The Champions League is often the cherry on the top of the cake for football fans, with many often looking forward to the chance of seeing some of the biggest clubs in the world taking on each other, while an option to bet in KE on some of the matches attracts millions of people.
However, the outbreak of the coronavirus has left a serious question mark of the competition this season, with many fans questioning whether it will resume, and when the possible final could be held.
Unfortunately, at this point, no date has yet been put on when fans can expect the Champions League to resume. The travelling that comes with the competition is giving serious headaches to organisers, but we can recap on what we already know about the competition, and give an update about the rumoured date for the final.
What stage of the champions league are we currently at?
At present we are still in the round of 16 stage of the Champions League. Half of the teams that will make up the quarterfinal round have already been decided. Atletico Madrid managed to overcome Liverpool after extra time in a thrilling encounter at Anfield, while RB Leipzig, PSG and Atalanta also ensured their passage through to the next round.
Unfortunately, the remaining ties of this round were postponed due to the outbreak of the coronavirus, which means we will have to wait a while longer to see whether Manchester City can hold on to their first-leg advantage. The other ties for this round also included Bayern Munich/Chelsea, Barcelona/Napoli and Juventus/Lyon.
How long could the champions league be suspended for?
Uefa announced on the 1st April that the competition would be suspended ‘indefinitely’. Because of that statement, there is no date yet announced for when the competition could resume. As well as the Champions League, international fixtures in June have also been postponed, while the European Championships have also been delayed by a year.
The head of Uefa Aleksander Ceferin has already stated that the season ‘could be lost’ if play isn’t resumed by the end of June. But he did clarify that this is the worst possible scenario as he admitted that there are multiple plans in place for Uefa to end the season within the timeframe. Uefa haven’t made any further announcements since this statement, but they are likely to update the footballing world in due course.
When could a potential champions league final be played?
There are multiple rumours doing the rounds centring around when the Champions League final could be played. The most prominent one that has been seen in the world’s media is the predicted date of August 29. How teams make it through to that stage is something that has conflicting reports.
There are some stories that believe that the quarterfinals and semi-finals will go ahead as planned over two legs in July and August, while some outlets believe that these fixtures could be one-legged affairs, with the winners going through after playing at a neutral stadium. One idea that has also been muted is that the semi-finals and final are both played in the same week in Istanbul. That would limit the travel that teams need to do, which would be ideal for the precaution measures that are in place at present.
An official announcement regarding the latter stages of the competition could be made as early as the 23rd April, as Uefa meet again on that date.
What about the Europa league?
The secondary competition in Europe is in precisely the same position as the Champions League. It is likely that the same fate awaits that Europa League, with the same-city knockout format, also being spoken about. If that format would go ahead, then the Europa League final would be held three days before the Champions League final in Gdansk, with semi-finals played in the same city.
Could the champions league be cancelled altogether?
There is a serious chance that this season’s Champions League and Europa League competitions could both be cancelled altogether. Should there be no clear date on when the competitions could safely resume, then, Uefa’s only possible decision would be to cancel both competitions.
Still, Uefa have constantly reiterated that cancelling the world’s most popular football competitions would be the worst possible scenario.
Credit: Source link