The 2019-20 UEFA Champions League season will wrap up with a two-week reduced end to the competition in August, UEFA announced on Wednesday. The final three rounds for Europe's biggest club soccer prize will all take place in Lisbon, with eight quarterfinalists competing for the crown in the Portuguese capital.
The Champions League, like all major soccer competitions, came to a halt in mid-March due to the coronavirus pandemic. UEFA wanted to give domestic seasons a chance to finish before resuming UCL play and had been targeting an August return.
The quarterfinals and semifinals will both be condensed to one leg in an effort to finish the season in a more timely manner. Here's the schedule with games expected to be completed behind closed doors:
- Round of 16 second legs: Aug. 7-8 (venues TBD)
- Champions League draw: Mid-July in Nyon, Switzerland
- Quarterfinal round: Aug. 12-15 in Lisbon
- Semifinal round: Tuesday, Aug. 18 and Wednesday, Aug. 19 in Lisbon
- Champions League final: Sunday, Aug. 23 in Lisbon
Four round of 16 second legs still need to be completed, and whether those games take place at home venues or in Lisbon will be decided soon, according to UEFA. Four teams have already punched their tickets to the UCL quarterfinals: Paris Saint-Germain, RB Leipzig, Atalanta and Atletico Madrid. Atletico Madrid knocked out defending champion Liverpool shortly before the shutdown.
The Europa League will have a similar finish to its season with games being played in four German cities between Aug. 10-21.
Istanbul was originally set to host the 2020 Champions League final on May 30. The Turkish city will instead host the 2021 final. Here are the hosts for the next five Champions League finals:
2020: Estadio da Luz, Lisbon, Portugal
2021: Ataturk Olympic Stadium, Istanbul, Turkey
2022: Saint Petersburg Stadium, St Petersburg, Russia
2023: Football Arena Munich, Munich, Germany
2024: Wembley Stadium, London, England
Major domestic soccer competitions have returned in recent weeks. The Bundesliga resumed play in Germany last month, and soccer returned in both Spain and Italy last week. The Premier League is set to return on Wednesday and has a full slate of games on the calendar for this weekend. France's Ligue 1, meanwhile, was the only major competition to cancel the remainder of its season.
