Thread by @DaleJohnsonESPN

On Wednesday, two days of crucial UEFA meetings take place to shape European football (UCL/UEL and internationals) for this season and next season.

This is a thread to explain what is going to be discussed, plus probable outcomes and possible issues.

1. 2019/20 Champions League and Europa League

UEFA must decide on the format for the remaining games.

What seems likely now is Lisbon (Benfica and Sporting) will host the quarterfinals, semifinals and the final on Sunday, Aug. 23. UEL to complete in Germany, on Aug. 21.

The major issue surrounds the round of 16 of both competitions.

Teams with a first-leg advantage will not want to surrender this, while ties that have not yet kicked off face the question of where they would be staged.

What complicates matters is Serie A still being in action on the weekend of August 2, as five Italian teams are still in Europe.

The FA Cup final will also be played that weekend, which could feature two teams who are in Europe.

If UEFA is to be ready to stage the UCL and UEL quarterfinals from August 10 onwards, it needs to get the round of 16 out of the way.

There is little time to resolve ties involving Italian teams, so it seems likely they will have to play single-legged ties (where not begun).

There is the separate question of squad registrations, which is complicated by Lyon, PSG and Rangers being in curtailed leagues looking to start 2020-21 in August.

For instance, Hertha Berlin have not allowed Lucas Tousart to remain on loan at Lyon to complete the UCL season.

There is a competitions committee meeting which covers the squad issue.

Do not expect UEFA to allow new signings to be added to UCL and UEL squads.

Concession will likely be that teams can add to squads with players already at the club last season, but not in the Euro list.

2. 2020/21 Champions League and UEFA Europa League

First issue here is the qualifying format, which usually takes two months and will have to be truncated into a few weeks.

Possible the only way to maintain the access list and complete qualifying is with a single-leg format.

UEFA asked leagues ranked 16-55 to complete by July 19-20 (1-15 by Aug. 2), which could allow teams from smaller nations to start quals.

However, three teams in leagues ranked below 15 are still in this season's Europa League. They start qualifying in the first round.

I'm told there remains a desire for a September international window (more to come), and if that remains in place there is precious little time four four rounds of main qualifying before October's international break (leading into a proposed UCL start on October 20-21).

Oct. 20-21 would usually be Matchday 3.

There is a natural fix to the UCL by moving the final two group games to February and playing the RO16 across two weeks rather than four.

However, then issues with squad registration from January, and the UEL does not have spare dates.

3. Euro 2020 venues and match schedule

There were issues over a few venues, reported Amsterdam and Wembley, which needed time to clear events like concerts to be available for 2021.

Hope is the original match schedule will now remain intact, however.

4. Euro 2020 playoffs and Nations League group stage

There are many issues with losing the September international window, as the knock-on effects run into what is already a full international calendar.

If we still played international friendlies there wouldn't be an issue...

To be clear, there are no free international dates. In fact, we are already two dates down.

2020 Sept - Nov: Nations League
2021 March - Nov: World Cup qualifying (+UNL finals)
2022 March WC playoffs
2022 June - Sept: Nations League
2022 Nov - Dec: World Cup finals

The dates set for rounds 3 and 4 of World Cup qualifying, and the finals of the next UEFA Nations League, are set for June 2021 - but we now have Euro 2020 in 2021.

UEFA must also find somewhere to place the Euro 2020 playoffs, which should have taken place in March.

FIFA has held bilateral discussions with confederations to finalise a revised match schedule for World Cup qualifying.

Asia, which lost 6 matchdays of WC qualifying, won't play in September and will resume in October. However, it does have some free international dates to use.

The next FIFA meeting, during which the international calendar and the effects of COVID-19 will be discussed, takes place on June 25.

However, planning of the exact international schedule will remain the responsibility of confederations.

4. World Cup – qualifying draw procedure

Impacted by Euro 2020, as qualifying draw pots were due to be formed after the Nations League in November.

Teams who would have been at Euro 2020 are at a technical disadvantage by being unable to score those coefficient points.

The draw pots will be created using the FIFA World Ranking.

At present seeded will be Belgium, France, England, Croatia, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland, Italy, Netherlands, Germany.

Just outside are Denmark, Sweden, Poland and Wales who could have benefitted from a strong Euros.

Nothing will change with the use of the FIFA World Ranking however, as this is the standard method FIFA says should be used.

But it does mean that Denmark, Sweden, Poland and Wales now have added reason to take the UNL seriously.

There has been the suggestion that UEFA will try and play catch-up by having three international matches in some international windows. Perhaps they may still play qualifiers before Euro 2020 in place of warm-up games. We will find out this week.