their season, including managing to come from 3–0 down to hold Watford in the FA Cup at Vicarage Road and then beat them in the replay.


2019–20 in English football, Men's football, League Two
As with League One, League Two also opted to end the season early following its postponement in March - this gave Swindon Town, Crewe Alexandra and Plymouth Argyle automatic promotion. Just three years after falling into the fourth tier, Swindon finally picked up enough points to return to League One, thanks in part to the impressive goal-scoring efforts of Irish forward Eoin Doyle.


2019–20 in English football, Men's football, League Two
Crewe's promotion came four years after suffering relegation themselves and to the surprise of many, considering their previous campaigns had seen them either only avoid relegation or finish in mid-table; nevertheless, the Railwaymen enjoyed a good season before it had been postponed, managing to win promotion with the most goals scored.


2019–20 in English football, Men's football, League Two
Having just missed out on avoiding the drop into League Two the previous season, Plymouth bounced back in style as they sealed an immediate return to the third tier, thanks in part to the experience of new manager Ryan Lowe who had helped expelled club Bury to promotion the previous year despite off-field problems.


2019–20 in English football, Men's football, League Two
Taking the final spot via the play-offs were Northampton Town, who ended a two-year spell outside of the third tier in dramatic style; the Cobblers had actually lost five out of seven league games prior to the season being suspended, a run that nearly saw them fall out of the play-off places altogether, before losing their first play-off leg - however, the team rallied and processed to win both the second leg and then the final at Wembley by big scorelines, ending Keith Curle's first full season as manager in some style.


2019–20 in English football, Men's football, League Two
Exeter City endured another troubling attempt at promotion, having been largely in the top three for most of the season before falling into the play-offs before the suspension of the season; whilst they achieved a comeback result in the playoffs, their crushing loss at the hands of Northampton Town ensured a third play-off final loss in four seasons.


2019–20 in English football, Men's football, League Two
Missing out on the play-offs as a result of the usage of Points-Per-Game were Bradford City despite looking like they'd bounce back from relegation the previous year, Forest Green Rovers who were looking to build on having made the play-off semi-finals the previous year and even Salford City, who defied all their critics and took to their first season in the Football League very well.


2019–20 in English football, Men's football, League Two
Following the unexpected and tragic death of manager Justin Edinburgh weeks after they had been promoted, a poor run of results at several points in the early months of the season saw Leyton Orient likely to suffer relegation - but despite this, the club pulled through and escaped the drop following the vote to end the season, giving hope the O's would build on the success of Edinburgh's promotion.


2019–20 in English football, Men's football, League Two
Because of Bury's demise, only one club was relegated from the Football League this season (the League Two clubs initially voted for no movement between the Football League and National League to take place this season, but this plan was subsequently vetoed by the Football Association). Ultimately, Stevenage finished bottom and appeared set to return to the National League after a decade, following a dismal season in which they had four different managers, and fell to the foot of the table in late September and never left it.


2019–20 in English football, Men's football, League Two
However, Macclesfield Town lost a total of seventeen points for various financial transgressions during the course of the season; the last four of those deducted points were initially suspended until the following season, but an appeal by the Football League and Stevenage saw them instead applied to this season, causing Macclesfield to instead finish bottom and return to the National League after just two years; they would ultimately never take their place in that league, however, as their financial problems proved insurmountable, resulting in the club folding a few weeks into the 2020–21 season, and thus making this the final season that they completed. The combination of Bury's demise and Macclesfield's points deductions saved Morecambe, who were statistically the second-worst team after Stevenage, from relegation to the National League.


2019–20 in English football, Men's football, National League Top Division
As with League One and League Two, the National League curtailed its season, with the final placings decided on points-per-game. Barrow therefore finished top and returned to the Football League for the first time since 1972; the longest gap that any team has had between leaving the Football League (either via automatic relegation or the prior election system) and re-entering it via automatic promotion. Harrogate Town, who were in second place prior to the suspension of the season, won the play-offs and entered the Football League for the first time in their history.


2019–20 in English football, Men's football, National League Top Division
Chorley finished in last place after a dismal season, in which they were on the verge of relegation even before the season's suspension cemented this outcome. AFC Fylde's fortunes declined sharply after two consecutive play-off finishes, and they were left to rue a poor run of results which dumped them into the relegation spots and ultimately sealed their fate when the season was suspended.


2019–20 in English football, Men's football, National League Top Division
Ebbsfleet United, who like Fylde enjoyed two strong finishes in the previous season, filled the final relegation spot; they had actually been outside the relegation zone prior to the season's suspension, but dropped into it on points-per-game in place of Maidenhead United. Maidenhead would themselves have been relegated, if not for Bury's demise meaning they ended up being reprieved.


2019–20 in English football, Men's football, Cup competitions, FA Trophy
The final was rescheduled for 27 September 2020 however this was postponed as the FA hoped to have spectators in the final. The date was then agreed for 3 May 2021 behind closed doors as a suitable solution could not be reached to be played with fans.


2019–20 in English football, Women's football, Cup competitions, FA Women's Cup
The final was played at Wembley Stadium on Saturday 1 November 2020.


2019–20 in English football, Managerial changes
This is a list of changes of managers within English league football:


2019–20 in English women's football, Domestic competition, Cup competitions, FA Women's Cup
The final was played at Wembley Stadium on Saturday 1 November 2020.


2019–20 in English women's football, Domestic competition, Academy/reserve leagues
Both the FA Women's Super League and the FA Women's National League ran additional leagues alongside their main divisions for academy and reserve teams. The WSL organised the FA WSL Academy league, which is contested by academy teams from eleven of the twelve top-flight clubs. The only team not to enter an academy side in the competition is Tottenham Hotspur, whose place in the league was filled by Ipswich Town's under-21s.


2019–20 in English women's football, Domestic competition, Academy/reserve leagues
The WNL have six regional divisions for reserve and development teams from clubs in the FA Women's National League and FA Women's Championship. They are Northern divisions 1 and 2, Midland divisions 1 and 2, the South East division and the South West division.


2019–20 in English women's football, Domestic competition, Academy/reserve leagues
These divisions are all independent of the main women's football pyramid system and there is no promotion or relegation to other leagues.


2019–20 in French football
The following article is a summary of the 2019–20 football season in France, which was the 86th season of competitive football in the country and runs from July 2019 to June 2020.


2019–20 in French football
On 28 April 2020 Prime Minister Edouard Philippe announced all sporting events in France would be cancelled.


2019–20 in French football, UEFA competitions, UEFA Champions League, Knockout phase
The "home" team (for administrative purposes) was determined by an additional draw held on 10 July 2020 (after the quarter-final and semi-final draws), at the UEFA headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland.


2019–20 in German football
The 2019–20 season was the 110th season of competitive football in Germany.


2019–20 in German football, German clubs in Europe, UEFA Champions League, Knockout phase
The "home" team (for administrative purposes) was determined by an additional draw held on 10 July 2020 (after the quarter-final and semi-final draws), at the UEFA headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland.


2019–20 in Honduran football
The 2019–20 season is the 72nd season of competitive association football in Honduras.


2019–20 in Indian football, National teams, India national football team, 2019 King's Cup
India were invited to play King's Cup tournament by Thailand. This was India's first tournament under the new coach, Igor Štimac.


2019–20 in Indian football, National teams, India national football team, 2019 Intercontinental Cup
This is the second edition of the Hero Intercontinental Cup, organised by AIFF. This year no national side from other confederation took part other than AFC. India participated along with Syria, Tajikistan and North Korea. India was able to draw their third match against Syria after being defeated by Tajikistan and North Korea in their first two matches.


