2019/20 Champions League knockout rounds reduced to a single one-off match

From the last eight onwards the tournament will be played to its conclusion in Lisbon, with no two-leg arrangement

3:12pm on Wednesday 17th June 2020
By Martin Macdonald

Uefa have confirmed that the remaining Champions League matches of the 2019/20 season will be played over just one leg, from the quarter-final stage onwards.

The competition has been postponed since March due to the pandemic, with the final originally scheduled to take place on 30 May in Istanbul.

After a handful of Round of 16 second leg matches (which are still to be played) are finished, the closing stages of the Champions League will take place over a period of 11 days in Lisbon, with teams competing in the quarter-finals, the semi-finals, and the final in two neutral venues - the Estadio do Sport Lisboa e Benfica and the Estadio Jose Alvalade.

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“I am delighted that we are able to resume almost all of our competitions,” Uefa president Aleksander Ceferin said in a statement.

“I am confident that we will not have to endure the fans’ absence for long and that they will be allowed into stadiums sooner rather than later.

“Uefa took a bold decision when it decided to postpone EURO 2020. But in doing so, we created the space which has allowed domestic club competitions across the continent to resume, where possible, and play to a conclusion.

"While the game has suffered huge difficulties as a result of the pandemic, those blows would have landed much harder if we had not shown leadership in those early days.

“The football community has worked together and shown tremendous unity during this unprecedented crisis.

“I would like to thank Fifa, our sister confederations, national associations, clubs, leagues, players and the relevant authorities for their continuous support and commitment and I am convinced that we come out of this crisis stronger and with closer links than ever before.”

With the qualifiers for the 2020/21 Champions League set to take place soon, also, Uefa have made the decision to make each of these ties one-legged fixtures up until the play-off stage.

UEFA Champions League 2020/21

Preliminary round: 8 and 11 August

First qualifying round: 18/19 August

Second qualifying round: 25/26 August

Third qualifying round: 15/16 September

Play-offs: 22/23 and 29/30 September

Group stage: 20/21 and 27/28 October, 3/4 and 24/25 November, 1/2 and 8/9 December

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