THE English Football League (EFL) has recorded a full set of negative Covid-19 tests for the first time.

In the week commencing March 15, 5,524 players and staff were swabbed at 72 clubs, with no coronavirus cases recorded.

The results come one year on from the first national lockdown and EFL chief executive Trevor Birch feels it is the first step in allowing fans back in grounds.

He said: “The stringent protocols implemented across the board have ensured that we are now able to turn our attention to returning to a certain level of normality.

“Our focus must be on maintaining this low transmission rate and then ensure supporters can return in full as quickly as is safe to do so.

“Football remains one of the most heavily regulated areas of crowd management, with EFL clubs already demonstrating they can stage matches safely during a successful pilot programme earlier in the season.”

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Supporters returned to stadia during the brief relaxation of restrictions in December.

Oxford United welcomed fans back to the Kassam Stadium for the games against Hull City, Forest Green Rovers and Northampton Town, with 2,000 allowed in for the latter.

Matches went back behind closed doors as cases soared over Christmas, but Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced last month that spectators could start to return to sporting venues from May 17.

Meanwhile, Covid cases at EFL clubs have dropped since twice-weekly testing began in January.

The first set of results, for the week commencing January 11, returned 123 positive tests.

The programme, funded by the Professional Footballers’ Association, was introduced after dozens of postponements earlier in the season, including seven in Sky Bet League One on December 29 alone.

United have had fixtures called off due to coronavirus on five occasions in 2020/21.