2019–20 in Italian football
The 2019–20 season was the 118th season of competitive football in Italy. On 9 March 2020, the Italian government halted all sports events in Italy until 3 April 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic in Italy. On 18 May, it was announced that Italian football would be suspended until 14 June. On 28 May, it was announced that Serie A and Serie B would resume starting 20 June. Serie C and Serie D, however, did not resume with table leaders announced as champions in Serie C, and no winners announced.


2019–20 in Italian football, National teams, Men, UEFA Euro 2020
On 17 March 2020, UEFA confirmed that UEFA Euro 2020 had been postponed by one year in response to the COVID-19 pandemic in Europe.


2019–20 in Lebanese football
The 2019–20 season was the 87th season of competitive football in Lebanon. Due to political and financial issues in the country, on 21 January 2020, the LFA decided to suspend all football leagues until further notice, and cancelled the three match days that were previously played (the last one being on 17 October 2019). With the COVID-19 pandemic in Asia also stopping sporting activities globally, the season was officially cancelled on 28 May 2020.


2019–20 in Maldivian football
Overview of the 2019–20 season of association football in the Maldives. The season was abandoned on 15 March 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic in the Maldives. It was declared void on 30 March 2020.


2019–20 in Maldivian football, Men's football, Second Division
Per statistical convention in football, matches decided in extra time are counted as wins and losses, while matches decided by penalty shoot-out are counted as draws.


2019–20 in Maldivian football, Men's football, Jazeera Championship
Minivan Championship was re-branded to Jazeera Championship on 30 September 2019. On 9 October 2019, Football Association of Maldives announced that the first tournament under the current format will be held on January 25, 2020.


2019–20 in Polish football
The 2019–20 season was the 95th season of competitive football in Poland.


2019–20 in Polish football, Polish clubs in Europe, Cracovia, Qualifying phase
3–3 on aggregate. DAC Dunajská Streda won on away goals.


2019–20 in Scottish football
The 2019–20 season was the 123rd season of competitive football in Scotland. The domestic season began on 12 July 2019, with the first round of matches in the 2019–20 Scottish League Cup. The 2019–20 Scottish Professional Football League season started on 2 August 2019.


2019–20 in Scottish football
All competitive matches affiliated with the Scottish Football Association were postponed indefinitely on 13 March 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.


2019–20 in Scottish football, Transfer deals
Celtic transfer defender Kieran Tierney to Arsenal for £25 million, a record fee for both a player sold by a Scottish club and for a deal involving a Scottish player.


2019–20 in Scottish football, League competitions
On 15 April 2020, all divisions in the SPFL below the Scottish Premiership were concluded, and all play-off matches were cancelled, as clubs chose to curtail the season due to the pandemic. On 18 May, the Premiership was curtailed and Celtic declared champions. Final league standings across the four SPFL leagues were determined by the average number of points per game.


2019–20 in Scottish football, League competitions
Other leagues in Scotland were decided on a points per games basis, or declared null and void.


2019–20 in Scottish football, Honours, Individual honours, PFA Scotland awards
Due to the covid-19 pandemic, PFA Scotland cancelled their awards for the 2019–20 season.


2019–20 in Scottish football, Scottish clubs in Europe, Celtic
Having lost in Champions League qualifying to CFR Cluj, Celtic dropped into the Europa League playoff round.


2019–20 in Scottish football, Women's football, UEFA Women's Champions League, Glasgow City
Glasgow City entered the Champions League in the round of 32, and were seeded at that stage. City eliminated Russian side Chertanovo to progress to the last 16, where they defeated Danish club Brøndby after a penalty shootout. This meant that City progressed to the quarter-finals, which were originally scheduled for March 2020 but were rescheduled and reformatted due to the coronavirus pandemic.


2019–20 in Scottish football, Women's football, UEFA Women's Champions League, Hibernian
Hibernian entered the Champions League in the qualifying group phase. They progressed to the last 32, where they were unseeded, by winning their group.


2019–20 in Spanish football
The 2019–20 season was the 118th season of competitive association football in Spain.


2019–20 in Spanish football, UEFA competitions, 2019–20 UEFA Youth League, Knockout phase
The final, originally scheduled to be played on 20 April 2020 at Colovray Stadium, Nyon, was postponed due to concerns over the COVID-19 pandemic in Europe. It was rescheduled to 25 August 2020.


2019–20 in Swiss football
The following is a summary of the 2019–20 season of competitive football in Switzerland.


2019–20 in Turkish football
The 2019–20 season was the 115th season of competitive football in Turkey.


2019–20 in Ukrainian football
The 2019–20 season was the 29th season of competitive association football in Ukraine since dissolution of the Soviet Union.


2019–20 in Ukrainian football, Men's club football
Note: For all scratched clubs, see section Clubs removed for more details


2019–20 in Ukrainian football, Men's club football, Second leg
Veres Rivne won 3–1 on aggregate and was promoted to the 2020–21 Ukrainian First League


2019–20 in Ukrainian football, Men's club football, Second leg
Alians Lypova Dolyna won 3–0 on aggregate and was promoted to the 2020–21 Ukrainian First League


2019–20 in Ukrainian football, Women's club football
Note: For all scratched clubs, see section Clubs removed for more details


2019–20 in Ukrainian football, Managerial changes
This is a list of managerial changes among Ukrainian professional football clubs (top two leagues):


2019–20 national figure skating championships
National figure skating championships of the 2019–20 season took place mainly from December 2019 to January 2020. They were held to crown national champions and served as part of the selection process for international events, such as the 2020 ISU Figure Skating Championships. Medals were awarded in the disciplines of men's singles, ladies' singles, pair skating, and ice dance. A few countries chose to organize their national championships together with their neighbors; the results were subsequently divided into national podiums.


2019–20 snooker season
The 2019–20 snooker season was a series of professional snooker tournaments played between 9 May 2019 and 22 August 2020. In total, 42 events were held during the season, which was disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic. 18 world ranking tournaments were planned to take place, but only 17 were played. An event was held in Austria, the first time in any snooker season, while the 2020 China Open was cancelled. The Tour Championship and the World Snooker Championship were postponed, and the Gibraltar Open played with no audience. The season contained 128 professional tour players, 35 of which had been given new two-year places on the tour from a combination of invitations and qualifying events.


2019–20 snooker season
Judd Trump, the reigning world champion, won a record six ranking titles for a season. Trump also became the second player ever to compile over 100 century breaks in a season. Ronnie O'Sullivan won the 2020 World Snooker Championship, defeating Kyren Wilson with a score of 18–8. O'Sullivan also won his 37th ranking title, the most of any player. The other Triple Crown championships were the 2019 UK Championship, won by Ding Junhui, and the 2020 Masters, won by Stuart Bingham.


2019–20 snooker season, Players
The World Snooker Tour in the 2019–20 season consisted of a field of 128 professional players. The highest 64 players on the 2018–19 snooker world rankings after the 2019 World Championship qualified for a place in the field, whilst an additional 29 players who had previously won a two-year tour card also qualified. Eight places were also given to players who were highest on the one-year ranking list, but had not already qualified after the previous tour.


2019–20 snooker season, Players
The remaining places were offered by means of invitation and by competing in qualifying events. Three players came from the Challenge Tour, two players came from the CBSA China Tour, and sixteen places were available through the Q School events. The four remaining places were given to continental championship winners, whilst Amine Amiri won the African Billiards & Snooker Confederation's nomination, and an invitational offer was given to longstanding tour player Jimmy White. The following players received a tour card for two seasons:


2019–20 snooker season, Season summary
The season consisted of a series of different tours. The main tour was the World Snooker Tour, consisting of events that carried both world ranking and invitational points.


