National teams’ commitments to resume in September

The UEFA Executive Committee today announced decisions regarding the regulations, format, calendar and venues for a variety of UEFA club and national team competitions which have been disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic. These are the decisions related to competitions involving the national teams and Maltese clubs: UEFA medical protocol and matches behind closed doors The key principles of the UEFA medical protocol were approved, and detailed guidelines will now be finalised over the next few weeks to ensure that a thorough sanitary plan be put in place to protect the health of all participants to UEFA matches when the competitions resume. UEFA will be regularly assessing the situation across the continent and will liaise with local authorities to see when spectators could gradually return. UEFA Champions League/UEFA Europa League 2020/21 In order to achieve the necessary separation with the final phase of the 2019/20 season and avoid impact on the access list and on clubs potentially involved in both competition phases, the qualifying rounds of the two competitions will be played in single legs (instead of home and away), with the only exception of the UEFA Champions League Play-offs which will remain over two legs. The draw will determine which club will play the single leg in their stadium. Floriana FC will be playing in the Champions League while Valletta FC, Hibernians FC and Sirens FC will be competing in the Europa League. The new calendar of the qualifying phase and group stage 2020/21 is as follows: UEFA Champions League 2020/21Preliminary round: 8 and 11 AugustFirst qualifying round: 18/19 AugustSecond qualifying round: 25/26 AugustThird qualifying round: 15/16 SeptemberPlay-offs: 22/23 and 29/30 SeptemberGroup stage: 20/21 and 27/28 October, 3/4 and 24/25 November, 1/2 and 8/9 December UEFA Europa League 2020/21Preliminary round: 20 AugustFirst qualifying round: 27 AugustSecond qualifying round: 17 SeptemberThird qualifying round: 24 SeptemberPlay-offs: 1 OctoberGroup stage: 22 and 29 October, 5 and 26 November, 3 and 10 December There are no changes to the dates of the subsequent rounds. The group stage draws for the 2020/21 UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League will take place in Athens at the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Centre on 1 and 2 October 2020 respectively. UEFA Women’s Champions League 2020/21 The qualifying round mini-tournaments will be played between 7 and 13 October, the Round of 32 will be played on 11/12 and 18/19 November, the Round of 16 on 3/4 and 10/11 March, the quarter-finals on 23/24 March and 31 March and 1 April, the semi-finals on 24/25 April and 1/2 May and the final on 16 May 2021 in Gothenburg. The qualifying round draw will take place at the House of European Football in Nyon in the first week of September. Birkirkara FC will be representing Malta in the UEFA Women’s Champions League. European Qualifiers Play-Offs and 2020/21 UEFA Nations League Group Stage The national team football windows of October and November 2020 will now feature triple-headers instead of double-headers, thus allowing the postponed European Qualifiers Play-Offs to be rescheduled at the beginning of the respective windows, on 8 October and 12 November. The group stage matches of the 2020/21 UEFA Nations League will be played on the following matchdays: 3/4/5 and 6/7/8 September; 10/11 and 13/14 October; 14/15 and 17/18 November 2020. Malta will face Andorra, Latvia and the Faroe Islands in Group D1 of the 2020-21 UEFA Nations League.  Friendly matches will be played on 7/8 October and 11/12 November. 2019/21 UEFA European Under-21 Championship – Qualifying competition The qualification competition that is currently underway will finish in September, October and November 2020. The nine group-winners and the five best runners-up will be joined by hosts Hungary and Slovenia for a group stage of four groups of four from 24 to 31 March 2021, with groups hosted by Hungary and by Slovenia. The Malta U-21 team has six qualifiers remaining in Group 8 – vs Ukraine (H), Finland (H), Northern Ireland (H), Romania (H & A) and Denmark (H). The four group-winners and the four runners-up will then qualify for the final tournament which will be played as a straight knock-out final eight (quarter-finals and semi-finals in Hungary and Slovenia and the final in Ljubljana) from 31 May to 6 June 2021. 2020-22 UEFA European Under-19 championship The introduction of the recently approved new format with teams split into three different leagues with promotion and relegation and a final tournament involving eight teams in the summer of 2022 has been postponed to the 2021/23 edition of the competition. Consequently, there will be a 2021-22 UEFA European Under-19 Championship played under the standard format that had been used until now. UEFA Women's EURO 2021 qualifiers rescheduledThe postponed qualifying matches in April and June are now scheduled to be played between September and December. The Malta women’s team had been due to host Denmark on April 14 and conclude with away matches against Georgia in June and Israel in September. These three fixtures have been rescheduled as follows: 22 September, 2020 – Malta vs Denmark26 November, 2020 – Georgia vs Malta1 December, 2020 – Israel vs Malta