Coronavirus: Champions League and Europa League could be decided by mini-tournament

By Simon StoneBBC Sport

Last updated on .From the section European Footballcomments1268

The European Championship trophy and Euro 2020 logo
Euro 2020, scheduled to take place at 12 venues across Europe this summer, could be postponed to give European leagues time to complete their domestic seasons

A mini-tournament to decide the Champions League and Europa League will be one option put forward to ease fixture congestion caused by the coronavirus outbreak.

European football's governing body, Uefa, is hosting a video conference with major stakeholders on Tuesday.

Euro 2020 is set to be postponed to allow league seasons to be completed.

A source close to the situation says all parties must be ready to sacrifice something to reach a solution.

All 55 Uefa members, the boards of the European Club Association and the European Leagues, and a representative of world players' union Fifpro have been invited to Tuesday's meeting.

The Uefa members will also hold an additional meeting to discuss their own reaction.

How would a mini-tournament work?

As with the Premier League, who on Friday stressed their commitment to completing the season, Uefa wants the Champions League and Europa League to reach a conclusion because they also have major broadcasting contracts to satisfy.

Both tournaments are at their last-16 stage, with six matchdays remaining, including the final. There are still 14 last-16 ties across the two competitions to be completed.

Playing the quarter-finals and semi-finals as one-off games would cut two fixtures off the remaining schedule.

Playing them over a handful of days as a mini-tournament - in Istanbul and Gdansk, host cities for this season's finals - would concentrate the matches even further, cutting down on travelling and cause the least disruption to the domestic leagues.

It has not been ruled out these games could be played in conjunction with league matches - nor does the Champions League final have to mark the end of the club campaign as tradition dictates.

Moving Euro 2020, due to take place at venues across Europe from 12 June to 12 July, to next summer would also free up more time to complete domestic and European fixtures.

However, that would then impact on next year's calendar.

Both the Women's European Championship, hosted by England, and the men's European Under-21 Championship, in Hungary and Slovenia, are scheduled for the summer of 2021. The Nations League, the draw for which was held earlier in March, is due to be completed next spring.

In addition, the first edition of the expanded Fifa Club World Cup is set to be held in China in June.

While the big domestic leagues have problems over television contracts to solve if games do not take place, most countries rely on the payments from Uefa that come out of major international tournaments to allow their own leagues to function properly. These would be at risk from any movement of the European Championship and are likely to form part of any agreement.

Uefa has an estimated 400 staff working on the Euros. It is unknown what will happen to them if the tournament does not take place for another 12 months.

The situation is not made any easier by not knowing when football will be able to resume.

Uefa accepts it is impossible to know when current travel restrictions will be lifted, but it cannot wait until they are to draft a plan.

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1268 comments

  • Comment posted by Ticktock63, at 13:22 16 Mar 2020

    A harsh thing to say, but hardly anyone cares about the current summer 2021 international football tournaments, it’s a no-brainer to move the Euros to next summer

  • Comment posted by thwobble, at 13:37 16 Mar 2020

    Remember the good old days when we all moaned about VAR?

    Ah, memories....

    In the meantime, the only good news is that the bookies will be losing millions due to the current postponement!

  • Comment posted by norm, at 13:18 16 Mar 2020

    Yeah....because major broadcasting contracts are obviously what we should be concerned about

  • Comment posted by Dan7brit, at 13:19 16 Mar 2020

    @ 7. Barry_Edinburgh

    Just cancel the whole lot and start again in the 2020 / 2021 Season
    -----
    Why do people keep writing this nonsense?? How many times does it have to be pointed out that cancelling the 2019 -2020 season is not feasible due to promotion and relegation issues which amount to hundreds of millions of ££! There are numerous options available but this is not one.

  • Comment posted by Stannis Baratheon, at 13:19 16 Mar 2020

    Cancel Europa League and CL as it was still early enough for nobody to really be bothered.

    Allow domestic leagues to finish if this mess clears up by May

    If not void and start afresh in August.

    Sorry but if Liverpool are handed the title becuase they are far ahead- should we relegate Norwich because they are bottom? Whos to say they wouldnt win all their remianing games and stay up?

