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UEFA suspends all club, international matches 'until further notice'

Harold Cunningham - UEFA / UEFA / Getty

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UEFA announced Wednesday that all Champions League and Europa League matches will remain suspended "until further notice" due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The European football governing body also postponed Euro 2020 playoffs indefinitely after recently pushing the main event to 2021.

The decision to postpone all matches was made during Wednesday's meeting between UEFA and general secretaries of all 55 member associations.

Amid the uncertainty over when play will resume, The Guardian's Paul MacInnes reported Wednesday that UEFA is considering having the Champions League and Europa League seasons finish in July and August.

Four matches remain in the Champions League last 16, including Manchester City's second-leg clash with Real Madrid at the Etihad Stadium and Chelsea's visit to the Allianz Arena to face Bayern Munich. Meanwhile, there are eight games left to play in the Europa League round of 16.

Before being postponed, the finals for both competitions had originally been scheduled for May.

In total, there are 38 combined matches left in the two competitions. Some of the games could potentially be played on dates originally reserved for the Euro 2020 qualifying playoffs, MacInnes reports.

However, some of those dates could also be considered by domestic leagues such as the Premier League, which has postponed play until at least April 30.

UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin previously warned that this season could be "lost" if competitive action does not resume by the end of June.

"Nobody knows when the pandemic will end," he said in an interview with La Repubblica, according to ESPN FC's Mark Ogden. "We have a Plan A, B, or C - to restart in mid-May, in June, or at the end of June. If then we wouldn't be able to do any of these, the season would probably be lost.

"There is also the possibility of ending this season at the start of the next, which would then be postponed, starting a little later."

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