Borussia Dortmund's Jason Sancho and Giovanni Reyna, right, react after Paris Saint Germain's victory at the end of the Champions League round of 16 second leg soccer match between PSG and Borussia Dortmund, Wednesday March 11, 2020 in Paris. The match is being played in an empty stadium because of the coronavirus outbreak.
Borussia Dortmund's Jason Sancho and Giovanni Reyna, right, react after Paris Saint Germain's victory at the end of the Champions League round of 16 second leg soccer match between PSG and Borussia Dortmund, Wednesday March 11, 2020 in Paris. The match is being played in an empty stadium because of the coronavirus outbreak. UEFA via Associated Press

UEFA suspends all play starting next week, with tournaments set to pick up in future

UEFA has suspended play in all of its club competitions, including the Champions League, Europa League, and Youth League, starting next week.

The Champions League has been whittled down to half of its quarterfinal participants, while the Europa League has seen six of the eight round of 16 ties complete the first leg.

The statement from UEFA reads:

In the light of developments due to the spread of COVID-19 in Europe and related decisions made by different governments, all UEFA club competitions matches scheduled next week are postponed.

This includes the remaining UEFA Champions League, Round of 16 second leg matches scheduled on 17 and 18 March 2020; all UEFA Europa League, Round of 16 second leg matches scheduled on 19 March 2020; all UEFA Youth League, quarter-final matches scheduled on 17 and 18 March 2020.

Further decisions on when these matches take place will be communicated in due course.

As a consequence of the postponements, the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League quarter-final draws scheduled for 20 March have also been postponed.

UEFA yesterday invited representatives of its 55 member associations, together with the boards of the European Club Association and the European Leagues and a representative of FIFPro, to a videoconference meeting on Tuesday 17 March to discuss European football’s response to the outbreak.

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