UEFA postpone Euro 2020 for a year

LAUSANNE: UEFA has decided to postpone the European Championship until 2021 due to the coronavirus, according to the Norwegian Football Federation.

European football stakeholders convened on Tuesday to discuss the impact and fallout from the Covid-19 pandemic. Euro 2020 has been chief among the topics and the widely-expected delay to the tournament was announced by football’s governing body in Norway.

In a post on Twitter, the NFF said: “UEFA has decided that the European Championship is postponed to 2021. It will be played from 11 June to 11 July next year. More information coming.”

The tournament had been due to be played between June 12 and July 12 this summer, in 12 cities across Europe with Wembley hosting the semi-finals and final.

The postponement became the most viable option given the huge disruption caused to the 2019-20 domestic competitions across Europe, and to this season’s Champions League and Europa League.

It is now likely that the play-offs to decide the final four places at the tournament - which were due to be played later this month - can be postponed until later this year.

The decision may also have an impact on the Women’s Euros, due to be played in the summer of 2021. It remains to be seen whether that tournament now moves to the summer of 2022, with the men’s World Cup of that year not due to be played until the winter.

It also presents a clash with FIFA’s expanded 24-team Club World Cup, due to take place in the summer of 2021 in China. Moving the Euros means domestic championships have further time to be played out to a finish. A number of host associations contacted by the PA news agency on Monday had been understood to be prepared to switch the tournament to the summer of 2021 if that was the consensus from Tuesday’s meeting.

Meanwhile snooker’s Coral Tour Championship has been postponed along with the first three Diamond League athletics meetings of the season.

The World Snooker Tour had been hopeful its event, which was due to start in Llandudno on Tuesday, could take place behind closed doors.

But a statement read: “WST and ITV Sport have taken the decision to postpone this week’s Coral Tour Championship in Llandudno as a precaution against the spread of coronavirus. We appreciate this is very short notice and a disappointment for the fans and the television audience, however the assessment could only be made at short notice after yesterday’s announcement from the government which came at 5pm.”

The prestigious Diamond League meetings scheduled for April 17, in Qatar, and May 9 and 16, in China, are likely to be pushed back until after the Olympics. The Wanda Diamond League said it hopes to be able to stage the planned meeting in Shanghai on August 13.

Meanwhile, Manchester United have scrapped plans to return to training on Tuesday, the PA news agency understands. The British Boxing Board of Control has announced that “all public tournaments” under its jurisdiction have been cancelled, and the position will be reviewed in early April.