The coronavirus has put a brake on world football. Europe has interrupted all its main leagues (Spain, England, Italy and Germany) and its international competitions (Champions League and Europa League) until further noticeBut the leaders cannot stop here, they have to make important decisions in the next few hours.
With the ball still, the authorities move folders to plan how the resumption will be carried out and how the schedule will be modified, affecting the clubs as little as possible. In this frame, UEFA will hold a virtual meeting for each manager to propose what to do.
As reported by the site Daily Mail, the big concern is Euro 2020, whose start is scheduled for June 12 and for the first time will have cities from 12 associations as headquarters. This event prevents tournaments from resuming once the quarantine has ended, since they cannot be held simultaneously. For this reason, the The main proposal will be for the Euro Cup to be played in 2021. It is promoted by the Italian federation, in whose country there are already more than 2,158 dead. Gabriele Gravina, the organisation's president, anticipated: "We will propose that UEFA postpone the European Championship", in statements to Sport Mediaset.
In this way, all the championships would resume and the last days would be held in June, no longer the Euro on the calendar. In addition, the nations trophy could not even complete their qualifiers, since the repechage semifinals were never defined by the coronavirus. ”We will seek to reach the end of this championship because we understand that it would be the fairest, more correct to give the definition that corresponds to so much sacrifice, so much effort and so much investment from our companies, "he added.
Another option is to cancel tournaments and start next season in August.. This would cause that there are no champions, promotions or decreases, although this motion has practically no support, but it has been some clubs (especially the most complicated with the loss of the category) who have hinted at it.
By last, Russia already has a project ready to present. Alexei Sorokinm, head of the organizing committee of the 2018 World Cup, anticipated that the country will apply to host the event and that they are able to do so in a timely manner.: "Of course we will be ready, but first we have to discuss what the format would look like, how many games would take place, etc."
In Russia there have been 93 cases and no deaths, according to official figures. Compared to the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, France and Spain, whose numbers of new infected add up to a thousand every day and the deaths of hundreds. In addition, football there has not stopped and it continues to be played with the public.
On Tuesday, the UEFA meeting will also be key for South America. With the Copa América stipulated for June 12 in Colombia and Argentina, which this Sunday announced the closure of its borders, the extension of the European calendar would be a major problem. If this happens, the Latin soccer players could not return to their countries to play with their national teams since they would have commitments with their clubs. Therefore, if the Euro Cup is postponed, Conmebol will be forced to also postpone the event to 2021.