UEFA still hopeful of completing continental competitions in August
UEFA is hoping to successfully complete the 2019/2020 Champions League and Europa League by August, according to reports.
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As a result of the coronavirus pandemic, both the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League have been suspended since March, and the fact that several borders across the continent are closed has minimalised the chance of resuming the 2019/2020 campaign in the coming months. UEFA has already expressed its desire for all domestic championships to eventually be completed once the green light is issued by the respective states.
Nevertheless, despite the somewhat tough outlook, UEFA is determined for its two headline club competitions to resume in the summer.
Earlier this week reports from AS in Spain revealed that UEFA wants the Champions League and Europa League tournaments to be played across a two-week period in August, with the quarter-finals, semi-finals, and finals all set to be decided over a single match at a neutral venue behind closed doors.
A possible Final-Eight format, or even playing the remaining knockout matches in Qatar, has also been discussed.
It must also be noted that the second legs of the Last 16 still need to be played. Olympiacos, the last remaining Greek representative involved in Europe, played to a 1-1 draw in the first game of their Europa League Round of 16 tie against the Wolverhampton Wanderers on March 12 in Piraeus. The Erythrolefki had famously defeated Arsenal in the previous round of the competition.
UEFA is supposedly hoping to play the second matches of the Round of 16 by the end of July.
It’s widely acknowledged that all football matches will be played inside empty arenas until at least the autumn. Italian reports have even suggested that games will be staged behind closed doors until 2021.
As previously reported on AGONAsport, FIFA is preparing to postpone the summer transfer window, while also extending current player contracts which are still due to expire on June 30.
POSSIBILITY OF NO INTERNATIONAL FOOTBALL UNTIL 2021
Furthermore, there is a chance that no international football will be witnessed until 2021, with the start of the UEFA Nations League having originally been scheduled for September. UEFA Euro 2020 and all competition qualifiers had already been suspended.
The reason behind this potential decision is UEFA’s priority of completing the 2019/2020 club season and starting the 2020/2021 campaign no later than September.
