Report: UCL, UEL could be decided by mini-tournaments

Mini-tournaments to determine this season's Champions League and Europa League winners are an alternative that UEFA will consider in its response to the coronavirus' crippling impact on football, BBC Sport's Simon Stone reports.

With both competitions halting play during the round of 16, it's unclear how the remaining fixtures in that stage will unfold. But it's understood the quarterfinals and semifinals could be reduced from two-legged ties to one-off games in order to eliminate two matchdays.

The remainder of the tournaments might then be played as mini-tournaments in the cities that will host the Champions League and Europa League finals, Istanbul and Gdansk, respectively, with the goal of cutting down travel and decreasing the impact on domestic competition.

It's one of the possible solutions that UEFA will discuss during Tuesday's meeting with its stakeholders, as European football's governing body and representatives from its 55 member associations examine ways to resolve fixture congestion in the event campaigns are resumed.

The postponement of this summer's European Championship is also being considered in order to allow domestic seasons to conclude after leagues across the continent were suspended.

Moving Euro 2020, which is scheduled to take place in 12 host cities across the continent from June 12 to July 12, could impact competitions scheduled for the summer of 2021, including the European Women's Championship in England and the men's European Under-21 Championship in Hungary and Slovenia.