体坛英语新闻：UEFA hopes to restart football league in July and August

PARIS, April 2 (Xinhua) -- Although the European football has been currently shutdown amid the coronavirus pandemic, the governing body UEFA is aiming to resume the leagues in July and August.

In a joint letter sent by UEFA, the European Club Association and the European Leagues to their members on Thursday, the leagues were told not to abandon their competitions yet and stopping the leagues should "really be the last resort."

The letter was sent hours after the Belgian league recommend to end the season with current standings. The league said Club Brugge, who are 15 points clear of the table, would be awarded the title if the advice is confirmed at a general assembly meeting on April 15.

The joint letter said that two working groups set up by UEFA were working on ways of extending the current season beyond the official June 30 deadline.

"Their work is now focusing on scenarios encompassing the months of July and August, including the possibility that the UEFA competitions restart after the completion of domestic leagues," the letter wrote.

"We are confident that football can restart in the months to come with conditions that will be dictated by public authorities - and believe that any decision of abandoning domestic competitions is, at this stage, premature and not justified."

UEFA has announced on Wednesday to suspend all Champions League and Europa League matches "until further notice", meanwhile all national team matches scheduled in June are postponed, including the play-off matches for EURO 2020.