UEFA

AMSTERDAM — Ajax Amsterdam technical director Marc Overmars on Wednesday expressed astonishment at plans to try to complete the Dutch league season and compared the country’s football association and UEFA to Donald Trump.

His irritated reaction came after the Dutch football association (KNVB) issued a statement saying it would follow UEFA’s direction to attempt to finish the season suspended due to the coronavirus outbreak by Aug. 3.

The 2019-20 edition of LaLiga was proving to be one of the best yet. After Matchday 27, two points separated league-leader Barcelona and Real Madrid. Meanwhile, the race for Champions League spots was hotly contested as five points were the difference between third-place Sevilla and seventh-place Valencia. Fans of the league are begging for the return of competition and ask: When will La Liga resume?

UEFA indefinitely suspended the Champions League, Europa League and Euro 2020 qualifying playoffs on Wednesday in response to the coronavirus pandemic.

UEFA posted on its website that "all national team matches for men and women due to be played in June 2020 are postponed until further notice. This includes the playoff matches for UEFA EURO 2020 and qualifying matches for UEFA Women's EURO 2021."

ROME — The head of European soccer's governing body said that the current season could be "lost" if it is unable to re-start by the end of June, although he did not rule out extending it into the next season.

UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin told the Italian newspaper La Repubblica that there were a number of options for concluding the season, which has been brought to a halt around Europe by the coronavirus pandemic.

This season's Champions League, Europa League and women's Champions League finals scheduled for May have been formally postponed because of the coronavirus pandemic, European soccer's governing body UEFA said on Tuesday.

All three competitions are currently suspended along with almost every European domestic league because of the coronavirus while UEFA last week postponed the Euro 2020 tournament until next year. 

The cancellation of major sporting events and the decimation of the luxury, entertainment and travel industries is delivering a hammer blow to a global advertising industry that was already reeling from years of tech-led turmoil.

UEFA will hold a video conference meeting of all 55 football federations in Europe plus representatives of clubs, leagues and players to discuss the impact of the coronavirus on all football in the region including Euro 2020, it said Thursday. 

UEFA has so far declined to discuss whether Euro 2020, which will be held in 12 different countries around Europe between June 12 and July 12, will be postponed or venues altered. 

UEFA said the meeting would be held next Tuesday and that "discussions will include all domestic and European competitions, including UEFA EURO 2020". 

France and Croatia face a rematch of the World Cup final after being drawn together in their Nations League group for the second edition of the UEFA tournament. The pair are in Group 3 in League A, along with defending champion Portugal and Sweden.

England face a fresh encounter with Iceland, which eliminated it from Euro 2016, in Group 2, which also features Belgium and Denmark.

Germany has a tough task in Group 4 where it faces Spain, Switzerland and Ukraine.