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Manchester Evening News
Manchester Evening News
Sport
Josh Challies

UEFA president 'won't set exact dates' for when season must be completed

UEFA says that it is "analysing all options" to complete the domestic and European football seasons.

Football across the continent is currently suspended indefinitely due to the coronavirus pandemic and the European Championship has been postponed until 2021, allowing for domestic leagues across Europe to be stretched into the summer months.

UEFA had previously called for the domestic leagues to be completed by June 30 but, with the spread of the virus continuing, have removed that date and have postponed both the Champions League and Europa League indefinitely, with the priority being the leagues.

Reports earlier on Sunday suggested that UEFA President Aleksander Čeferin had claimed that he wanted both UEFA competitions to be concluded by August 3 - suggesting that the Premier League may have a similar deadline to be completed. But UEFA have now denied that the claim was made.

In a statement UEFA said: “It has been reported that UEFA President, Aleksander Čeferin told ZDF in Germany that the UEFA Champions League must finish by 3 August. This is not true. The President was very clear not to set exact dates for the end of the season.

"UEFA is currently analysing all options to complete domestic and European seasons with the European Club Association and the European Leagues in the working group set up on 17 March. The primary priority of all the members of the working group is to preserve public health.

"Following on from that, it is to find calendar solutions to complete all competitions. Options are currently being studied to play matches in July and in August if needed, depending on restart dates and the permission of national authorities.”

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