OFFICIAL: All UEFA competitions suspended indefinitely

UEFA has confirmed that all tournaments, including the Champions League, Europa League and remaining Euro 2020 qualifiers, have been postponed indefinitely in light of the coronavirus crisis.

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UEFA released this following statement on Wednesday afternoon:

“Following today’s videoconference meeting with the general secretaries of all 55 UEFA member associations and recommendations made by the working groups created on 17 March, the UEFA Executive Committee took a series of decisions, as follows:

“On competition matters:

“• All national team matches for men and women due to be played in June 2020 are postponed until further notice. This includes the play-off matches for UEFA EURO 2020 and qualifying matches for UEFA Women’s EURO 2021.

“• All other UEFA competition matches, including the centralised international friendly matches, remain postponed until further notice.

“• Youth national team competitions:

“(i) the UEFA European Under-17 Championship final tournament scheduled for May 2020 is cancelled;

“(ii) the UEFA European Women’s Under-19 Championship final tournament scheduled for July 2020 is cancelled;

“(iii) the UEFA European Women’s Under-17 Championship final tournament scheduled for May 2020 is postponed until further notice (as it is a qualifying competition for the FIFA U 17 Women's World Cup);

“(iv) the UEFA European Under-19 Championship final tournament scheduled for July 2020 is postponed until further notice (as it is a qualifying competition for the FIFA U-20 World Cup).

“• The UEFA Futsal Champions League finals scheduled for April 2020 are postponed until further notice.

“• The deadlines related to all 2020/21 UEFA club competitions are postponed until further notice, in particular as regards the admission process and the registration of players. UEFA will set new deadlines in due course.

“On club licensing and financial fair play matters:

“The Executive Committee reiterated its full commitment to club licensing and financial fair play and agreed that the current exceptional circumstances necessitate some specific interventions to facilitate the work of member associations and clubs.

“It supports the proposal to give member associations more time to complete the club licensing process, until the admission process for next season’s UEFA club competitions has been redefined.

“As a result of the increasing uncertainty generated by the ongoing extraordinary events, the Executive Committee also decided to suspend the club licensing provisions that relate to the preparation and assessment of clubs’ future financial information. This decision applies exclusively for participation in the 2020/21 UEFA club competitions.”

Originally, UEFA had hoped to complete all continental competitions by July the latest, but the increasing severity of the COVID-19 outbreak and closed borders have ruined that possibility. 

During the day, several reports have suggested that the finals of both the Champions League (Turkey) and Europa League (Poland) will take place in August behind closed doors, with the knockout stages set to be resumed in either June or July. More concrete information will be provided by UEFA as the weeks progress.

Olympiacos are involved in the Last 16 of the Europa League. In early March, the Erythrolefki hosted Wolverhampton Wanderers inside an empty Karaiskakis Stadium in the first leg of the tie, playing to a 1-1 draw.

UEFA maintains its stance that all domestic championships must be completed. In Greece, there is a suggested plan in place for the Super League playoffs and playouts to begin in late May, however this is yet to be confirmed by the league itself. A video conference is due to be held on Thursday to decide the future of the championship.

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