Reds play active role in European calendar debates
UNITED will ‘continue to play an active role’ in discussions about the possible resumption of the European football calendar amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Uefa have announced the European Championship has been pushed back by a year to 2021 in an attempt to complete the current club season.
Some of the major European leagues have suspended their campaigns until April 3, while Ligue 1 in France has been suspended for an indefinite period. It already appears unlikely the Premier League will resume in just over two weeks’ time, when United are due to travel to Brighton.
The Reds are 5-0 up halfway through their Europa League round-of-16 first leg with LASK Linz and have held talks with Uefa and the European Club Association following confirmation Euro 2020 has become Euro 2021.
In a statement, United said: “We note the decision to postpone Uefa Euro 2020 to hopefully allow domestic and European competitions to come to a conclusion as a priority. Clearly coronavirus has created an unprecedented set of circumstances and the health and well-being of fans, players and staff has to come first.
“We will continue to play an active role in discussions through Uefa, the ECA and the Premier League and we will monitor developments closely.”
In an earlier statement, Uefa said: “All Uefa competitions and matches (including friendlies) for clubs and national teams for both men and women have been put on hold until further notice.
“The Uefa EURO 2020 play-off matches and international friendlies, scheduled for the end of March, will now be played in the international window at the start of June, subject to a review.
“A working group has been set up with the participation of leagues and club representatives to examine calendar solutions that would allow for the completion of the current season and any other consequence of the decisions made today.”
The new dates proposed for Euro 2021 are June 11 to July 11 and the move appears to have met with the approval of national associations across the continent.
The Euro 2020 play-offs due to be played this month would now take place in the June international window, but did not fix new dates for the Champions League and Europa League finals, or confirm whether the Women’s Euro, due to take place in the summer of 2021, would now be moved.
UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin admitted the postponement came at ‘huge cost’ to the governing body but that ploughing ahead potentially behind closed doors - was not something UEFA had wanted to consider.
“There was a real spirit of co-operation, with everyone recognising that they had to sacrifice something in order to achieve the best result,” he said. “It was important that, as the governing body of European football, UEFA led the process and made the biggest sacrifice. Moving EURO 2020 comes at a huge cost but we will do our best to ensure that the vital funding for grass roots, women’s football and the development of the game in our 55 countries is not affected.”
We will continue to play an active role in discussions through UEFA, the ECA and Premier League United