2019–20 snooker season, Season summary, Ranking events
The opening ranking event was the Riga Masters, where Mark Joyce and Yan Bingtao reached the finals, both of whom had not won a ranking event prior. Bingtao won the event, the first teenager to win a ranking event since the 2006 Northern Ireland Trophy. Shaun Murphy reached the final in both of the next two ranking tournaments, losing 3–10 to reigning world champion Judd Trump in the International Championship, but winning the China Championship on a deciding frame 10–9 over Mark Williams.


2019–20 snooker season, Season summary, Ranking events
The first of four Home Nations Series events, was won by Mark Selby, defeating David Gilbert 9–1 at the English Open. The next two events were won by Trump, who won the World Open and the Northern Ireland Open. The first of the Triple Crown tournament events—the UK Championship—was held between November and December. Both finalists had won the event before, but neither for over 10 years, with Ding Junhui defeating Stephen Maguire to win the title for the third time. The final ranking event of the year was the Scottish Open, held in December, the third Home Nations event. This event was also won by Selby, who defeated Jack Lisowski with a score of 9–6.


2019–20 snooker season, Season summary, Ranking events
The first ranking event held in 2020 was the European Masters in Austria. This was the first ranking event held in the country. The event was won by Neil Robertson, who completed a whitewash 9–0 victory against Zhou Yuelong. This was the first multisession final whitewash since the 1989 Grand Prix. Robertson also appeared in the final of the next two events, losing to Trump  6–9 in the German Masters, but winning the World Grand Prix 10–8 over Graeme Dott. Murphy won his second title of the season at the Welsh Open, defeating Kyren Wilson 9–1.


2019–20 snooker season, Season summary, Ranking events
The one-frame timed Snooker Shoot Out was won by Michael Holt, his first championship in his 24-year career. Having won four events already in the season, Trump won the Players Championship with a score of 10–4 over Yan and Gibraltar Open with a score of 4–3 over Wilson. Trump's six ranking event wins became the most made by one player in the history of the World Snooker Tour. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Gibraltar Open was played without a live audience in attendance after the first day, and subsequent events were played without fans.


2019–20 snooker season, Season summary, Ranking events
The China Open was cancelled due to restrictions. The Tour Championship, scheduled for March, was postponed, and was played in June. It was won by Maguire, his first title in seven years. Maguire only qualified for the event after Ding withdrew. The final ranking event and third Triple Crown event of the season was the World Snooker Championship, held in July and August. Used as a trial event for the UK Government, it was originally planned for spectators to be present, but this was revoked after the first day, with audiences also allowed for the final. The championship was won by Ronnie O'Sullivan, defeating Wilson 18–8 in the final. This gave O'Sullivan his sixth world title.


2019–20 snooker season, Season summary, Ranking events
Trump was named World Snooker Player of the Year, Fans' Player of the Year, and Snooker Journalists' Player of the Year. Trump also became the second player ever to compile one hundred century breaks in a season. O'Sullivan received the Performance of the Year award for winning his sixth world title and record breaking 37th ranking title. Louis Heathcote was named Rookie of the Year, whilst Higgins' maximum break at the world championship was named The Magic Moment of the Year.


2019–20 snooker season, Season summary, Other events
The season began with a series of three pro–am tournaments. The Vienna Open was won by Mark Joyce, with the Pink Ribbon being won by Bingham. The World Cup team event was won by Higgins and Maguire representing Scotland. The 2019 Paul Hunter Classic was won by Barry Hawkins over Wilson with a score of 4–3. The 2019 Six-red World Championship, a six-red snooker variant tournament, was won by Maguire, defeating his World Cup winning partner Higgins with a score of 8–6. The 2019 Shanghai Masters was won by O'Sullivan, retaining the championship he won in 2017 and 2018. The Haining Open Chinese pro-am event was won by Thepchaiya Un-Nooh.


2019–20 snooker season, Season summary, Other events
The Champion of Champions tournament, with participants being winners of events from the prior 12 months, was won by Robertson, who defeated Trump 10–9 in the final. The second Triple Crown event, the 2020 Masters was won by Bingham, who defeated Ali Carter in the final with a score of 10–8. Carter had not qualified for the event, but was given the place after defending champion O'Sullivan withdrew. The year-long Championship League event was won by Scott Donaldson, with a second Championship League organised as a test event for returning to play after the lockdown. The second event was won by Luca Brecel. A series 10 of Challenge Tour events were held for players not on the main tour, which culminated in a Challenge Tour play-off, won by Allan Taylor over Adam Duffy 4–0.


2019–20 snooker season, Calendar
The following table outlines the dates and results of all ranking events of the World Snooker Tour, major invitational events, the Challenge Tour, and the World Seniors Tour.


2019–20 snooker season, World ranking points
The 2019–20 snooker season featured the following points distribution for world ranking events:


2019–20 snooker season, Finalists in ranking tournaments
Below is a list of players who reached a final of a ranking event in the 2019–20 season. Judd Trump won six tournaments, the most in a single season.


2019–20 Çaykur Rizespor season
The 2019–20 season was Çaykur Rizespor's 67th year in existence. In addition to the domestic league, Çaykur Rizespor participated in the Turkish Cup.


2019–20 Çaykur Rizespor season, Squad
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.


2019–20 Érd HC season
The 2019–20 season will be Érd HC's 10th competitive and consecutive season in the Nemzeti Bajnokság I and 46nd year in existence as a handball club.


2019–20 Érd HC season, Statistics, Top scorers
Includes all competitive matches. The list is sorted by shirt number when total goals are equal.


2019–20 Újpest FC season
The 2019–20 season will be Újpest FC's 139th competitive season, 128nd consecutive season in the OTP Bank Liga and 127th year in existence as a football club.


2019–20 Újpest FC season, Season events
On 25 February, Újpest announced that their home games against Puskás Akadémia and Paks would be played at the ZTE Arena in Zalaegerszeg instead of Újpest's regular Szusza Ferenc Stadion in Budapest.


2019–20 Újpest FC season, Season events
On 11 March, the Hungarian Football Federation announced that all games would be played behind closed doors due to the COVID-19 pandemic, before announcing that all games had been postponed on 16 March.


2019–20 Újpest FC season, Squad
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.


2019–20 Úrvalsdeild karla (basketball)
The 2019–20 Úrvalsdeild karla was the 69th season of the Úrvalsdeild karla, the top tier men's basketball league in Iceland. The season started on 3 October 2019. On 13 March 2020, with each team having one game left, the season was postponed for at least four weeks due to the coronavirus pandemic in the country. On 18 March, the rest of the season was canceled. Fjölnir was relegated and Stjarnan was named divisional champions for having the best record at the time of the cancelation but no national champions would be named for the season.


2019–20 Úrvalsdeild karla (basketball), Competition format
The participating teams first played a conventional round-robin schedule with every team playing each opponent once home and once away for a total of 22 games. The top eight teams qualified for the championship playoffs whilst the two last qualified were relegated to Division 1.


2019–20 Úrvalsdeild kvenna (basketball)
The 2019–20 Úrvalsdeild kvenna is the 63rd season of the Úrvalsdeild kvenna, the top tier women's basketball league on Iceland. The season started on 2 October 2019. On 13 March 2020 the season was postponed for at least four weeks due to the coronavirus outbreak in the country. On 18 March, the rest of the season was canceled. Grindavík was relegated and Valur was named divisional champions for having the best record at the time of the cancelation but no national champions would be named for the season.


2019–20 Úrvalsdeild kvenna (basketball), Competition format
The participating teams first play a conventional round-robin schedule with every team playing each opponent twice "home" and twice "away" for a total of 28 games. The top four teams qualify for the championship playoffs whilst the bottom team will be relegated to 1. deild kvenna.


2019–20 Úrvalsdeild kvenna (basketball), Regular season
Notes1 As the playoffs where canceled, no team won the national championship. The team with the best record in the league receives the title Division champions (Icelandic: Deildarmeistarar). Stjarnan received the title as it had the best record at the time of cancelation.


