UEFA announced on Wednesday that the Europa League, Champions League, and Euro 2020 qualifying play-offs round have all been suspended indefinitely due to the coronavirus pandemic.
According to ESPN, the Euro 2020 qualifying play-offs and international friendlies that were previously planning to organize in June have been postponed in an attempt to clear the calendar for domestic leagues to potentially resume during that time after the coronavirus pandemic.
The European Championships, which had been planned to take place this summer, were previously postponed until summer of 2021, while the Champions League and Europa League remain suspended in the round of 16 teams.
According to ESPN, UEFA President Aleksander Ceferin said over the weekend that the season could be ended if play can not resume by the end of June.
The major issue prevent the resume of the Champions League and Europa League is that player contracts are about to expire on June 30. Because of that, UEFA had a strong desire to complete competitions before that date. Given the nature of the COVID-19 outbreak, that may be impossible.
In order to cater the UEFA and potentially make it possible to finish the Champions League and Europa League at a later date, FIFA is working on a plan that would extend player contracts possibly until the end of the season rather than the fixed date of June 30, according to ESPN.
Before the Champions League was officially suspended, 4 clubs including Paris Saint-Germain, RB Leipzig, Atletico Madrid,and Atalanta had all qualified for the quarter-finals.
There are still four round-of-16 with second teams left to be complete between: Juventus vs. Lyon, Bayern Munich vs. Chelsea, Manchester City vs. Real Madrid, and FC Barcelona vs. Napoli.
If the UEFA Champions League does not resume soon, it will be the first time since the European Cup was created in 1955-56 that a champion is not found.