European Football governing body, UEFA, has announced new dates for two of its flagship club competitions, the Champions League and Europa League.
This confirmation was made Wednesday afternoon by its Executive Committee after a video conference meeting in Switzerland.
According to a statement by UEFA, the Champions League will be played as a straight knockout competition from the last right between August 12 to 23, while the remaining Round of 16 second-leg matches are scheduled for 7/8 August.
For the Europa League, matches from the Quarter-finals through to the final will also be played as a final eight straight knock-out tournament between 10 August to 21, with the remaining round of 16 clashes slated for August 5 and 6.
Speaking on the development, UEFA President, Aleksander Čeferin said;
“I am delighted that we are able to resume almost all of our competitions, ” he said. “I am confident that we will not have to endure the fans’ absence for long and that they will be allowed into stadiums sooner rather than later.”
“I am delighted that we found solutions to stage the final rounds of all those competitions. We are firm believers of their (the competitions) importance and significance of the overall growth and development of the game.”
UEFA also confirmed that teams will be allowed to make five substitutions in all the remaining matches in season 2019/20, “in accordance with the temporary change to the Laws of the Game”, but will revert back to three for the 2020/21 campaign.
UEFA also added that all the Champions and Europa League matches will be played behind closed doors, with the Champions League tournament-style competition set to be played at the Estádio do Sport Lisboa e Benfica and the Estádio José Alvalade in Lisbon, while the Europa League will be hosted in the following German cities, Cologne, Duisburg, Düsseldorf and Gelsenkirchen.