2019–20 İstanbul Başakşehir F.K. season
The 2019–20 season was the 6th consecutive season of İstanbul Başakşehir in the Süper Lig and their 30th year in existence. The season was slated to cover a period from 1 July 2019 to 30 June 2020. It was extended extraordinarily beyond 30 June due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Turkey.


2019–20 İstanbul Başakşehir F.K. season
On 19 July 2020, Başakşehir were crowned champions of the Turkish Süper Lig for the first time in the club's history. They also became only the sixth club in the competition's history to win the league title.


2019–20 İstanbul Başakşehir F.K. season, Players, Current squad
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.


2019–20 İstanbul Başakşehir F.K. season, Players, Out on loan
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.


2019–20 ŠK Slovan Bratislava season
The 2019–20 season was ŠK Slovan Bratislava's 14th consecutive in the top flight of Slovak football.


2019–20 ŠK Slovan Bratislava season
Having won the 2018–19 Slovak First Football League, the club contested in the UEFA Champions League, but was eliminated in the first qualifying round. Subsequently, the club competed in the UEFA Europa League and reached the group stage.


2019–20 ŠK Slovan Bratislava season
Slovan were successful in their defence of the Slovak Super Liga clinching the title on 20 June. The club completed the domestic double on 8 July by winning the Slovak Cup.


2019–20 ŠK Slovan Bratislava season
The season covers the period from 1 June 2019 to July 2020.


2019–20 ŠK Slovan Bratislava season, Fortuna liga, League table, Championship group
The championship group was originally supposed to have 10 rounds starting on 14 March 2020. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, all matches were postponed at first, and on 22 May 2020, the league committee approved a five-round model and created a new schedule.


2019–2020 Afghanistan protests
The 2019–2020 Afghanistan protests were a series of sometimes violent demonstrations and protests against the government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan in the wake of the 2019 Afghan presidential election.


2019–2020 Afghanistan protests, Background and motives
Between August 2019–September 2020, a series of national protests and wave of unprecedented violence hit major areas across the country after the 2019 Afghan presidential election. Riot police tried to contain and quell the mass unrest from spreading by cutting electricity and energy sources, and internet was blocked for several days after the protests broke out. An increase in violence and a spike in violence across the nation also sparked city-wide protests in more than a dozen cities in August–September. Violent protests rocked Herat and anti-Taliban protesters took to the streets, waving the Afghan flag and chanting slogans against president Ashraf Ghani. A series of massive anti-war protests swept across the country as the streets were blocked by blockades in August–September.


2019–2020 Afghanistan protests, Responses and casualties
Six were killed when police open fire on demonstrators. A wave of popular protests swept Afghanistan in January, demanding an end to war, justice, trials on corruption and an end to the government. 2 were killed in the ensuing clashes and riots. Another six were killed during surging protests against violence against women and targeting journalists but their main demands was food aid on 9 May. Afghans also rallied in a series of anti-war and anti-airstrike protests that weaved through Kabul in June–July after a series of killings and car attacks prompted fury among witnesses and civilians. These protests were met with water cannon. Tehran has denounced massive protests in June–July 2020 in Afghanistan against the violence against Afghan immigrants in Iran.


2019–2020 Belgian government formation
The government formation of 2019–2020 started one day after the federal elections, regional elections and European elections which were all held simultaneously on 26 May 2019. These formations are only the second under King Philippe.


2019–2020 Belgian government formation
During the formation period, no less than six new governments needed to be formed. Both a new Federal Government as well as new regional governments: a Flemish, Walloon, French Community, German Community and Brussels Government.


2019–2020 Belgian government formation
The elections had shown again the big difference in voting preference between Wallonia (left) and Flanders (right), making it clear that forming a new Federal Government would not be easy. While the Government of the German-speaking Community was formed only a few days after the elections and the Brussels Government was formed one month later, the other regional governments were only formed after the summer, in September and October 2019. At the federal level, the deadlock was never resolved, but nevertheless, a new government was formed in March 2020.


2019–2020 Belgian government formation
Its mission is only to fight against the coronavirus, as several of the opposing parties agreed to support a new Wilmès II Government identical to the current caretaker Wilmès I Government to overcome the COVID-19 pandemic in Belgium, de facto ending the search for a new government. The new government was given special powers to deal with the COVID-19 crisis. The powers expired on 27 June 2020. Efforts to form a coalition have continued during this time. The Wilmès II government continues in office in the meantime, but would have to seek a new vote of confidence on 17 September 2020 in case a new coalition was not formed before then, although this period was further extended to 1 October 2020.


2019–2020 Belgian government formation, Federal government, Possible coalitions
Other coalitions are also mathematically possible, but in practice unlikely. For instance: the cdH had announced in the beginning of the formation it preferred to remain in the opposition, while extremist parties on both sides (left: Workers' Party of Belgium, right: Vlaams Belang) are unlikely to be part of the government due to vetoes by other parties.


2019–2020 Belgian government formation, Federal government, Prior to the formation period
The outgoing federal government is the Michel II Government. King Philippe accepted the resignation of the federal government Michel II on 21 December 2018, already a few months prior to the election date. Reason was the early fall of the Michel I Government over to the Global Compact for Migration.


2019–2020 Belgian government formation, Federal government, Prior to the formation period
Goal is to form a new federal government possessing over at least 76 of the 150 available seats in the Chamber of Representatives.


2019–2020 Belgian government formation, Federal government, Prior to the formation period
The governing parties during the previous legislature, were punished by the voters, together losing 22 seats. N-VA lost eight seats, CD&V and MR six seats each and Open Vld lost two. As a result, a renewed Swedish coalition (Michel I government contained party colours yellow (N-VA) and blue (liberal, i.e. MR and Open Vld) and the cross (Christianity, i.e. CD&V), which are combined on the Swedish flag, hence the name) was impossible even if it was expanded with cdH, the Francophone counterpart of the CD&V, which had not joined the government in 2014.


2019–2020 Belgian government formation, Federal government, Prior to the formation period
cdH and the socialist opposition parties PS and sp.a were also on the losing side: cdH and sp.a lost four seats each whereas PS lost three. The big winners of the elections were the extremist left PVDA-PTB, gaining ten seats, and the extremist right Vlaams Belang, gaining fifteen seats. The green parties also gained, Ecolo went up five, while Groen saw a modest gain of two seats.


2019–2020 Belgian government formation, Federal government, Prior to the formation period
Analysts saw two possible coalitions: a socalled purple-yellow government with Flemish-nationalists N-VA, socialists and liberals; and a purple-green government with socialists, liberals and greens, possibly also with CD&V. Both options were however very difficult to realize: purple-yellow has a majority in both language groups, but sees parties form a coalition which have very large political differences, most notably between socialists and N-VA.


2019–2020 Belgian government formation, Federal government, Prior to the formation period
Moreover, the PS had stated on numerous occasions its preference for a purple-green government, while the N-VA only wanted to be in a government with PS in case large community reforms would be made, something which all Francophone parties were against. Purple-green however was difficult for other reasons: with only 76 of 150 seats the majority was very slim, making this uncomfortable while also having a minority in the Flemsh language group. Both Open Vld and CD&V were not in favor of a Flemish minority as this would mean the two largest Flemish parties (N-VA and Vlaams Belang) would end up in the opposition, and as such both parties insisted that PS and N-VA sat together to form a government.


