UEFA coronavirus meeting LIVE: Emergency discussions to SAVE football season

UEFA coronavirus meeting LIVE

• Football’s decision-makers are meeting to discuss how to deal with the fallout from the coronavirus

• Euro 2020, Champions League and Europa League will all be discussed by video conference

• Football across Europe has come to a grounding halt because of the coronavirus pandemic

• Euro 2020 will almost certainly be postponed until the summer of 2021

Twitter reaction

Aidan: If the Premier League was ‘handed’ to Liverpool without playing their remaining games that would mean then that the bottom three teams should be automatically relegated which would be unfair as all could mathematically avoid the drop. Therefore: Make this season void.

Wes: If the fixtures cannot be completed then this season’s Premier League should be void. They could award Liverpool with a trophy as recognition of their brilliant efforts, maybe a shield or something.They could call it the Victory and Recognition Shield, or the VAR shield for short.

James: Finishing off this season, whenever it’s safe to do so, is much more important than starting next season on time.

First meeting – done

UEFA’s first conference call has now taken place with European Club Association, European Leagues and FIFPro. They represent clubs including Manchester United, Celtic and Juventus.

The second call due with all 55 associations will begin shortly.

A lawyer’s advice

Leading sports lawyer Richard Cramer had advised the Premier League to think the unthinkable.

“If anyone thinks a magic wand is going to be waved and by April 3 everything is back to sort of normality I think that is unrealistic,” said Cramer, of Front Row Legal.

“Everyone will try to play all the matches to preserve the integrity of the league but the nearest precedent is what happened in the World Wars when the competition was abandoned.

“Ultimately the decision will probably rest with the Premier League’s Board of Directors. These guys have a wealth of experience but this is unprecedented.

“There is nothing in the rulebook about this. Nothing to say that after three-quarters of a season the positions would stand. Nothing like that.

“It may well be that they give Liverpool the title but – and Leeds United supporters might want to lynch me for saying this – expunge everything else from the records and start all over again in 2020/21.

“When you draw your terms and conditions up or take your insurance out I don’t think you plan for something of this nature. There are going to be disputes and, horrible though it is to say, there is so much litigation which is going to be flying around because of this.”

Domestic plans

So… what on earth is going to happen about the domestic season? We’re very unlikely to receive a decision on the Premier League and EFL in today’s UEFA meeting but top-flight clubs will hold a crunch meeting on Thursday to discuss the future of the season.

Our reporter Neil Squires can tell us a little more about that.

Football should prepare to go on a war footing as it attempts to deal with the coronavirus outbreak – and that could mean abandoning the season.

After initially announcing a halt to fixtures until April 3, Premier League clubs are thought to be edging towards cutting their losses rather than extending the season after being advised that crowd restrictions may not be lifted until the end of July.

There will be huge pressure on the Premier League to award Liverpool the title this season even if it cannot be finished after their dominance of the campaign but the issue of promotion and relegation is much less clearcut.

European proposal

Anyone for a mini-tournament? Well that’s apparently up for discussion today. With the Champions League and Europa League tournaments at the last-16 stage – UEFA are considering the possibility of condensing the remaining games.

The idea is to play the quarter-finals and semi-finals as one-off games over a few days. The fixtures would take place in host cities Istanbul and Gdansk behind closed doors.

Cancelled…

Just about every sport and occasion has been suspended or cancelled altogether because of the Coronavirus pandemic. Yesterday, The Grand National was scrapped after Prime Minister Boris Johnson advised against mass gatherings in the UK.

Rugby, Formula 1, Premier League Darts, Tennis, Athletics have all been delayed. The IOC will also be meeting today to discuss the Olympic Games in Tokyo.

Good morning…

Hello everyone, I hope you’re feeling well on this strange Tuesday morning.

As you know, football across Europe has come to a grinding halt because of the coronavirus outbreak and UEFA’s top powerbrokers are meeting to discuss the next steps.

UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin has gathered just about everyone to attend meetings via video conference to discuss domestic, European competitions, and the future of Euro 2020.

You don’t need a crystal ball to know that Euro 2020 is highly unlikely to take place while the world is on lock-down, but a decision on whether it is postponed will be made official in the coming hours.

Hopefully we’ll have some answers for you.