Euro 2020, Copa America Have Both Been Officially Pushed Back to 2021 Due to Coronavirus.
Both the European Championships and the Copa America set for this summer have been postponed because of the coronavirus pandemic, it was announced Tuesday.
News that the Euro 2020 tournament, which was set to take place between 24 teams in 12 different European countries, had been postponed was announced by the Norwegian and Swedish Football Associations. It was expected to be confirmed by Uefa, European football’s governing body, later on Tuesday afternoon (Central European Standard Time).
The Copa America, set for Argentina and Colombia in the summer, was confirmed to be cancelled by Conmebol, South American football’s governing body, in a statement.
Both tournaments, which had been set to run from June 11-July 11, are expected to be moved to the summer of 2021, with new dates to be confirmed.
This sucks. The Euros are something I was actually really looking forward to this summer. Copa America I can take or leave, I'm not really into the South American style of soccer, you know, graceful and elegant. It's like art for those countries. Not to mention the uptick in fake injuries is through the roof. I get that everyone kind of milks their injuries in soccer, but the South Americans are on another level. I'm more a fan of the physical style of play in Europe. The only thing bigger than the Euros - in terms of international play- is the World Cup.
Obviously, it's the right choice considering Coronavirus is running rampant in the streets at the moment. Everything is shutting down across the globe, including many soccer leagues, so this was just kind of the next domino to fall. Both competitions were scheduled to take place over several countries as well. Euro 2020 was to be played in 12 different host countries (England, Germany, Italy, Azerbaijan, Russia, Romania, Holland, Ireland, Spain, Hungary, Denmark, and Scotland), pretty much everywhere in Europe. Given how hard COVID-19 has hit countries like Italy, it's the only choice UEFA could've made. Copa America was only gonna be in 2 cities (Argentina and Colombia) but it's still too much to risk. Better to get ahead of it and reschedule before it's too late.
Next summer is gonna be very interesting considering that both competitions influence who's in the Confederations Cup. I guess they just kind of cancel that? It's not that big of a deal anyways. It was just a nice little tease before a world cup year. Now we'll get a Euro year into a World Cup year. That's gonna be fun as fuck but this summer is gonna lack soccer which suuuuuucks.
Hopefully, we aren't locked away forever and we can get back to a little normality.
sidenote- I'm on like day 4 of being home all day and I will admit, I don't hate it. The inner monologue is starting to get a little weird but nothing I haven't experienced before. I have started up a couple of FIFA career modes (manager and player) and I've just been ripping it. Might actually be the best virtual striker this world has ever seen.