For the first time, the Summer Olympic Games will not be held in a leap year
As noted in a publication by RFI, some media compared the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the season's calendar to that of World War II. Due to the unstable sanitary situation in 2020, the start of the Tour de France was postponed, the Paris–Roubaix cycling race did not take place, the Paris Marathon and Half Marathon, marathons in New York, Boston, Chicago and Frankfurt were canceled, and for the first time in 46 years, the Berlin Marathon was not held.
Due to the pandemic, a number of Formula 1 Grands Prix were canceled. The World Indoor Athletics Championships, the World Table Tennis Championships, and the World Figure Skating Championships were postponed to 2021. Champions League matches were held in empty stadiums, and Roland Garros took place with almost no spectators.
Organizers of sporting events were forced to look for alternatives to the usual formats, revise competition budgets, and reshuffle the calendar. As a result, some major international championships planned for 2020 will take place in 2021.
Olympic Games: July 23 – August 8
The Olympic Games in Japan were scheduled to take place from July 24 to August 9, 2020, but the pandemic changed that. Discussions about the need to postpone the competitions began in early March 2020: representatives of several national Olympic committees and federations, as well as the athletes themselves, appealed to the International Olympic Committee with requests to delay the Games.
Such requests were made by the Olympic committees of Brazil and Norway, and the French Swimming Federation. French decathlete Kevin Mayer, German fencer Maximilian Hartung, Greek pole vaulter and Olympic champion Katerina Stefanidi, and other athletes spoke in favor of postponement.
The IOC did not immediately agree to these demands. The organization stated that in any case, it would not hold the Games in empty stadiums to avoid financial damage potentially estimated at up to $1 billion. The option of completely canceling the championship was considered unlikely almost immediately: such a decision could have enormous symbolic significance, as in the entire history of the Olympic Games, competitions were not held only during World War I and World War II – in 1916, 1940, and 1944.
On March 12, Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike ruled out canceling the Olympic Games in Japan due to the spread of the coronavirus. On the same day, on the Greek Peloponnese peninsula, in Ancient Olympia, in the presence of IOC President Thomas Bach, Greek President Prokopis Pavlopoulos, and head of the Greek Olympic Committee Spyros Capralos, the ceremony of lighting the Olympic flame for Tokyo 2020 took place. Also on March 12, Greek authorities reported the first death from COVID-19 in the country.
As late as March 17, the IOC emphasized that the Games would take place as scheduled, stating that “more than four months before the start, there is no need for radical decisions.” However, on March 24, the committee postponed the championship to July 23 – August 8, 2021. According to Japanese press reports, the calendar adjustment cost organizers $2.4 billion.
In November 2020, Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga assured IOC President Thomas Bach that no further postponement would be needed and that the Olympics would become a symbol of humanity's triumph over the pandemic. At the same time, the Tokyo organizing committee agreed with the IOC to reduce the budget allocated for the competitions.
It was reported that spending on the decoration of sports facilities and the opening and closing ceremonies would be cut, and the number of accredited persons would be limited. The number of athletes registered to participate in the competitions would remain the same. In addition, the Japanese news agency Kyodo reported that the IOC was ready to help provide participants and spectators of the Olympic Games with a COVID-19 vaccine.
On January 6, 2021, Thomas Bach gave an interview to the Japanese newspaper Yomiuri Shimbun. In it, he expressed hope that the Games in Tokyo would have symbolic significance and be a source of special pride for Japanese citizens.
UEFA European Football Championship: June 11 – July 11
In 2020, the UEFA European Football Championship was supposed to take place, but UEFA decided to postpone the championship and hold it from June 11 to July 11, 2021. The decision to postpone was made following a meeting with the heads of all 55 national football federations that are members of UEFA.
Euro 2020 was supposed to be the anniversary, 60th such tournament. For this reason, the championship was planned in a special format: it was to be held from June 12 to July 12 in 12 different cities. This option was proposed by former UEFA President Michel Platini. The championship was to be hosted by Amsterdam, Baku, Bilbao, Budapest, Bucharest, Glasgow, Dublin, Copenhagen, London, Munich, Rome, and St. Petersburg. Organizing a tournament with such diverse geography in the context of the pandemic proved too difficult.
