The Copa America due to kick off in June in
Argentina and Colombia was on Tuesday postponed by a year to 2021
because of the coronavirus pandemic, organisers CONMEBOL said.

The announcement came shortly after Uefa’s decision to also push back the 2020 European Championship by 12 months.

Sport
and football all over the world has come to a grinding halt due to the
coronavirus outbreak with the Champions League, Copa Libertadores and
almost all national football leagues suspended.

Other sports like tennis, golf, rugby and Formula One have also either delayed or cancelled a host of events and competitions.

According
to the latest figures more than 180 000 people worldwide have been
affected by the coronavirus outbreak with 7 400 people dying from the
COVID-19 disease.

The Euro 2020 soccer Championship, trumpeted as a continent-wide
feast of football to mark the 60th anniversary of Uefa’s flagship
tournament, was postponed for a year on Tuesday as the coronavirus
pandemic claimed its biggest sporting casualty yet.

The fate of
the 24-nation, month-long showpiece due to start in June, had hung in
the balance ever since Europe’s domestic leagues shut down in the wake
of the sweeping health crisis, which has killed around 7 500 people
worldwide.

The postponement of football’s Euro 2020 Championship may already have been decided after Uefa cancelled its hotel bookings for one of the host cities, Copenhagen, Reuters learned from the hotels on Tuesday.

Uefa is expected to postpone Euro 2020 by up to a year on Tuesday, as European football’s governing body considers its response to the fallout of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

All
of Europe’s leading domestic leagues ground to a halt last week with
football confronting its biggest issue in modern times, and the fate of
Uefa’s Champions League and Europa League competitions must also be
determined.

Liverpool could have been crowned Premier League champions on Monday for the first time in a generation at the home of local rivals Everton. Instead, the stadium will be silent.

Jurgen
Klopp’s team would have needed Manchester City to lose to Burnley on
Saturday to have given them a chance to seal the deal at Goodison Park.

Regardless
of whether it would have happened on Monday or over the coming weeks,
Liverpool’s first top-flight title for 30 years was a mere formality.

But now fans are wondering when, or even if, they will be crowned champions after the coronavirus laid waste to the global sporting calendar.

Manchester United’s January recruit Bruno Fernandes beat the likes of Marcos Alonso and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang to be named the Premier League’s player of the month for February after an exceptional first month with Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side.

Most Chinese Super League (CSL) clubs fled abroad when the deadly coronavirus hit the country but they are now rushing back again as it takes hold elsewhere.

The national side
is still training in Dubai – where many CSL teams also went in recent
weeks – but they too are now making hasty arrangements to get home as
soon as possible.

Wuhan Zall, from the city at the epicentre of the outbreak, had been training in Spain since late January but left at the weekend because of the worsening situation in Europe, now the focal point of the pandemic.

Wuhan will reportedly continue their chaotic pre-season preparations in Shenzhen. Wuhan itself is still in lockdown, despite virus numbers in China reducing.

The English Premier League suspended all fixtures until 4 April on Friday after a spate of coronavirus cases, including Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta and Chelsea winger Callum Hudson-Odoi.

“Following a meeting of shareholders today, it was
unanimously decided to suspend the Premier League with the intention of
returning on 4 April, subject to medical advice and conditions at the
time,” the Premier League said in a statement.

Chelsea’s players and coaching staff were ordered into isolation as Callum Hudson-Odoi became the first Premier League player confirmed to have the new coronavirus late on Thursday.

Probable Lineups

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