UEFA postpone Champions League and Europa League finals

UEFA has announced its decision to postpone both men and women’s Champions League finals and the Europa League final as well due to ongoing coronavirus pandemic. 

The outbreak of Covid-19 has shut football around the world, with nations entering lockdown state. Major leagues are plotting a way to complete the fixtures and their return dates, though it remains to be seen how long the crisis will last.

UEFA has now officially confirmed that May’s finals will take place at later dates. The governing body released a statement that said, 

“UEFA has formally taken the decision to postpone the club finals originally scheduled for May 2020. No decision has yet been made on rearranged dates. The working group, established last week as a result of the conference call among the stakeholders of European football, which was chaired by UEFA president, Aleksander Ceferin, who will analyze the options available.”

It also said that the calendar examination has already begun and an announcement will be made soon, hopefully. 

While Atalanta, RB Leipzig, Paris Saint-Germain and Atletico Madrid all progressed to the UCL quarter-finals as their games were played before football entered its breakdown period. However, the winner of the ties between Manchester City and Real Madrid, Barcelona and Napoli, Juventus and Lyon and Chelsea and Bayern Munich are still to be determined.

The first legs of the women’s Champions League were also scheduled to be played this week, with Lyon considered as the favorites to win the competition. Europa League is also halted at the Round of 16 with Manchester United and Bayer Leverkusen in strong positions, though first legs between Internazionale and Getafe, and Sevilla and Roma were not played.

Premier League games could be played behind closed doors to ensure that the season is concluded, while the Spanish Football Federation and La Liga both confirmed on Monday that all football in the country will be stopped indefinitely. 

An IOC member has also revealed that the 2020 Tokyo Olympics will be postponed due to the pandemic. 

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