A soccer game can be postponed for a variety of reasons. Bad weather, safety or health concerns, and sadly violence, tragedy, or political unrest can also throw a wrench in the diversion of sport. But what is done when that happens? It depends on the situation.



<h2>Why a soccer game can be postponed</h2>



The most common cause a game can be delayed or canceled entirely is inclement weather. Heavy rain or snow can cause havoc on a field, grass or artificial – and make playing conditions unsafe. When lightning is in the picture, whether there is precipitation or not, it’s a no-go for obvious reasons. Players, staff, and fan safety are ahead of anything else, and dangerous conditions will get a game called off.



To the extreme, natural disasters such as hurricanes can see games moved from their original start time to avoid the dangerous situation altogether. Other events like earthquakes, fires, or even volcano eruptions could also cause matches to be postponed.



Of course, all of soccer, and the world, was postponed when the COVID-19 pandemic hit in 2020. But sometimes things less drastic can see a match canceled if a bug runs through a certain team’s locker room and has everyone sick.



Then you have human-caused postponements. Fan violence or a tragedy of some sort affecting one of the teams or their community can certainly stop a match. Political unrest and other situations that could make staging a game unsafe in a given location can also put a halt to regularly scheduled games.



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<h2>Postponement procedures </h2>



Depending on the timing and circumstances, a few different things can happen if a game cannot be played as normal. 



Before a match kicks off, if needed the kickoff time and/or date can be moved to accommodate the specific situation. 



When this happens, the game goes on as normal, just at a different time.



Sometimes, however, a match or matches might be canceled entirely. For example, in the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2001_Major_League_Soccer_season" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">2001 MLS season</a>, the final week was canceled, and matches were not re-scheduled, in the wake of the September 11th attacks. This caused the final standings to be determined by points per game instead of total points, as not every team had played the same amount of games.



After a match has started, things get a little trickier. Sometimes, games are forced to be abandoned after kicking off. In certain cases, the game is replayed from the start at a different date.



Other times, however, a match is stopped and picked back up from right where it left off. This happened this past summer in the Leagues Cup. FC Cincinnati was playing Chivas de Guadalajara, and FCC was up 2-0 in the 60th minute. The game was suspended due to bad weather, and the <a href="https://en.as.com/soccer/chivas-vs-fc-cincinnati-leagues-cup-game-postponed-how-and-when-will-it-be-completed-n/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">final 30 minutes were played the following day</a>.



In the end, often it’s up to competition and team officials to sort out how to handle these situations.



As a fan or player, nobody wants to see a scheduled match called off or stopped. But unfortunately, factors outside anyone’s control can put a stop to the action. Here’s hoping all the games that you’re interested in go on as scheduled.



Photo: Imago

What happens if a soccer game is postponed

A soccer game can be postponed for a variety of reasons. But what happens when outside forces cause a match to be stopped?

