THE sports world is facing a major lockdown because of the coronavirus pandemic. Dozens of sports events around the world have been cancelled in the last two months with a string of related announcements made over the last few days. One of the key announcements on Tuesday centered around the hosting of the 2020 Euro Championship which was to be hosted across 12 countries from June 12 to July 12. European football governing body UEFA three days ago postponed its showpiece event to 2021. Normally a single host country would stage the event but the 2020 edition of Euro Championship was scheduled across a dozen countries with the final slated to be held at the iconic Wembley Stadium.
UEFA wasted little time in deciding to postpone the championship to next year, thus allowing some more time to clubs in Europe to resume action and wrap the regular season if it stretches to June or even July. With football leagues across the world suspended because of the virus, which first surfaced in China in December last year, the postponement of Euro 2020 must be a relief to the countries that host the money-making club matches every season. A couple of hours after UEFA announced its decision to postpone the Euro 2020, Copa America organisers CONMEBOL said the 12-team will now be held in 2021.The June 12-July 12 tournament - in which Asian champions Qatar and Australia are two of the invited teams - will be held in Argentina and Columbia next year. Other key footballs events to be suspended include UEFA Champions League, AFC Champions League and Copa Libertadores.
Almost all national football leagues - including QNB Stars League in Qatar - are also suspended at the moment. “This has hit us hard though we were really excited about staging it,” Colombia’s Sports Minister Ernesto Lucena said while announcing the postponement of 2020 Copa America. “It’s an extraordinary measure due to an unexpected situation, and therefore responds to the fundamental need to avoid an exponential evolution of the virus,” added South American football governing body CONMEBOL. Also last week, Pakistan Cricket Board suspended its hugely popular T20 series Pakistan Super League while The world’s richest league Indian Premier League (IPL) has also been pushed to April. Formula One, Tennis, Golf, Rugby and Basketball authorities also postponed top events in a gesture to show “health comes before competition”. Nobody would have predicted this three months ago but for everyone’s safety, it is time to take a break.
