Both the Champions League and the Europa League have been suspended until further notice by UEFA because of the global Covid-19 pandemic.
It follows the cessation of football across Europe, and uncertainty as to when domestic football will be concluded, if at all. Last week, Aleksandr Ceferin, warned that the season could be lost if play does not resume by the end of June.
And, whilst many domestic leagues in Europe are still hoping to resume their leagues, once restrictions on social distancing and the movement of people has been lifted, there is no immediate end to that in sight, with the Canadian government, for example, warning on Wednesday that they expect the current crisis to continue for another six months at least.
The European Championships, scheduled for this year, have duly been postponed until 2021, and now, the women’s equivalent, which was to be held in England next year, has been pushed back to 2002. It follows last week’s decision to defer the Tokyo Olympics 12 months, with organisers recognising that it was important to have two major women’s tournaments in the same year.
UEFA are considering three alternative plans for restarting domestic seasons, which are mid-May, June, and at the end of June. And, there is also a plan D, which will see the end of this season finish at the start of the 2020-21 season. In that event, that season, in turn, would be started later although, given the rescheduled Europe, that would mean that a lot of games will now have to be compressed into an even shorter time frame.
One suggestion that has been put forward to ease fixture congestion is to have a mini-tournament to determine the outcome of this year’s Champions League and Europa League, with the remaining teams left in the competitions playing one-legged matches at a neutral venue.
And the option of playing closed matches behind closed doors remains on the table, although even the viability of this is questionable, given concerns about unnecessary movement, and putting an unwarranted strain on already overstretched healthcare workers and emergency services.
At this point in time, European football has many more questions than answers.
