The World Health Organization last week declared COVID-19 as a pandemic, as the outbreak has taken over 8,000 lives globally, at the time of writing. As the world scrambles to get to grips with the coronavirus outbreak, global sporting events, too, have taken a major hit. 

 

The global confirmed cases are close to a lakh, with a huge number of people under quarantine. During these times of distress, football all around the world has been affected as well. Let’s take a look at the major tournaments that have been affected. 

 

Euro 2020, the heavily-awaited tournament that was set to be played from June 12, has now been pushed by a year and will start on June 11, 2021. The venues, 12 cities across Europe, haven’t been changed as venues. The semi-final and the finals are set to be played at the Wembley Stadium in London. Portugal are the defending champions, having defeated France 1-0 in the final in 2016. 

The 2020 Copa America, South America’s regional international competition, has been postponed until the summer of 2021, CONMEBOL announced. In the last edition, Brazil defeated Peru in the final. The 2020 edition was set to be held in Argentina and Colombia, marking the first time the tournament featured multiple host nations since 1983.

 

The Champions League was playing its Round of 16 legs when the outbreak stopped the flow of games. UEFA is yet to make a decision, but a lot of reports have suggested that the final could be postponed to the end of June. It remains to be seen when normal play resumes, as most leagues have been postponed till the first week of April. 

Most official footballing activities have been stopped by FIFA and UEFA, and international games, too, have been postponed. I-league games here in India have been postponed. The ISL final was played behind closed doors. There’s no other footballing activity on in the country. 

 

Here’s a list of the other tournaments that have been affected by the outbreak of the pandemic: 

  • Swiss Super League postpones weekend fixtures after government bans large public events
  • The start of the Chinese Super League has been postponed
  • China’s women’s national football team was held in quarantine after Olympic qualifying matches were moved from China to Australia
  • South Korea’s professional soccer league has postponed the start of its new season
  • Japan’s J.League postponed seven Levian Cup matches in February and all domestic games through early March

 

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