Athens will host the ceremony for the UEFA Player of the Year Award in October, along with the Champions League group stage draw for the 2020-2021 season.
The announcement was made by government spokesman Stelios Petsas, who revealed that the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center at Kallithea will host the annual event for the UEFA Player of the Year Award and other awards, plus the all-important draws of the lucrative group stages of the Champions League and the Europa League.
“The choice of Greece by UEFA constitutes a vote of confidence in our country, as this will be the first major event by UEFA after the restriction measures taken to contain the coronavirus pandemic,” stated Petsas.
“The UEFA decision has a crucial contribution in the global promotion of Greece as a modern and safe country that is able to host events of such level,” the government spokesman added, revealing that “a decisive factor that sealed this agreement was the telephone conversation Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis had in recent days with UEFA President Aleksander Ceferin.”
On Wednesday, the UEFA Executive Committee met via videoconference and took several decisions regarding the regulations, format, calendar and venues for a variety of UEFA club and national team competitions.
The following statement was released by UEFA with regard to the Champions League:
The 2019/20 UEFA Champions League quarter-finals, semi-finals and final will be played as a straight knockout tournament in Lisbon, Portugal in August. All these ties will be single-leg fixtures.
A decision is pending on whether the four remaining round of 16 second legs will take place at the home team’s stadium or in Portugal.
The quarter-finals, semi-finals and final will be split between Benfica's Estádio do Sport Lisboa e Benfica and Sporting CP's Estádio José Alvalade. The Estádio do Dragão in Porto and the Estádio D. Afonso Henriques in Guimarães will host the four outstanding round of 16 second legs if required.
The 2019/20 UEFA Champions League has been on hold since Wednesday 11 March due to the COVID-19 outbreak.
The #UCL quarter-finals, semi-finals and final will be played as a straight knockout tournament in Lisbon between 12 and 23 August 2020. All these ties will be single-leg fixtures.
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— UEFA Champions League (@ChampionsLeague) June 17, 2020
