No plans to cancel Europa League: UEFA chief

By Ercan Cakar

ISTANBUL (AA) - There is no current plan to cancel the Europa League football competition that was suspended because of the coronavirus pandemic, UEFA President Aleksander Ceferin said Saturday.

Ceferin told beIN Sports that UEFA does not want to focus on negative scenarios.

"Things can get better or worse. We need to stay positive and hope that they will be better. We have a concrete plan to finish European Leagues. We will play without spectators and finish seasons. We are not thinking of canceling Europa cups for now," he said.

And there are plans to finish the season in August.

"Anything can be canceled in the world at any time, COVID-19 or not. I don't know what will happen in the next two months. But if things continue as it is, I am certain we will end the season in August. In terms of national leagues, their fate will be decided by themselves. But I believe at least 80% of them will complete seasons. Those who won't finish the season will play in European cups' preliminaries. They need to take this into consideration," Ceferin added.

More than 4.5 million people have tested positive for coronavirus globally with more than 307,600 have died, according to Johns Hopkins University's running tally. An excess of 1.6 million have recovered.

*Writing by Firdevs Bulut