2019–2020 Belgian government formation, Federal government, Prior to the formation period
The day after the election, King Philippe invited for an audience in turn Prime Minister of Belgium Charles Michel (MR), Senate president Jacques Brotchi (MR), Chamber of Representatives president Siegfried Bracke (N-VA), and party presidents Bart De Wever (N-VA) and Elio Di Rupo (PS). One day later, on 28 May 2019, the King met with Zakia Khattabi and Jean-Marc Nollet (Ecolo), Meyrem Almaci (Groen), Wouter Beke (CD&V), Olivier Maingain (DéFI), Gwendolyn Rutten (Open Vld) and John Crombez (sp.a). On 29 May 2019, Maxime Prévot (cdH), Charles Michel (now as MR president), Tom Van Grieken (Vlaams Belang) and Peter Mertens (PVDA/PTB) were also invited.


2019–2020 Belgian government formation, Federal government, Prior to the formation period
This meant that for the first time since the foundation of the Vlaams Blok in 1978, the predecessor of Vlaams Belang, a Belgian King invited a representative of this party as part of government negotiations. In 1978 Karel Dillen was invited by Baudouin, but he declined. The party had not been invited to the royal palace since. It was however not the very first time the King invited a representative of an extremist right party: in 1936 Leopold III invited Léon Degrelle after the election victory of his party Rex.


2019–2020 Belgian government formation, Federal government, Timeline, Informers Didier Reynders and Johan Vande Lanotte (30 May 2019 – 7 October 2019)
After all party presidents had attended their audience with the King, he invited on Thursday 30 May resigning Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Didier Reynders (MR) and former minister and Minister of State Johan Vande Lanotte (sp.a) together for an audience. The pair was named informers by the King, assigned with the task to identify the challenges for the state of Belgium together with the possibilities and necessary conditions to start the Federal government formation. Reynders and Vande Lanotte were to report by 6 June 2019 for the first time and announced media silence until that date.


2019–2020 Belgian government formation, Federal government, Timeline, Informers Didier Reynders and Johan Vande Lanotte (30 May 2019 – 7 October 2019)
For Reynders this meant the third assignment as informer; as this had already happened during the 2007–08 and 2010–11 Belgian government formations. For Johan Vande Lanotte it was the first time, although he had already been appointed mediator during the 2010–11 Belgian government formation. with Reynders and Vande Lanotte, King Philippe had chosen for two experienced politicians which were at the end of their national political career and both part of parties which had not won the most recent elections. The duo also consisted of a left (Vande Lanotte) and right (Reynders) politician which were both chosen from a language area where the opposing political side was dominant.


2019–2020 Belgian government formation, Federal government, Timeline, Informers Didier Reynders and Johan Vande Lanotte (30 May 2019 – 7 October 2019)
On 6 June 2019, King Philippe extended the mandate of Vande Lanotte and Reynders on their request until 17 June 2019. After their audience with the King, the informers held pressconference at the Egmont Palace where they announced they had met during the past week with representatives of all political parties with elected members in the Chamber of Representatives, with the exception of the radical parties Vlaams Belang and PVDA/PTB. Moreover, they had held meetings with representatives of the Workers' Unions, employers' organisations, the National Bank of Belgium, the network against poverty, as well as several Federal service organisations. They also saw climate expert Jean-Pascal van Ypersele. In the coming days they would also meet with the Federal Planning Bureau and poverty organisations.


2019–2020 Belgian government formation, Federal government, Timeline, Informers Didier Reynders and Johan Vande Lanotte (30 May 2019 – 7 October 2019)
On 17 June 2019 the mandate of the informers was extended for a second time, now until Monday 1 July 2019. On 1 July 2019, King Philippe again received the informers. He tasked them with constructing a preformation document, which would need to serve as a starting note for the preformationdiscussions. The informers presented an intermediate status report to the King on 12 July 2019 and on 29 July the document needed to be final.


2019–2020 Belgian government formation, Federal government, Timeline, Informers Didier Reynders and Johan Vande Lanotte (30 May 2019 – 7 October 2019)
On Sunday 28 July 2019, a round table discussion took place between the informers and the presidents of the socialists, liberals, CD&V, N-VA and Groen at the Egmont Palace in Brussels. The party presidents of Ecolo were also invited but refused as they deemed it impossible to for a coalition with N-VA. As a result, Ecolo was not invited to take part in further discussions. At the meeting, the informers presented their document to the party presidents. The next day, they reported back to King Philippe. He extended their assignment until 9 September 2019, with an intermediate report due on 17 August. On 28 August a second meeting was held at the Egmont Palace with the informers and representatives of the seven parties present at the first round table meeting.


2019–2020 Belgian government formation, Federal government, Timeline, Informers Didier Reynders and Johan Vande Lanotte (30 May 2019 – 7 October 2019)
on 9 September a further prolonging of the assignment was made until the beginning of October, together with the announcement that Groen would no longer be involved in further discussions. On 7 October 2019 the mandate of Vande Lanotte and Reynders ended. In the meantime, Jean-Marc Nollet and Rajae Maouane were elected on 15 September to co-presidents of Ecolo, with Maouane succeeding Zakia Khattabi.


2019–2020 Belgian government formation, Federal government, Timeline, Preformationists Geert Bourgeois and Rudy Demotte (8 October 2019 – 5 November 2019)
On 8 October 2019, King Philippe appointed two preformationists, one from each of the largest parties on each side of the language border: Geert Bourgeois (N-VA) and Rudy Demotte (PS). Both were former minister-president. They were tasked to "find a base" for a coalition with the remaining six parties after the task of informers Reynders and Vande Lanotte had ended. Besides N-VA and PS, these were sp.a, CD&V, Open Vld and MR. Two weeks later, on 22 October, the green parties Groen and Ecolo were again invited in the government formation discussions.


2019–2020 Belgian government formation, Federal government, Timeline, Preformationists Geert Bourgeois and Rudy Demotte (8 October 2019 – 5 November 2019)
During the assignment period, Charles Michel resigned as Prime Minister, to prepare for his function as President of the European Council. He was succeeded by Sophie Wilmès. On 19 October 2019, Paul Magnette was elected to PS-president, succeeding Elio Di Rupo.


2019–2020 Belgian government formation, Federal government, Timeline, Preformationists Geert Bourgeois and Rudy Demotte (8 October 2019 – 5 November 2019)
On 4 November 2019, Bourgeois and Demotte reported back to King Philippe. As they had not succeeded in bringing N-VA and PS closer together, the King held his decision of how to progress under consideration, starting a new consultation round. That same day, party presidents Paul Magnette (PS) and Bart De Wever (N-VA) met with the King for an audience, followed on 5 November by prime Minister Sophie Wilmès (MR), Deputy Prime Minister Koen Geens (CD&V) and party presidents John Crombez (sp.a), Gwendolyn Rutten (Open Vld), Meyrem Almaci (Groen) and the duo Jean-Marc Nollet and Rajae Maouane (Ecolo). After his visit, PS-president Paul Magnette strongly criticized the Flemish nationalist N-VA, stating that the party put very strong community reform demands on the table while being unwilling to listen to the social demands of the socialist parties. He also stressed that other options were possible besides a purple-yellow government.


2019–2020 Belgian government formation, Federal government, Timeline, Preformationists Geert Bourgeois and Rudy Demotte (8 October 2019 – 5 November 2019)
On 17 December 2019 - during the information round of Joachim Coens and Georges-Louis Bouchez (see below), Demotte shot down the purple-yellow combination entirely based on the final report he had made together with Bourgeois. That report, which also ended up at the press that day, concluded: "The content-wise differences between PS and N-VA are of such magnitude that it is impossible to start a next phase built around these two parties".


2019–2020 Belgian government formation, Federal government, Timeline, Informer Paul Magnette (5 November 2019 – 10 December 2019)
Following discussions with the party presidents on 4 and 5 November 2019 and his statements in the press, PS-president Paul Magnette was appointed by King Philippe to informer on 5 November 2019. He was to report back on 18 November 2019.