What happens if a soccer game is postponed - World Soccer Talk

<div><figure class="external-image"><img loading="lazy" class="alignleft size-full wp-image-319" src="http://epltalk.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/7/files/2009/02/selhurst-park-south-london-last-week1.jpg" alt="selhurst-park-south-london-last-week" width="317" height="232"></figure></div><div><figure class="external-image"><img loading="lazy" class="alignright size-full wp-image-318" src="http://epltalk.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/7/files/2009/02/selhurst-park-home-to-crystal-palace-fc-under-snow-last-week1.jpg" alt="selhurst-park-home-to-crystal-palace-fc-under-snow-last-week1" width="333" height="264"></figure></div>Last Saturday was another frustrating day as for the second time in four days (&amp; the third time in a month) Crystal Palace’s Championship fixture was called off – not due to Peaches Geldof’s pending divorce, Michael Phelps being pictured purportedly smoking marijuana from a bong or that ‘idiot’ Gordon Brown………..no you guessed it, it was due to the weather!
&nbsp;
Now I am well aware that neither you nor I (the man in the street) can do anything about the weather itself, but maybe the Clubs outside the Premier League should look at alternative strategies in an attempt to make sure games are played despite the weather.
In the cold light of day the Premier League is in a world of its own, The Royal Family of the Football League if you like, BUT the foundation, the bread and butter of our game emanates from the lower leagues.
The Championship, the second tier of our national&nbsp; game is susceptible to the same problems and issues as the Blue Square League when games are called off. 
Lost revenue through various channels including television rights, match sponsorship and ticket sales, match re-scheduling, administration costs, disruption and disappointment for the fans and general inconvenience.
For example, Crystal Palace were due to meet Plymouth Argyle at Home Park on Saturday 10th January, the match was postponed&nbsp;and is now re-scheduled for Tuesday 17th February . 
How feasible and fair is it on the modern day fan to even contemplate a 460 mile round-trip from London, a nine-hour vehicle journey in MIDWEEK, and in the current economic climate!
A day off work, traveling costs, the long trip, returning home in the early hours and getting up for work the very same morning. Preposterous! 
However the tenacity of some of our supporters (as with many Clubs) means there will without a doubt be a small representation of Palace fans at Home Park next week but obviously nothing like the vocal support OUR team would have received had the game been on the proposed Saturday.
This Saturday is FA Cup weekend, and with both teams are out of the competition, in theory anyway both Clubs&nbsp;were available to fulfill the fixture on this ‘free’ weekend, but for whatever reason it seems football politics got in the way.&nbsp;
I stand to be corrected&nbsp;and will happily hold my hands up if I am wrong, but I thought the re-scheduling of postponed fixtures took priority wherever possible. Palace’s&nbsp;last two fixtures&nbsp;against Birmingham&nbsp;and Barnsley respectively were both&nbsp;victims of the weather.&nbsp;Meanwhile this Saturday&nbsp;Charlton&nbsp;play host to Plymouth, whilst Birmingham&nbsp;entertain Forest.&nbsp; Both Barnsley&nbsp;and Palace will be&nbsp;kicking their heals this weekend, as neither of them have a game!&nbsp;&nbsp;
I&nbsp;assume&nbsp; a week is not enough time for two professional clubs&nbsp;and the FA to re-schedule a fixture! Galling and irksome are just two adjectives that immediately spring to mind.
Now the proposed solution………….of all the various gimmicks in British Football over the years the plastic&nbsp;or artificial pitch&nbsp;is possibly the least bemoaned. 
Considered an avant-garde remedy to the rain, frost and snow of a British winter, as well as an additional form of income on non-match days by staging an assortment of other activities to raise money, the plastic football pitch was originally modelled on the Astroturf surfaces of the USA in the 1960’s.
The first football club to roll out a synthetic pitch on these shores was QPR at their Loftus Road ground in 1981. Luton, Oldham and Preston followed suit, but shortly after 1994 when Deepdale reverted back to the green green grass of home, artificial pitches were outlawed under Premier League guidelines.
At the time these pitches were in the early development stage and admittedly there were issues revolving around the bounce of the ball, carpet-type burns and the potential damage to joints, (in particular those of the knee) due to the overly unforgiving nature of the hard surface. 
However times&nbsp;and science have moved on quite considerably, 25 years on in fact since the initial experiment at Loftus Road.
Under-soil heating and&nbsp;better drainage facilities also contributed to the death of the artificial pitch, BUT the fact remains today that currently the lushest of footballing surfaces are often made out of a combination of artificial fibres to toughen up the traditional ‘live’ grass alongside it!
In 2003 at the Under-17 World Cup Championships in Helsinki, ten of the matches including the final were played on one of the new generation of artificial surfaces.
Furthermore many of the ultra-modern stadiums in Britain have such high-sided stands that they block out the natural elements that are needed for the turf to be at its best. Subsequently this results in pitches having to be re-laid during a season at great expense, suggesting that an artificial surface of sufficient quality could have a place in the game, particularly outside the top flight.
A full international fixture for the 2008 European Championships was played in October 2007 between England and Russia on an artificial surface, which was installed to counteract adverse weather conditions, at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow. 
In Scotland last month Alloa Athletic hosted Aberdeen on their plastic pitch for a Scottish Cup game.&nbsp;
Is it not finally time that the people at the apex of our game, in their shiny suits, moccasin shoes and badly dyed hair, took the bull by the horns and instead of&nbsp; watching football clubs fall foul of the weather, became pro-active and provided lower league clubs in the British domestic game, with at least the option of using the latest technology in the form of ‘3G’ type plastic pitches?

Plastic & Artificial pitches – 25 years on & we're still no closer to beating the weather!

Plastic &amp; Artificial pitches – 25 years on &amp; we're still no closer to beating the weather! - World Soccer Talk

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Plastic & Artificial pitches – 25 years on & we're still no closer to beating the weather!