Proposed new dates for tournament are June 11 to July 11 2021 as UEFA gives priority to completing domestic competitions.
UEFA has this afternoon (March 17) confirmed that EURO 2020 will be postponed for 12 months.
An official statement from the body said that the health of all those involved in the game is the priority, as well as avoiding placing any unnecessary pressure on national public services involved in staging matches.
The move will also help all domestic competitions, which are currently on hold due to the COVID-19 emergency, to be completed.
All UEFA competitions and matches (including friendlies) for clubs and national teams for both men and women have been put on hold until further notice. The UEFA EURO 2020 play-off matches and international friendlies, scheduled for the end of March, will now be played in the international window at the start of June, subject to a review of the situation.
A working group has also been set up to examine possibilities for this season’s UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League competitions.
“It was important that, as the governing body of European football, UEFA led the process and made the biggest sacrifice,” said Aleksander Čeferin, president of UEFA. “Moving EURO 2020 comes at a huge cost for UEFA but we will do our best to ensure that the vital funding for grassroots, women’s football and the development of the game in our 55 countries is not affected. Purpose over profit has been our guiding principle in taking this decision for the good of European football as a whole.
“Football is an uplifting and powerful force in society. The thought of celebrating a pan-European festival of football in empty stadia, with deserted fan zones while the continent sits at home in isolation, is a joyless one and one we could not accept to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the competition.”
UEFA EURO 2020 was scheduled to take place in 12 cities across Europe from June 12 to July 12. The proposed new dates are June 11 to July 11, 2021.
IMG is the exclusive master licensee for UEFA EURO 2020 and other major UEFA tournaments through 2022.
Want to read more news like this? Simply sign up to our daily digest by clicking here. You can also follow @LicensingSource on Twitter and @licensing_source on Instagram.
