Date confirmed for Northern Ireland's EURO 2020 qualifier

If Northern Ireland progress they will play the winners of the Slovakia v Republic of Ireland in Belfast for one of the last four remaining slots in the rescheduled tournament.

All 12 original host cities will stage matches in the delayed Euro 2020 finals, which will start on June 11 next year.

UEFA also confirmed that the culmination of this year’s Champions League will be played out as an eight-team tournament in Lisbon.

The eight teams remaining in the competition will take part in a straight knockout tournament between August 12 and 23.

The four remaining last 16 second leg matches, including Manchester City versus Real Madrid, will take place on August 7 and 8.

UEFA is yet to determine whether those matches will take place at the respective host stadiums, or in Portugal.

In addition, the culmination of this season’s Europa League from the last eight onwards will take place across four venues in Germany between August 10 and 21.

Irish League's involvement in next season's European competitions will begin with Champions League qualifiers on August 8 and 11.

Europa League qualifiers will be a one-off game the Preliminary round on August 20.

The proposal to play the final seven rounds of matches to complete the Danske Bank Premiership season looks unlikely now after UEFA confirmed the IFA must nominate three clubs to play in next season's competitions by 3 August.

UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin said: “I am delighted that we are able to resume almost all of our competitions. 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.”

Ceferin said UEFA would decide by mid-July whether fans could be present at the respective Champions League and Europa League tournaments.

He said: “If I would answer today, we don’t think we could have spectators at the Champions League or Europa League finals, but things are changing rapidly.

“We will assess the situation at the beginning of July and we will see what the situation will be. It would be incompetent from us if we were to decide in advance about the situation.”

UEFA confirmed that the decision on whether the outstanding Champions League last 16 second legs will be played in host stadiums or in Portugal will be made before July 10.

Paris St Germain, Atalanta, Atletico Madrid and RB Leipzig are the four clubs who have already guaranteed their respective places in the last eight.

Meanwhile, all remaining matches in the Women’s Champions League will be played as a knockout tournament in Bilbao and San Sebastian between August 21 and 30.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A message from the Editor:

Thank you for reading this story on our website. While I have your attention, I also have an important request to make of you.

With the coronavirus lockdown having a major impact on many of our advertisers - and consequently the revenue we receive - we are more reliant than ever on you taking out a digital subscription.

Subscribe to newsletter.co.uk and enjoy unlimited access to the best Northern Irish and UK news and information online and on our app. With a digital subscription, you can read more than five articles, see fewer ads, enjoy faster load times, and get access to exclusive newsletters and content. Visit https://www.newsletter.co.uk/subscriptions now to sign up.

Our journalism costs money and we rely on advertising, print and digital revenues to help to support them. By supporting us, we are able to support you in providing trusted, fact-checked content for this website.

Thank you,

Alistair Bushe

Editor