UEFA Postpones Euro 2020 to 2021 Due to Coronavirus Outbreak

The European championship will be decided next year, with the summer now clear for club competitions to complete their seasons.

Euro 2020 will become Euro 2021.

UEFA is postponing its quadrennial international competition by a year, Europe's governing body announced on Tuesday, a day when it met with its member nations to decide the fate of the competition amid the coronavirus outbreak. An official decision was revealed by UEFA's executive committee, with president Aleksander Ceferin saying, it was "the only chance for the completion of club tournaments and leagues."

With domestic leagues across the continent on hold amid the virus outbreak and this edition of the European Championship set to take place in 12 cities in different countries, it became increasingly obvious that a postponement needed to take place. There's also the matter of filling the 24-team field. Four places had yet to be claimed, with the playoffs for those originally scheduled for late March. With the coronavirus putting those on hold, there was a knock-on effect for the tournament proper. According to UEFA's announcement, those playoffs could take place this June, provided there's clearance to play those games.

As it stands, Euro 2021 will take place from June 11 to July 11, and with the summer free, it will create an opening for domestic leagues, domestic cup competitions, the Champions League and Europa League to be completed–again, provided that the coronavirus outbreak is contained enough to the point where those matches can be played.

"UEFA today announced the postponement of its flagship national team competition, UEFA EURO 2020, due to be played in June and July this year," UEFA wrote in a statement. "The health of all those involved in the game is the priority, as well as to avoid placing any unnecessary pressure on national public services involved in staging matches. The move will help all domestic competitions, currently on hold due to the COVID-19 emergency, to be completed.

"All UEFA competitions and matches (including friendlies) for clubs and national teams for both men and women have been put on hold until further notice. The UEFA 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, subject to a review of the situation.

"A working group has been set up with the participation of leagues and club representatives to examine calendar solutions that would allow for the completion of the current season and any other consequence of the decisions made today."

As it relates to the European club competitions, according to the Associated Press, "if resuming the season is possible, UEFA’s options to complete this season include playing the quarterfinals and semifinals as single games instead of over two legs where each team has a home match. The Champions League final is scheduled for May 30 in Istanbul, but the Turkish city could also be asked host the semifinals in a mini-tournament at a later date."

There are plenty of other moving parts that will need to fall into place due to the postponement. FIFA was set to stage its first expanded Club World Cup competition next summer, but that seems unlikely given how many key players would be involved with Euros and Copa America, which was also postponed from this summer to next summer. The 2020-2021 UEFA Nations League was also set to stage matches in June of next year, but that, too, seems impossible with the Euros now occupying that space on the calendar.

There's also the women's European Championship, which was supposed to take place in the summer of 2021 but is under consideration to be moved to 2022.

“We are at the helm of a sport that vast numbers of people live and breathe that has been laid low by this invisible and fast-moving opponent. It is at times like these, that the football community needs to show responsibility, unity, solidarity and altruism," Ceferin said in a statement. “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 co-operation, with everyone recognizing 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."