2019–2020 Belgian government formation, Federal government, Timeline, Informer Paul Magnette (5 November 2019 – 10 December 2019)
During the assignment period of Paul Magnette, no less than four new party presidents were elected: Conner Rousseau was elected president of sp.a on 8 November 2019, succeeding John Crombez, on 29 November Georges-Louis Bouchez succeeded Charles Michel as MR-president, on 1 December François De Smet succeeded Olivier Maingain as president of DéFI and finally on 6 December Joachim Coens succeeded Wouter Beke as CD&V-president.


2019–2020 Belgian government formation, Federal government, Timeline, Informer Paul Magnette (5 November 2019 – 10 December 2019)
On the same day as his appointment, Magnette met with former informers Johan Vande Lanotte and Didier Reynders, followed by all parties which had been part of the negotiations thus far. Besides the eight parties already at the table (N-VA, PS, sp.a, MR, Open Vld, CD&V, Groen and Ecolo) he also invited cdH and DéFI for talks. CdH had announced shortly after the elections that the chose to be in the opposition, but party president Maxime Prévot stated he was available to make agreements if it would be necessary. Magnette intended to check on which points all parties could agree.


2019–2020 Belgian government formation, Federal government, Timeline, Informer Paul Magnette (5 November 2019 – 10 December 2019)
On 11 November Magnette provided feedback. He stated that all parties agreed on five central topics: climate, fighting poverty, increasing the employment rate, justice, and safety & migration. He also informed that he would create a content-driven document in which he would use statistics to give an objective view on the state of the country and in which he would formulate the goals of the next government, as the manner in how those goals would need to be achieved. He also intended to meet with European Commissioner Pierre Moscovici, managing the Economic and Financial Affairs portfolio, and his successor Paolo Gentiloni concerning the poor condition of Belgium.


2019–2020 Belgian government formation, Federal government, Timeline, Informer Paul Magnette (5 November 2019 – 10 December 2019)
On 18 November 2019 Magnette presented a memo to the King with measures around the six priorities for the next government: improving the employment rate, social cohesion and the fight against poverty, climate transition, justice and safety, migration and modernisation of the state to make the federal state operate more efficiently. The King extended his assignment until 25 November. Magnette continued talks with the ten parties and consulted the civil society, more specifically the unions and employers' organisations, poverty organisations and organisations committed to climate transition.


2019–2020 Belgian government formation, Federal government, Timeline, Informer Paul Magnette (5 November 2019 – 10 December 2019)
On 25 November 2019 Magnette reported back to King Phiippe. His assignment was extended again, now until 9 December. On 1 December news surfaced that Magnette had had a secret meeting where only PS, sp.a, MR, Open Vld, Ecolo and Groen were present, with the intention to check the possibility of forming a purple-green government. This resulted in negative comments from N-VA and CD&V, who blamed Magnette of having appointed himself to formationist. On 4 December Magnette held a new meeting with the same six parties to discuss the budgetary part of his notes. The day after, he also invited the Christian Democrat parties CD&V and cdH and on 7 December he also met with a delegation from N-VA.


2019–2020 Belgian government formation, Federal government, Timeline, Informer Paul Magnette (5 November 2019 – 10 December 2019)
The attempt of Paul Magnette to start formation discussions with the socialist, liberal and green parties failed. Within Open Vld there was a lot of internal division on such a coalition and on 7 December new MR-president Georges-Louis Bouchez stated that a government containing the six purple-green parties would have a too narrow majority to be able to operate in a stable manner.


2019–2020 Belgian government formation, Federal government, Timeline, Informer Paul Magnette (5 November 2019 – 10 December 2019)
On 9 December Magnette presented his final report at the Royal Palace of Brussels, asking to be relieved of his task. The King held his decision again held his decision under consideration and started a new consultation round with the political parties. That same day he invited and met with the liveral party presidents Gwendolyn Rutten (Open Vld) and Georges-Louis Bouchez (MR). In the morning of 10 December also presidents Joachim Coens (CD&V), Bart De Wever (N-VA) and Meyrem Almaci (Groen) came to an audience, followed in the afternoon by Jean-Marc Nollet and Rajae Maouane (Ecolo), Maxime Prévot (cdH), François De Smet (DéFI) and Conner Rousseau (sp.a).


2019–2020 Belgian government formation, Federal government, Timeline, Informers Joachim Coens and Georges-Louis Bouchez (10 December 2019 – 31 January 2020)
Following the consultation round with the party presidents, King Philippe appointed Joachim Coens (CD&V) and Georges-Louis Bouchez (MR) as informers in the evening of 10 December 2019. Both had only been appointed a few days before to president of their respective parties and were tasked to investivate all possible further paths. They were asked to report back on 20 December 2019. In a pressconference the informers announced they would base themselves on the reports by their predecessors Johan Vande Lanotte, Didier Reynders, Geert Bourgeois, Rudy Demotte and Paul Magnette, and that they would invite all ten involved parties in order from largest to smallest.


2019–2020 Belgian government formation, Federal government, Timeline, Informers Joachim Coens and Georges-Louis Bouchez (10 December 2019 – 31 January 2020)
On 20 December, the duo reported their intermediate report to the King, who extended their assignment until 13 January 2020. In the following pressconference they stated to have had discussions with all parties, both individually as in groups of two or more parties. Their conclusion was that the two investigated possible coalitions, purple-yellow and purple-green, were not viable yet and hence they would also explore other possible coalitions.


2019–2020 Belgian government formation, Federal government, Timeline, Informers Joachim Coens and Georges-Louis Bouchez (10 December 2019 – 31 January 2020)
Based around five themes – the budgetary deficit, social policy, employment and the job market, climate, and safety, justice and migration – they intended to check which similarities existed between the ten parties to come to a majority in a pragmatic manner. They also announced to continue meeting with the ten parties and have a short consultation round with the Civil society to work out the details for each of the five themes.


2019–2020 Belgian government formation, Federal government, Timeline, Informers Joachim Coens and Georges-Louis Bouchez (10 December 2019 – 31 January 2020)
On Thursday 26 December Coens and Bouchez met with representatives of the monitorings committee, the national labor council, the economic council, the federal pension service and the federal planning agency. They also had discussions with the social partners, the National Bank of Belgium, the National Institute for Health and Disability Insurance and the foreigners' office. In the week of 6 January they invited the ten parties eligible for the federal government to explain their memo orally.


2019–2020 Belgian government formation, Federal government, Timeline, Informers Joachim Coens and Georges-Louis Bouchez (10 December 2019 – 31 January 2020)
On 13 January 2020 the informers reported back to the King. As they had made insufficient progress, their assignment was prolonged until 28 January 2020, to further clarifiy the various points of view and to see whether it would be possible to bring the N-VA and the socialist parties PS and sp.a closer together in opinion. The day before N-VA president Bart De Wever had mentioned during his New Year's speech at the N-VA New Year's reception that his party was in favor of increasing the lowest pensions, which was considered as an opening towards the socialist parties.


2019–2020 Belgian government formation, Federal government, Timeline, Informers Joachim Coens and Georges-Louis Bouchez (10 December 2019 – 31 January 2020)
On 18 January, Emir Kir was kicked out of the PS, meaning that from that day a purple-green coalition would be one seat short to be forming a majority.


2019–2020 Belgian government formation, Federal government, Timeline, Informers Joachim Coens and Georges-Louis Bouchez (10 December 2019 – 31 January 2020)
On 20 January Coens and Bouchez presented another intermediate report to the King, after they had held a discrete meeting with N-VA and PS the day before. In the following week, N-VA, PS and sp.a had negotiations with each other, both with and without the two informers. They also set up working groups around specific issues to tackle, including climate, migration, pensions and health care. On 27 January PS-president Paul Magnette stated that the negotiations had not lead to anything according to him.


