FOOTBALL is taking a back seat as the world fights coronavirus.
And the Champions League and Europa League are no different with both tournaments currently on hold.
⚠️ Read our coronavirus in sport live blog for the latest news & updates
The new date for the Champions League final has been confirmed by UefaCredit: EPA
When is the Champions League final?
Initially scheduled for May 30, the Champions League final was initially pushed back to Saturday June 27.
But UEFA have had to scrap that date and are now working on plans to see the Champions League final end the 2019/20 season on Saturday August 29.
European football’s governing body will meet on April 23 for more discussions on how to complete a campaign disrupted by coronavirus.
The match is still set to take place at the Ataturk Olympic Stadium, Istanbul.
Euro 2020, which was supposed to go ahead from June 12 to July 12 this year has been pushed back 12 months and will now take place from June 11 to July 11, 2021.
This year’s Europa League final was initially pushed back from Wednesday May 27 to Wednesday, June 24 – but is now scheduled to take place three days before the Champions League final on Wednesday August 26 in Gdansk, Sweden.
Will the Champions League continue as normal when football returns?
UEFA have not yet made any decisions regarding the future scheduling of their two competitions apart from to rearrange the finals.
There are two scenarios under consideration.
One is to play the quarter-finals and semi-finals as two-legged matches as normal, in July and August.
The other is for the quarters and semis to be one-off fixtures after the end of the domestic seasons, potentially condensing the end of the competition into a week-long four-team mini-tournament.
This could mean all teams who would have qualified for the semi-finals of the Champions League and Europa League being invited to showpiece competitions in Istanbul and Gdansk respectively.
This midweek-weekend format would effectively be the same as last year’s Nations League finals and the upcoming Euro 2020 play-offs.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
