By Oyinlola Awonuga (The New Diplomat’s Entertainment, Style and Sports Desk)
Europe’s football governing body, UEFA, is working on plans that would see the Champions League final end the 2019-20 season on 29 August. UEFA is scheduled to meet on 23 April for more elaborate discussions about how to complete the campaign which has been disrupted by coronavirus outbreak.
Sources say it is likely that a decision will emerge from the meeting with parties agreeing that leagues should be rounded up in good time. Such a decision is however subject to UEFA’s approval.
But the reigning idea is to finish the season as a whole at the end of August, with all outstanding games successfully played. That would mean the Champions League final taking place in Istanbul on 29 August, with the Europa League final in Gdansk three days earlier.
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Two scenarios that could lead to that situation are currently under consideration. The first is to play the quarter-finals and semi-finals as two-legged matches as normal, in July and August. The second would be for the games to be played as one-off fixtures after the end of the domestic seasons, potentially condensing the end of the competition into a week-long mini- tournament.
Four of the eight Champions League quarter-finalists are already known, with Manchester City’s high-profile encounter with Real Madrid as one of the ties still waiting to be concluded. In the Europa League, scheduling is more complicated because all eight last-16 second-leg ties are still to be played, with two matches, involving Spanish and Italian teams, yet to play their first legs.
It would be recalled that authorities and the World Health Organisation(WHO)in an attempt to reduce the spread of the coronavirus, sporting activities have been temporarily put on hold.