  • Comment posted by krwill82, at 13:23 16 Mar 2020

    It's ironic that Bury were kicked out of the football league for not satisfying the EFL that it could fulfil it's fixtures...

  • Comment posted by SROBBY, at 13:21 16 Mar 2020

    Scrap international football until summer 2021. If necessary cancel FA cup and run league matches in summer, till end June, even if behind closed doors. Players get month off, and if season starts late, cancellation of international breaks would make up for this.

  • Comment posted by Danoota, at 13:36 16 Mar 2020

    All tournaments should be suspended until the crisis has ended. Then they should be properly completed. If this means compromising next season then so be it. Voiding this season and depriving Championship club's of promotion to the Premier League - as well as awarding the Premier League title - would be entirely wrong. Liverpool haters need to get a grip!

  • Comment posted by moochinabout, at 13:37 16 Mar 2020

    Give the trophy to the team who has the most toilet rolls.

  • Comment posted by empireofthekop, at 14:41 16 Mar 2020

    I don't get why people are so eager to call season null & void (probably fans of teams sitting at no. 13 to 17 or fans of team at no. 4 & 5 )...There is more sense to play the remaining games and finish the season whenever it can be done than starting the new season.

  • Comment posted by mushtaq elahi, at 13:32 16 Mar 2020

    @16 It's not completely analogous though, is it? Norwich aren't 25 points adrift at the bottom of the table for starters.

  • Comment posted by Eternal Optimism, at 13:37 16 Mar 2020

    57, 'No matter how much VVD bleats about it, or some scouser tells you its a consipracy, some things are more important than sport.

    Sadly, the only option is to void the league and start again next season'

    In your world who will represent the PL(England)in European competition in the new season?
    In your world they can't qualify from a voided previous season.

  • Comment posted by chipbutty, at 13:30 16 Mar 2020

    Footballs Over... End of Story... The Money Men Will Be Shaking.. Especially The Online Gambling Rats Who Prey On Vulnerable People Week In Week Out... That's What The Premier League Is Americanised Garbage..

  • Comment posted by Orkneyboy, at 13:25 16 Mar 2020

    A vast majority of responses here will no doubt show Humanity off to it's very worst. The Karren Brady effect if you will. Like rats trying to seek one ounce of advantage and to hell with common sense, rules and fair play. I win, you lose and I don't care. That is sadly what Football has become. I will applaud the West Ham fan who says play on. You guys must feel awful, we know it's not your fans.

  • Comment posted by Nougat, at 13:37 16 Mar 2020

    Do you really think a team thats lost once all season is going to lose 8 out of 9? Every pundit in the world called the league in february and rightly so. Im a celtic fan and although celtic have a big lead its by no means over so I wouldnt be annoyed if the league was voided, liverpool on the other hand are deserving champions, no one can realistically catch them, to deny them the title is absurd

  • Comment posted by Maine Line, at 13:27 16 Mar 2020

    All need postponing indefinitely until things are resolved then just pick up all competitions where they left off even if it's next year. Cancel season 20/21 and the Euros completely.

  • Comment posted by margaret, at 15:15 16 Mar 2020

    Folk, Don't forget to cancel your Sky and BT Sports subscriptions

  • Comment posted by BeardsleysBum, at 13:51 16 Mar 2020

    Why dont they give footballers Mar/Apr off and finish the domestic leagues in May and June. Make all cup games 1 rather than 2 legs. July is the summer break and hold the Euros in August. Domestic leagues restart in late September.

    Nothing is ideal but this way there's nothing drastic, and the players get a spring break as well as a summer one.

  • Comment posted by Essex-Dave, at 14:56 16 Mar 2020

    Priority should be given to completion of the national leagues.

    Without those national leagues you wouldn’t have a Champions league or Europa league.

    Does it really matter if the European competitions miss a year.

  • Comment posted by CG1975, at 13:27 16 Mar 2020

    Move the Euros to summer next year. Extend domestic seasons for a month Draw the next round for CL/Europa fixtures for home/away and play one leg

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