UEFA could reportedly make drastic changes to the Champions League and Europa League format this season amid the coronavirus outbreak crisis.
The European football governing body announced that next week’s fixtures in both competitions were postponed as domestic leagues across Europe all grind to a halt.
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It has led to major questions over when and how the competitions will be completed, and further, who will qualify for next season’s edition if domestic campaigns aren’t conclusive.
To add further complications, it’s not even clear at this stage as to who will advance to the quarter-finals given that there are ties left to be played, while if the domestic leagues call for a busy schedule in the coming months to complete seasons, it raises the question as to when these games can be fitted in.
As reported by the Mirror, one of the options that UEFA could look at next Tuesday when they meet is to reduce quarter-final and semi-final ties to being played over one leg.
It’s added those games could be played on neutral grounds or on a coin toss, while the dates for the finals on May 30 in Istanbul for the Champions League and the Europa League final in Gdansk on May 27 will still be the aim for the conclusion of the two competitions.
Much will also depend on their decision on EURO 2020, as if that was to be postponed or perhaps even cancelled altogether this summer, that could give much-needed flexibility in the calendar to allow all these competitions to finish fairly but much later than initially planned.
Naturally, all this is dependant on the coronavirus not causing further problems in the weeks ahead with more cases being reported within squads.