What is Going to Happen to Euro 2020?
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UEFA are due to meet on Tuesday the 17th of March as they try and decide what is going to happen with the remainder of the European football season. Europe has become the centre of the COVID-19 outbreak and all of the leading domestic leagues have been suspended.
UEFA will need to decide what they're going to do with the Champions League and the Europa League but one of the major talking points will be the 2020 European Championship.
The international football competition was due to start on the 12th of June and run through to the 12th of July. The tournament is scheduled to be held in 12 different cities across the continent ranging from Ireland to Azerbaijan. Usually the European Championship is staged in just one or two countries but as it was the 60th anniversary of the competition Michel Platini decided to spread the games across the continent.
However, with mass gatherings now being banned in several countries and travel between countries in Europe also having stopped there is a real threat that the 2020 European Championship may not take place at all this year.
UEFA must also consider the domestic leagues and the time it may take to finish them. This could also lead to the postponement or cancellation of the European Championship. There appear to be a couple of options available for Euro 2020, with the most drastic being a complete cancellation of the event. That will mean the next European Championship to take place will be in 2024 and it is highly likely that every nation will have to go through the qualifying process again in order to play in that tournament.
For countries like Finland, who were sure to play in their first major international competition, it will come as a disappointment.
A second option would be to move the European Championship to December. This would allow all the major leagues in Europe plenty of time to finish the 2019/20 season and possibly have a couple of weeks break for the players before the tournament begins. However, this would have a knock on effect for the 2020/21 season which may have to start in February unless it is delayed until August but that seems very unlikely.
Perhaps the best option is to move the tournament to the summer of 2021. That will allow all the European leagues until the summer months of 2020 to complete the current season. The 2020/21 campaign will then be able to begin on time and can end at the usual time allowing for the European Championship to be played exactly one year later.
UEFA have sponsors and television contracts to consider when making any decision and that will obviously come into play when they announce their options. There is no doubt UEFA want this tournament to be played and it will be interesting to see how they go about staging the event.
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