“Football is a powerful force in society. The thought of celebrating a pan-European festival of football in empty stadiums, with empty fan zones, while the continent sits at home in isolation, brings no joy, and we could not accept such a celebration of the 60th anniversary of the competition,” said UEFA President Aleksander Čeferin. He also emphasized that postponing Euro would be costly for organizers, but the union's priority remains the health of players, fans, and staff. It is noted that although the championship will take place in 2021, it will retain the official name with the prefix “2020.”
The Russian national football team ended up in Group B alongside Belgium, Denmark, and Finland. The French team was placed in Group F with Germany, Hungary, and the reigning European champion – Portugal. Recall that Euro 2016 was held in France, and in the final, the Portuguese fought for the championship title against the French. The match ended with a score of 1-0 after Portuguese striker Éder scored in extra time against the French team.
The Euro 2020 calendar has already been announced. Teams from Group B will play in St. Petersburg and Copenhagen, with the first match involving the Russian national team scheduled for June 12 at the St. Petersburg Stadium. Teams from Group F will play their first Euro matches in Munich and Budapest. The French team will play against Germany in Munich on June 15.
FIFA Club World Cup: February 1-11
The pandemic also forced the postponement of the FIFA Club World Cup, which was supposed to take place in Qatar in December 2020. The postponement was announced on November 17, 2020, by the FIFA press service. The new dates for the tournament are February 1-11.
The Club World Cup was first held in 2000. In 2005, it completely replaced the previously held Intercontinental Cup, which was contested between the strongest clubs from the South American and European confederations, i.e., the winners of the Copa Libertadores and the UEFA Champions League. Currently, the Club World Cup features teams from six continental confederations and the strongest club from the host country. The reigning champion is Liverpool.
It is expected that after the tournament in Qatar, the frequency of the event will change; it will be held every four years and will replace another competition in the football calendar – the FIFA Confederations Cup. Twenty-four teams will compete for the title, eight of which will represent UEFA, six from the South American confederation, one from the Oceania Football Confederation, and finally, three clubs each from the African, Asian, and North and Central American and Caribbean confederations.
An interesting fact: FIFA has included a female trio led by Brazilian referee Edina Batista in the list of officials for the Club World Cup matches in Qatar. She officiated at the Women's World Cup in France, but she has never refereed men's matches at this level before.
In the context of the pandemic, FIFA also decided to postpone two Women's World Cups – for players under 17 and under 20. The tournaments were supposed to take place in 2020 but were postponed to 2021 and then further to 2022. The U-20 women's tournament will be held in Costa Rica, and the U-17 in India.
Ice Hockey World Championship: May 21 – June 6
In 2020, the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) canceled the World Championship scheduled for May 8-24 in Switzerland due to the coronavirus epidemic. The organization did not consider the option of moving the championship to another country.
The Ice Hockey World Championship is held annually, and in 2021 the tournament is planned for May 21 – June 6. It was supposed to be hosted by Latvia and Belarus. In addition to the sanitary situation, the preparation of the tournament was also affected by the political crisis that began in Belarus after the presidential elections in August. On Monday, January 18, the IIHF Council made a final decision to move the 2021 World Championship matches out of the country where the protest movement continues. As explained by the IIHF, the decision was made for safety reasons – both sanitary and related to the political situation in the country.
Representatives of civil society called for the country to be stripped of the right to host the tournament amid the actions of the Belarusian authorities. On January 5, writer Sasha Filipenko published an open letter in the German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung addressed to IIHF President René Fasel. In it, Filipenko, in particular, expressed surprise at how persistently the federation head sought to retain Belarus's right to host the championship. "Apparently, you want this so badly that you do not hear that the majority of Belarusian citizens are against it!" the writer noted.
Representatives of other countries also called on the IIHF to move the championship matches out of Belarus. German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas, for example, emphasized that holding the World Championship in Belarus would be a real boon for Alexander Lukashenko. In October 2020, the possibility of moving the tournament was discussed by the foreign ministers of Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia at a meeting with Belarusian opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya. Later, Latvian authorities stated their readiness to host all matches and sent an official letter to the federation demanding that some games be moved from Minsk. This was stated by Latvian Prime Minister Krišjānis Kariņš.
Several companies, including car manufacturer Skoda, automotive oil producer Liqui Moly, and Nivea, refused to provide sponsorship support for the event if Minsk retained the right to host the championship.
It is not yet specified how exactly the championship will be organized. Two versions seem most likely: either all matches will take place in Riga, or a replacement for Minsk will be found. Bratislava and Danish Herning have expressed readiness to host the matches planned for the Belarusian capital.