European football’s governing body, UEFA has announced the postponement of all Champions League and Europa League matches scheduled for next week due to the outbreak of coronavirus and related decisions made by different governments.
In a statement on Friday morning, UEFA said it made the decision after a videoconference meeting between representatives of its 55 member associations, the boards of the European Club Association and the European Leagues and a representative of FIFPro, on Tuesday 17 March to discuss European football’s response to the COVID-19.
UEFA said the remaining Champions League Round of 16 second-leg matches scheduled on 17 and 18 March 2020; all Europa League Round of 16 second-leg matches scheduled on 19 March 2020 and all Youth League quarter-final matches scheduled on 17 and 18 March 2020 have been suspended.
The statement added that further decisions on the rescheduling of the matches take place will be communicated in due course. Matches already affected by the coronavirus pandemic are Manchester City’s clash with Real Madrid and Juventus’ game with Lyon.
The latest development means that Bayern Munich’s clash with Chelsea and Barcelona’s game with Napoli has now been called off, while Man Utd, Wolves, Inter, Roma and many others will see their games rescheduled.
According to the statement, UEFA said the postponements of next week’s games means that the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League quarter-final draws scheduled for 20 March have also been postponed.
The statement reads: “In the light of developments due to the spread of Covid-19 in Europe and related decisions made by different governments, all UEFA club competitions matches scheduled next week are postponed.
“This includes the remaining UEFA Champions League, Round of 16 second-leg matches scheduled on 17 and 18 March 2020; all UEFA Europa League, Round of 16 second-leg matches scheduled on 19 March 2020; all UEFA Youth League, quarter-final matches scheduled on 17 and 18 March 2020.
“Further decisions on when these matches take place will be communicated in due course.
“As a consequence of the postponements, the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League quarter-final draws scheduled for 20 March have also been postponed.
“UEFA yesterday invited representatives of its 55 member associations, together with the boards of the European Club Association and the European Leagues and a representative of FIFPro, to a videoconference meeting on Tuesday 17 March to discuss European football’s response to the outbreak.”
FIFA, UEFA alongside the English Premier League, MLS, Italy’s Serie A, Spain’s La Liga, France’s Ligue 1, and Netherlands’ Eredivisie have all suspended match action till next month due to the outbreak of the deadly virus. The only football league that has not been suspended is the German’s Bundesliga.
According to the DFL, the German Bundesliga is still set to go ahead, with the FA saying that Bayern Munich’s away trip to Union Berlin will go ahead as planned. Meanwhile, Bayern and Spain midfielder Thiago Alcantara has described the decision “irresponsible and imprudent”.
The Premier League announced the postponement of all forms of professional football in England until April 3 due to the coronavirus pandemic. The league made the decision after an emergency meeting was held on Friday.
It announced that matches across the Football League in England have been suspended, along with fixtures in the Women’s game and the two friendly internationals that England were due to play against Italy and Denmark.
FutballNews reports that Arsenal head coach Mikel Arteta and Chelsea winger Callum Hudson-Odoi had contracted coronavirus, while Manchester City defender Benjamin Mendy and a number of Leicester City players have been entered f self-isolation.
