EURO 2020 has been officially postponed

The COVID-19 virus outbreak has been declared a pandemic by WHO. It has caused the lives of people to come to a standstill and accounts for many deaths worldwide. All aspects of the world have been affected by the Coronavirus. All football matches have been suspended till April.

UEFA have now officially announced that they have postponed the EURO 2020 by 12 months. The European Championship will now take place in 2021.

UEFA today announced the postponement of its flagship national team competition, UEFA EURO 2020.

Read full statement 👇

— UEFA EURO 2020 (@EURO2020) March 17, 2020

It is a very disheartening news for all the football fans that there will be no EURO in the summer but it was also a necessary action. It would now give all the European Leagues enough time to finish their season, which have been suspended due to COVID-19.

The EURO 2020 play-off matches and international friendlies, scheduled for the end of March, will now be played in the international window at the start of June.

UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin said while announcing the decisions: “The health of fans, staff and players has to be our number one priority and, in that spirit, UEFA tabled a range of options so that competitions can finish this season safely and I am proud of the response of my colleagues across European football. There was a real spirit of cooperation, with everyone recognising that they had to sacrifice something in order to achieve the best result.”

“It was important that, as the governing body of European football, UEFA led the process and made the biggest sacrifice. Moving EURO 2020 comes at a huge cost for UEFA but we will do our best to ensure that the vital funding for grassroots, women’s football and the development of the game in our 55 countries is not affected. Purpose over profit has been our guiding principle in taking this decision for the good of European football as a whole.”

“I would like to thank the European Club Association, the European Leagues and FIFPro Europe for their great work today and for their cooperation. I would also like to thank from the bottom of my heart the 55 national associations, their presidents and general secretaries, and my colleagues from the Executive Committee for their support and wise decisions. The fine detail will be worked out in the coming weeks but the basic principles have been agreed and that is a major step forward. We have all shown that we are responsible leaders. We have demonstrated solidarity and unity. Purpose over profit. We’ve achieved this today.

“I would also like to thank Alejandro Domínguez and CONMEBOL, who have agreed to move CONMEBOL’s 2020 Copa America in order to follow the recommendations issued by the international public health organisations to enact extreme measures and as a result of EURO 2020 being postponed. This means that clubs and leagues in Europe will have as little disruption as possible in the availability of their players. These joint efforts and especially this coordinated and responsible decision, are deeply appreciated by the whole European football community.

“I would like to thank FIFA and its President, Gianni Infantino, who has indicated it will do whatever is required to make this new calendar work. In the face of this crisis, football has shown its best side with openness, solidarity and tolerance.”

EURO 2020 was scheduled to take place in 12 cities across Europe from 12th June to 12th July 2020. The proposed new dates are from 11th June to 11th July 2021.

The European Championship has been postponed so UEFA will now work on finalising new dates for the Champions League and Europa League finals.

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