The European football competition, which was scheduled to take place from 12 June to 12 July 2020 in twelve EU countries, is likely to pay the price of the coronavirus epidemic.
(Very) bad news for football fans. Faced with the coronavirus pandemic, the European Football Union (UEFA) proposed on Tuesday 17th March 2020 the postponement to summer 2021 of Euro 2020, initially planned in twelve countries in June-July this year, we learned from a source close to the body.
It would be a historic postponement in the 60 years of the tournament’s existence.
This proposal presented Tuesday morning at a meeting with clubs and professional leagues has yet to be formally adopted by the Executive Committee of the European Confederation, meeting in the afternoon.
On its Twitter account, the Norwegian Football Federation has anticipated by ensuring that the tournament will take place from June 11th to July 11th, 2021.
UEFA har bestemt at EM utsettes til 2021. Det skal spilles fra 11. juni til 11. juli neste år. Mer informasjon kommer.
— NorgesFotballforbund (@nff_info) March 17, 2020
Champions League suspended
This postponement of a year should allow the Champions League, the Europa League and the national club championships, suspended in the face of the spread of the disease, to come to an end by taking advantage of the dates thus released.
UEFA made this unprecedented proposal during a day of crisis meetings with European football players, organized by videoconference.
The situation was all the more complicated since the Euro, for the first time, was to be organized this summer in twelve countries (June 12-July 12), with an opening match scheduled in Rome, Italy, one of the countries most affected by the pandemic.
UEFA har bestemt at EM utsettes til 2021. Det skal spilles fra 11. juni til 11. juli neste år. Mer informasjon kommer.
— NorgesFotballforbund (@nff_info) March 17, 2020
With this postponement proposal, UEFA rules out the option of a Euro behind closed doors or of a cancellation, which would have deprived the European confederation of a significant windfall of television rights.
Brainteaser in sight
In 2016, the Euro had generated more than a billion euros in TV rights, according to the European confederation, and a total turnover of 1.92 billion euros.
For comparison, the postponement of the Euro would cost around 300 million euros, according to a marketing specialist interviewed by AFP.
A postponement to next year, desired by the major European championships, nevertheless risks leading to a puzzle in an already overloaded international calendar: the Euro risks telescoping in the summer of 2021 with the Club World Cup programmed in China by Fifa, which expects significant revenues.
A global health crisis, the new coronavirus has killed at least 7,063 people on the planet since its appearance in December, according to an assessment established by AFP from official sources Tuesday at 9 a.m.