2019–2020 Belgian government formation, Federal government, Timeline, Informers Joachim Coens and Georges-Louis Bouchez (10 December 2019 – 31 January 2020)
One day later, the informers reported back to the King again. After an audience of nearly four hours, the King unexpectedly decided o prolong the assignment with another week. Initially they received until 4 February to find a government coalition which has a majority overall, but was not required to have a majority in both language groups. On the evening of 31 January 2020 however, both informers were prematurely relieved of their duty. That day, Coens and Bouchez were again invited at the palace where they submitted their final report.


2019–2020 Belgian government formation, Federal government, Timeline, Royal assignment holder Koen Geens (31 January 2020 – 14 February 2020)
On the same day as Coens and Bouchez were relieved of their task, the King tasked CD&V-Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Justice Koen Geens with a new Royal assignment. Geens was not given a formal title for his task and hance was referred to in the press as "Royal assignment holder". The appointment of Geens was a personal initiative by the King, as it had not been discussed beforehand with the party presidents. It hence came as a surprise, as the general expectations was that now N-VA-president Bart De Wever would be given an assignment. Geens was asked to try and form a government starting from the report of the informers. In his opiniong, his assignment was "open", meaning he was planning to meet with all eligible parties.


2019–2020 Belgian government formation, Federal government, Timeline, Royal assignment holder Koen Geens (31 January 2020 – 14 February 2020)
The Royal assignment holder tried - partly under pressure from his own party - to especially move PS and N-VA into forming a coalition together. On 10 February Geens reported to the King, after which his assignment was extended with a week.


2019–2020 Belgian government formation, Federal government, Timeline, Royal assignment holder Koen Geens (31 January 2020 – 14 February 2020)
Geens was  working on a starting document which contained several socialeconomic elements to start discussion with all concerned parties. Goal was to continue this process until the evening of 16 February, to return to the palace the day after with a more detailed memo.


2019–2020 Belgian government formation, Federal government, Timeline, Royal assignment holder Koen Geens (31 January 2020 – 14 February 2020)
After Paul Magnette had declared on 14 February 2020, via various media sources, that a government including PS and N-VA was in his eyes impossible and that he was unwilling to continue negotiating with N-VA, Koen Geens realized continuing his assignment would be a waste of effort, causing him to return his assignment to the King that same day.


2019–2020 Belgian government formation, Federal government, Timeline, Royal assignment holder Koen Geens (31 January 2020 – 14 February 2020)
King Philippe accepted Geens' resignation. As the government formation was now completely stuck, the cry for new early federal elections became louder, with media stating that parties were already preparing themselves for an election campaign.


2019–2020 Belgian government formation, Federal government, Timeline, Royal assignment holders Sabine Laruelle and Patrick Dewael (19 February 2020 – 16 March 2020)
From Monday 17 February, King Philippe started consultations with the presidents of the ten parties still in contention for government participation to discuss on how to progress. On 17 February Maxime Prévot (cdH), Meyrem Almaci (Groen) and Bart De Wever (N-VA) received and audience and on 18 February Conner Rousseau (sp.a), Georges-Louis Bouchez (MR) and the duo Jean-Marc Nollet and Rajae Maouane (Ecolo), followed finally by Paul Magnette (PS), François De Smet (DéFI), Joachim Coens (CD&V) and Gwendolyn Rutten (Open Vld) on 19 February.


2019–2020 Belgian government formation, Federal government, Timeline, Royal assignment holders Sabine Laruelle and Patrick Dewael (19 February 2020 – 16 March 2020)
After consulting with the party presidents, King Philippe decided to now put two liberals into action: Patrick Dewael (Open Vld) and Sabine Laruelle (MR), respectively presidents of the Chamber of Representatives and the Senate. With that, Laruelle became the first female in Belgian history to receive a Royal assignment. Similarly as for Geens, no official title was bestowed upon them and hence they were referred to as Royal assignment holders. They were expected back on 9 March 2020. One day after receiving their assignment, Dewael and Laruelle sent out a press release in which they announced to be going to work in complete discretion, not communicating on their assignment, proceedings and possible progress, to let rest return in the formation process.


2019–2020 Belgian government formation, Federal government, Timeline, Royal assignment holders Sabine Laruelle and Patrick Dewael (19 February 2020 – 16 March 2020)
According to unnamed sources from within the government, Dewael and Laruelle tried initially to form an emergency government, which would tackle the most urgent issues, more specifically the budget deficit, which was under threat of increasing further due to the economic impacts following the COVID-19 pandemic in Belgium. This emergency government would consist of the parties of the outgoing Wilmès I Government (MR, CD&V, Open Vld), completed with the socialist and green parties, corresponding to the so-called Vivaldi-coalition.


2019–2020 Belgian government formation, Federal government, Timeline, Royal assignment holders Sabine Laruelle and Patrick Dewael (19 February 2020 – 16 March 2020)
During the weekend of 7 and 8 March the assignment holders were planning to bring all parties around the table to discuss a so-called framework note, describing topics as budget, socio-economic reforms, ethical topics and an agenda for a state reform. This was cancelled however, as not all parties needed for the Vivaldi-coalition were ready to step into such a coalition.


2019–2020 Belgian government formation, Federal government, Timeline, Royal assignment holders Sabine Laruelle and Patrick Dewael (19 February 2020 – 16 March 2020)
On 7 March, CD&V sent out an online inquiry to its members, asking to give their opinion on the course that CD&V had been taken during the negotiations thus far, namely to stress the need for a majority on the Flemish side, which would only be possible by having N-VA part of the government. On 9 March the results were announced: 63 percent of their members announced were in favor of a government having a Flemish majority. As a result, CD&V remained pushing for a government including N-VA.


2019–2020 Belgian government formation, Federal government, Timeline, Royal assignment holders Sabine Laruelle and Patrick Dewael (19 February 2020 – 16 March 2020)
That same day, assignment holders Laruelle and Dewael reported back to King Philippe. Their mission was extended until 16 March, to take the necessary initiatives to form a new government as quickly as possible, to tackle the urgent problems with highest priority. On 12 March cdH-president Maxime Prévot and DéFI-president François De Smet sent out a press release in which they stated to be willing to help out a purple-green government in case CD&V would remain fixed on having a Flemish majority. One of both parties would in that case join the government instead of CD&V, with the other voting to abstain during the vote of confidence in parliament.


2019–2020 Belgian government formation, Federal government, Timeline, Royal assignment holders Sabine Laruelle and Patrick Dewael (19 February 2020 – 16 March 2020)
In the meantime, stricter measures were being taken to curtail the Coronavirus and protect public health. The epidemic threatened to be causing an economic disaster: companies were struggling and stock markets plummeted. As there was still no full government formed to replace the caretaker Wilmès I Government, it became very difficult to take concrete actions to mitigate the impact of the Coronavirus. As a result, the urgency for creating at least an emergency government increased. On 13 March the information leaked that N-VA and PS had met the prior evening to discuss forming an emergency government.


2019–2020 Belgian government formation, Federal government, Timeline, Royal assignment holders Sabine Laruelle and Patrick Dewael (19 February 2020 – 16 March 2020)
The coming together of both parties was explained by the fact that Jan Jambon (N-VA) and Elio Di Rupo (PS), respectively Minister-President of Flanders and Minister-President of Wallonia, were sitting together frequently to discuss possible measures to fight the Coronavirus. One day later, party presidents Bart De Wever (N-VA) and Conner Rousseau (sp.a) jointly declared the need of quickly forming an emergency government. De Wever suggested to have this government exist only for a limited period of time with its main and most important goal to fight the negative consequences of the Coronavirus.


