That's exciting - I was worried it was going to get canceled.

I didn't think they would be cancelled, due to the winner qualifying for next years UCL. What's interesting is that the 20-21 UCL season actually begins August 8 with the preliminary rounds. So there will be 2 UCL seasons happening at once!

young eugene said:

---

I didn't think they would be cancelled, due to the winner qualifying for next years UCL. What's interesting is that the 20-21 UCL season actually begins August 8 with the preliminary rounds. So there will be 2 UCL seasons happening at once!

---

There's still a lot to sort out with that Aug 8 start. Good chance some of the countries involved won't be allowing matches and/or travel by that date.

For the 2020 final mini-tourney, UEFA will be announcing in mid-July whether the remaining round of 16 games happen at the home sites or in Lisbon (again, travel restrictions may come in to play). Also, they'll announce whether fans will be allowed (not likely, but still on the table).

I'm also curious about other factors - biggest one being transfers/contracts. Even after delays, all the leagues involved will have started their transfer windows before Aug 7 when games resume. Will UEFA allow teams to add players to their roster (like they currently allow teams to register up to 3 new players in Feb following the winter transfer window)? It's plausible that players could transfer between teams that are still in the competition (e.g. Timo Werner to Chelsea). Shoot it's even possible that players could theoretically transfer between two teams in the same Round of 16 match. Odd circumstances and I think it's something UEFA has to address.

Another very interesting factor is time off from games, and not much can be helped here:

Ligue Un teams will have not played a match in 5 months by the restart.
Bundesliga ends on June 27 (Bayern have the DFB Cup finals on July 4).
La Liga ends July 19.
Premier League ends July 26.
Serie A ends Aug 2.

Gotta think Premier League is in the sweet spot here, with a 2 week break being enough to get rested legs, but not so long as to get rusty. Not sure it'll help Chelsea's cause though but it does give them slight hope that Bayern will have sat for 4 weeks vs their two. Ligue Un are clearly going to be at a disadvantage, and I think Bundesliga (especially Leipzig since they end sooner and restart later) will struggle a bit with match sharpness.