UEFA advises on the consequences of the coronavirus pandemic on Tuesday. It is also about the EURO 2020. A postponement of the tournament is more likely. The big leagues would be happy.
Berlin (dpa) - The cancellation of the European Football Championship 2020 is more likely: At a sensitive crisis meeting of UEFA next Tuesday, postponing the pan-European tournament to the summer of 2021 is now the first option, according to media reports.
The major leagues on the continent would be given the much-needed time after the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic - a regulated end of the season is no longer possible in Spain, Italy and the Netherlands, among others.
"Today, no one can reliably predict how long the subject of corona virus will keep us busy. The European Championship 2020 is a pan-European event. This makes the subject even more complicated and therefore requires particularly sensitive handling," said the internationally well-connected Bayern Boss Karl-Heinz Rummenigge of the German Press Agency.
On Thursday, UEFA canceled two Champions League games for the first time. The second round of second leg matches between Manchester City and Real Madrid and between Juventus and Olympique Lyon are affected. At the video conference on Tuesday, in which all 55 member associations should participate, the complete suspension of the European Cup competitions will also be discussed. So also the game of record champions FC Bayern Munich against Chelsea this coming Wednesday.
"I am sure that UEFA, with President Alexander Ceferin at the top, will make a serious and responsible decision," said Rummenigge, who emphasized the spirit games in Germany: "FC Bayern and all of football must also exercise their social responsibility here and do their part to slow the spread of the coronavirus. "
The leagues and associations are under enormous pressure because of the EM. The densely staggered soccer calendar hardly gives any free dates for catch-up games. "A postponement would give us air to now properly and appropriately interrupt the game," said Borussia Dortmund's sports director Michael Zorc of the "Süddeutsche Zeitung", also with a view to the EM. "And only play again when the safety and health of everyone involved can be guaranteed again."
The opening game of the historic tournament in twelve countries is to kick off in Rome on June 12 - of all things. Italy is considered the European epicenter. Due to the rapid spread of Covid-19 lung disease, the Italian government imposed nationwide blocking measures on March 9.
However, all problems would not be solved with a shift to the summer of 2021. The Nations League final (2 to 6 June) could take place before the European Championship. But the EM would collide with the first FIFA Club World Cup planned with 24 teams in China. In view of the global crisis, however, further power struggles between UEFA and the world association would be a painful evil.
It is completely unclear whether the EM 2021 would be played under the same conditions. In addition to Rome, Munich, Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Bilbao, St. Petersburg, Bucharest, Budapest, Baku, Glasgow, Dublin and London were also selected as hosts. A quarter-finals and three group games are expected to rise in FC Bayern's Allianz Arena. The British capital London was awarded both semi-finals and the final.
The German national team had qualified as group winners for the European Championship. The opponents were the DFB team France, Portugal and the winner of a playoff game. A "hammer group", as national coach Joachim Löw found. The national team actually wants to make amends for the desolate World Cup in Russia two years ago, which the German Football Association had already ended after the preliminary round.
UEFA had recently defended its tournament several times despite the increasing number of corona cases. The umbrella association repeatedly referred to the lively contact "with the responsible international and local authorities". In several European leagues, it had long been decided to exclude the spectators or even to suspend the game. The announcement of the crisis meeting on Thursday came, according to UEFA, in the light of the World Health Organization's classification of the Sars-CoV-2 outbreak as a pandemic.
European football union
EM 2020
L'Équipe report