2019–2020 Belgian government formation, Federal government, Timeline, Royal assignment holders Sabine Laruelle and Patrick Dewael (19 February 2020 – 16 March 2020)
The N-VA-president also proposed to lead this government himself, however PS favored that Sophie Wilmès would remain Prime Minister, something which was also insisted by Wilmès' party MR. On the evening of 14 March, N-VA, PS, sp.a, MR, Open Vld and CD&V, lead by Royal assignment holders Laruelle and Dewael, came together to discuss concretely the planning in forming an emergency government. On 15 March, at 2:00 a.m., the negotiators split without coming to an agreement, but with the intention to continue later that day. Later that morning however, it became apparent that PS and MR were not in favor of an emergency government, stating that replacing the Ministers and changing the composition of the various cabinets at this point in time would take too much time, better spent to fight the Coronavirus directly.


2019–2020 Belgian government formation, Federal government, Timeline, Royal assignment holders Sabine Laruelle and Patrick Dewael (19 February 2020 – 16 March 2020)
On 15 March, in the afternoon, again negotiations were held between MR, CD&V, Open Vld, N-VA, PS and sp.a. Later that day Groen, Ecolo, cdH and DéFI also joined the group. In the evening, the assignment holders were able to announce that the ten parties had come to an agreement. The Wilmès I Government would ask the Chamber of Representatives for a vote of confidence, which would turn this government into a new temporary minority Wilmès II Government, with support from the opposition. The Wilmès II Government would govern only for a predefined limited amount of time and be in force only to fight the Coronacrisis. To be able to do this, the government received powers of attorney by the parliament, supported by all ten parties.


2019–2020 Belgian government formation, Federal government, Timeline, Formateur Sophie Wilmès (16 March 2020 – 17 March 2020)
On Monday 16 March 2020 King Philippe appointed Prime Minister Sophie Wilmès (MR) to Royal Formateur. Following the political agreement of 15 March, she received the assignment to form a government composed of Open Vld, CD&V and MR. That same day she invited the ten parties to make concrete agreements concerning the powers of attorney. Later that evening it became apparent that N-VA would not be giving the Wilmès II Government a vote of confidence in the parliament, but would agree to give powers of attorney to such a government.


2019–2020 Belgian government formation, Federal government, Timeline, Formateur Sophie Wilmès (16 March 2020 – 17 March 2020)
On Tuesday 17 March Sophie Wilmès again took the oath as Prime Minister, asking the confidence to the Chamber of Representatives, to form a government with the same Ministers as the Wilmès I Government. In her opening government statement, she asked the parliament to grant powers of attorney for six months, solely to combat the Coronacrisis. The debate in parliament was held on 19 March 2020 with the vote of confidence happening that same day.


2019–2020 Belgian government formation, Federal government, Timeline, Formateur Sophie Wilmès (16 March 2020 – 17 March 2020)
As the Wilmès II Government asked for a vote of confidence solely to take Coronameasures and for a period of six months only, concerning all other political issues the government would not have powers to make any other decisions. The parties in the government and those parties giving powers of attorney would be involved in a so-called superkern (supercore) in which all decisions to be taken were discussed beforehand.


2019–2020 Belgian government formation, Federal government, Timeline, Formateur Sophie Wilmès (16 March 2020 – 17 March 2020)
This supercore consisted of the Prime Minister, the Deputy Prime Ministers and the presidents of the ten political parties supporting the powers of attorney and would meet starting from 21 March 2020  on every Saturday, with exception of the last supercore meeting on 12 June 2020, which occurred on a Friday. N-VA instead decided to nominate Chamber of Representatives fraction leader Peter De Roover. In the meantime, the search for a government with full legislative powers and a full-fledged coalition agreement continued.


2019–2020 Belgian government formation, Federal government, Timeline, Formateur Sophie Wilmès (16 March 2020 – 17 March 2020)
On 26 March the Chamber of Representatives agreed to grant powers of attorney to the Wilmès II Government, one day later the Senate did the same. Following advice from the Council of State the term for these powers of attorney was reduced to three months, with a further three-month extension possible.


2019–2020 Belgian government formation, Federal government, Timeline, Initiative by Paul Magnette and Conner Rousseau (13 May 2020 – 15 June 2020)
Only a few weeks after the powers of attorney and supercore had started, it became clear that this manner of operating was not a veworkable solution. In April 2020 more and more parties started to doubt the use of the powers of attorney, which resulted in the fact that there was no longer a majority for extending the term in June by a further three months. Nevertheless, the Wilmès II Government would remain with full powers until September to keep combatting the consequences of the Coronacrisis. On 12 June, just before the start of the last supercore meeting, MR-president Georges-Louis Bouchez announced the government would not be asking for a prolonging of the powers of attorney, which meant these were ending on 26 June.


2019–2020 Belgian government formation, Federal government, Timeline, Initiative by Paul Magnette and Conner Rousseau (13 May 2020 – 15 June 2020)
To avoid having the Wilmès II Government drop back into the caretaker status, the socialist party presidents Paul Magnette (PS) and Conner Rousseau (sp.a), as the largest political family in the Chamber of Representatives, took the initiative to have exploratory talks, with the goal of forming a full-fledged new government with a parliamentary majority by September. From 13 May they met with all other party president colleagues, with the exception of those of PVDA-PTB and Vlaams Belang.


2019–2020 Belgian government formation, Federal government, Timeline, Initiative by Paul Magnette and Conner Rousseau (13 May 2020 – 15 June 2020)
This initiative is not linked to decision by the Royal Palace, as legally the Wilmès II Government was still operating under full power and hence King Philippe was not allowed to take any initiative to form a new government. Other presidents, such as the newly appointed Open Vld-president Egbert Lachaert, who was elected on 22 May to succeed Gwendolyn Rutten as Open Vld-president, had proposed to have the parties in the minority government (MR, CD&V and Open Vld), possibly together with sp.a, create a central memo to which other parties could join to negotiate a coalition agreement.


2019–2020 Belgian government formation, Federal government, Timeline, Initiative by Paul Magnette and Conner Rousseau (13 May 2020 – 15 June 2020)
On 24 May sp.a-president Conner Rousseau announced that the first round of the exploratory talks was complete. Rousseau and Magnette wrote a report based on their findings following the discussions, after which the organised a second round of talks to present these findings to the other party presidents. On 6 June it became known that the second round of talks was finished. Magnette and Rousseau composed a report of their activities, with the goal of now naming a formateur, who would be tasked with forming a government by September.


2019–2020 Belgian government formation, Federal government, Timeline, Initiative by Paul Magnette and Conner Rousseau (13 May 2020 – 15 June 2020)
On Monday 15 June, the initiative takers handed their report to Prime Minister Sophie Wilmès, after they had given an oral explanation to the ten parties with which they had met. The socialist party presidents concluded that Wilmès was the most appropriate person to continue further discussions on forming a new government. As there were still too many stumbling stones to form a purple-yellow or Vivaldi coalition, Rousseau and Magnette proposed a classical tri-party coalition of socialists (PS and sp.a), liberals (MR and Open Vld) and Christian democrats (CD&V and cdH). This coalition would however not have a majority, as the three political families together only held 71 of 150 seats in the Chamber of Representatives. In this case, extra political partners would need to be found for each specific topic.


2019–2020 Belgian government formation, Federal government, Timeline, Initiative by Paul Magnette and Conner Rousseau (13 May 2020 – 15 June 2020)
Premier Wilmès however was not willing to take the formation discussion into her own hands, as the current progress had been insufficient and Magnette and Rousseau were not able to give sufficient guarantees that her assignment would be successful. She demanded the socialist presidents to further work out their report, but they stated that their report was final and they did not wish to continue their initiative. Various other parties, such as CD&V, Open Vld, Groen, Ecolo and N-VA, were not enthusiastic about the proposition of the socialists and rather favored a stable government with full parliamentary majority.