As curtain came down on the Italian Serie A over the weekend, the longest domestic football season in European football finally drew to a close. Bayern Munich, Juventus and Paris Saint-Germain all maintained their near-ironclad grasp on league titles, while Liverpool and Real Madrid managed to dethrone their arch-rivals as the new champions.

As all European leagues had suffered immense disruptions due to COVID-19 pandemic, the 2020/21 campaign will make a swift return given the need to complete next season in time for the rescheduled Euro 2020. So when exactly will the new term begin across Europe's major leagues?

Premier League

The 2020/21 Premier League season will start on September 12, only six weeks after the previous campaign finished.

In normal circumstances, teams are granted a three-month break from competitive action, with the league season usually concluding in May and starting up again in August. However, as COVID-19 wreaked havoc on the world's football calendar, that schedule will be impossible.

It is understood that a break of at least 30 days would be permitted for Manchester United, Manchester City, Chelsea and any of the other teams playing in the end-of-season European competitions.

The fixture list will be released on August 21 and supporters will not be allowed to return to stadiums when the new season starts. However, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has revealed that fans could return in October.

The season is scheduled to end on May 23, 2021, just 19 days before the European Football Championship kicks off.

La Liga

The 2020/21 Spanish topflight will start and end on exactly the same dates as the English Premier League, with new season commencing on September 12 and concluding on May 23, 2021.

But a spike in cases of coronavirus in the Spanish second tier has cast a gloom over the new campaign. Espanyol, relegated from La Liga, announced on Monday that the club had asked the Spanish football federation to cancel relegation in Spain's top two divisions due to the problems caused by pandemic.

"The financial impact of COVID-19 will continue into the 2020-21 season," Espanyol said in a statement. "And with the added financial impact of relegation, this double punishment would be devastating and unfair."

Meanwhile, Spain's health minister Santiago Illa confirmed fans will not be able to return to football matches in the country when the new season starts.

"We have seen some clusters of infections and, although we have fortunately been able to control them, I still don't see fans returning," he said. "We have to step carefully with the virus, and concentrating large numbers of people at this time is not advisable at all."

Serie A

The Italian Football Federation announced on Monday that the new Serie A season will start on September 19, one week later than originally planned.

"The decision confirms the preference already expressed by the majority of the clubs in a meeting dedicated to this topic," read a statement.

The Christmas break will run from December 23 to January 3 and that there will be five midweek rounds, in addition to the one after the Christmas break.

Bundesliga

The 2020-21 Bundesliga season will kick off on September 18 and end on May 22, according to the calendar the German Football Association (DFB) unveiled last month.

The winter break is to come after the second round of the German Cup (December 22-23), while Matchday 13 (December 18-21) will be the last of 2020. The Bundesliga is to return from the winter break on the first weekend in January.  

The German Super Cup, which usually precedes the start of the domestic season and features the league champions facing the cup winners, is to be played on September 30, as domestic double winners Bayern Munich will take on league runners-up Borussia Dortmund in a potentially explosive encounter.

Ligue 1

The French topflight is the only one of Europe's major leagues to scrap its season in April when COVID-19 was raging in the country. But the early cancellation means Ligue 1 will also become the only one to kick off the new season in August, just two weeks later than the originally planned date of the campaign.

The Ligue 1 is set to return on August 22 and conclude on May 23 next year. The fixture list has also been released as Paris Saint-Germain will begin the defense of their 1 title at home to Metz, while Marseille will face Saint Etienne, and Lyon will be visiting Montpellier.

PSG will host Marseille in the Parc des Princes on September 13, which will be the first showstopper of the season.