Several options are being considered to resume the UEFA Champions League, on the alternatives available to complete the European football calendar due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Option for How to Complete the Champions League
Several Options
Many reports have expressed that there are two main choices that Europe’s football governing body will have to decide upon.
Its plans depend on how soon domestic plans can get up and running.
One of the options is to complete the quarter and semi-finals as normal, with two-legged ties to be played in July and August.
The second route is to play the quarter-final and semi-final’s as a one-off match. This would then condensing it into almost a mini-event.
The final will then take place as planned in Istanbul on 29 August.
So far Paris Saint-Germain, Atletico Madrid, Atalanta and RB Leipzig are all through into the last eight of the UEFA Champions League.
Four more second-round ties are still to be decided, including the mouth-watering second leg between Manchester City and Real Madrid.
UEFA Will Meet Again Next Week
UEFA’s Executive Committee will gather on 23 April to discuss further how to finish off the current season because of coronavirus.
The meeting will be via a video conference.
All of UEFA’s 55 member associations will gather two days before the executive committee talks. Here, an information session will take place.
The meeting will decide that European leagues will be able to finish early if any national association wishes to do so.
The Belgian Pro League was the first major European league to be cancelled due to the virus on 2 April.
In the aftermath of that decision, there were suggestions that UEFA will impose sanctions on any national football governing body acting unilaterally.
Yet so far it does not appear to be on UEFA’s agenda.
What Are the Other Options for UEFA?
Outside of the two main options that are thought to be on the table, the UEFA Champions League might restart if other opportunities are mulled over.
A potential solution would be to create a European Championships or World Cup-style scenario.
Neutral venues close to each other could host matches in one country.
This would be a safer option for players, who could be controlled and tested for coronavirus in one environment.
The final, however, is already destined for Istanbul. It’s difficult to anticipate how they could switch the venue of the final at this stage.
It would be feasible to still hold the final in the Turkish capital. This could then allow the quarter and semi-finals to be played at neutral venues.
If one match is to decide the quarter and semi-finals with one team having the advantage of playing at home, then a decision over the away goals rule would also be needed.
Yet home advantage would be erased if the games are played behind closed doors.
Empty Stadiums Likely for Closing Stages
It appears to be inevitable that the rest of the UEFA Champions League will be played behind closed doors. Especially as many teams left in the competition are from the worst coronavirus affected countries, such as Spain and Italy.
The second round second legs between Valencia and Atalanta, and Paris Saint-Germain and Borussia Dortmund were played without supporters.
It was already announced before football was suspended across Europe that the second leg matches between Barcelona and Napoli and Bayern Munich and Chelsea were to be played at an empty Nou Camp and Allianz Arena.
The mayor of Bergamo described the first leg between Atalanta and Valencia as a “biological bomb”.
Bergamo’s Papa Giovanni Hospital intensive care director, Luca Lorini, said he believes that the match going ahead helped spread the coronavirus outbreak.
The San Siro, where the game was held, is situated in the district of Bergamo. 44,000 people were in the stands, which played a pivotal factor in the outbreak.
Main Photo
Embed from Getty Images
