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PARIS — UEFA and Europe's top clubs have stated their determination that the current football season should be played to a conclusion and threatened that teams may be excluded from the next Champions League if their domestic competitions are ended prematurely.

In a joint letter released late on Thursday, UEFA, the European Club Association (ECA), and the European Leagues body representing nearly a thousand clubs in 29 countries, said that they were working on the possibility of playing on into July and August if need be.

The Champions League and Europa League — both of which are frozen in the last-16 stage — could be completed once the domestic seasons are finished, and "stopping competitions should really be the last resort after acknowledging that no calendar alternative would allow to conclude the season."

The joint response came after the Belgian Pro League announced on Thursday that it recommended declaring the season over with the present table accepted as final.

It is the first European league to take such a measure, although more could follow.

That means Club Brugge would in theory go straight into the next Champions League group stage, but UEFA, the ECA and the European Leagues indicated that they may be barred from continental competition if the Belgian league decision is finalised.

"It is of paramount importance that even a disruptive event like this epidemic does not prevent our competitions from being decided on the field, in accordance with their rules and that all sporting titles are awarded on the basis of results," the joint letter said.

Not justified

"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.

"Since participation in UEFA club competitions is determined by the sporting result achieved at the end of a full domestic competition, a premature termination would cast doubts about the fulfilment of such condition."

The letter concluded: "UEFA reserves the right to assess the entitlement of clubs to be admitted to the 2020/21 UEFA club competitions."

The Belgian Pro League said it had had "constructive" discussions with UEFA on Friday morning in which it "contested any approach which would force a league to continue in the current health crisis".

It has called for a "varied approach" based on the specifics of individual leagues and countries.

UEFA has set up two working groups to devise a way for European football to get out of the crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

One is tasked with looking at the legal and financial consequences of the crisis, while the other is devising a new match calendar. UEFA and the clubs have set themselves a mid-May target for deciding on the most viable option for completing the season.

There have been calls in other countries for this season to be declared null and void, but any option which rules out completing this season could have serious consequences for leagues reliant on huge television deals and who could find themselves having to reimburse broadcasters if remaining matches are not played.

Justifying its decision on Thursday, the Belgian Pro League said it was "very unlikely" to be able to hold matches in front of crowds before June 30 and that it had "unanimously decided that it was not desirable... to continue the competition" after that date.

The decision still needs to be formally validated at a General Assembly on April 15.

PARIS — The coronavirus pandemic has decimated the 2020 sporting calendar, with the Tokyo Olympics and football's European Championship the biggest events to be postponed, while Wimbledon was cancelled for the first time since World War II.

Here, AFP Sport takes a look at six of the upcoming major competitions which could also be scrapped or delayed due to the COVID-19 outbreak:

Epsom Derby

Scheduled date: June 6

— British racing is in shutdown mode until at least the end of April, placing doubt on Newmarket's Guineas weekend on May 2/3, and inevitably also the jewel in the British flat racing crown, the Epsom Derby.

The Blue Riband of the turf has been held every year since Diomed took the inaugural running in 1780. During the two World Wars it was moved to Newmarket.

Around 150,000 people descend on the Epsom Downs to watch Britain's richest race.

Canadian Grand Prix

Scheduled date: June 14

The earliest the Formula One season can get underway is in Montreal on June 14 after the opening eight races of the campaign were all either postponed or cancelled.

A decision on a potential delay will be made by Easter weekend (April 11-12), according to race organisers.

Formula One and Silverstone chiefs also said they have until the end of April to decide whether to postpone the British Grand Prix, scheduled for July 19.

F1 chairman Chase Carey said last month that he still expects the season to start in the summer with a revised calendar of "15-18 races".

Royal Ascot

Scheduled dates: June 16-20

British monarch Queen Elizabeth II has only missed attending two Epsom Derbies since her first visit as a princess in 1946. But she has never failed to attend her 'local' meeting since ascending the throne in 1952.

The five day festival draws a 300,000 crowd which consumes 56,000 bottles of champagne and 80,000 cups of tea while out on the track equine aristocrats joust for prize money in excess of £8 million ($10 million).

Ascot spokesman Nick Smith told The Daily Mail: "There are no certainties and we are one industry in a world of industries in exactly the same position. You can plan with optimism but no surety."

It has been staged every year since 1911. The 2005 meeting moved to York while the racecourse was closed for renovation.

US Open (golf)

Scheduled dates: June 18-21

The 120th US Open at Winged Foot is due to be the first men's major of the golf season after the postponements of both the Masters and the PGA Championship.

But American media reports earlier this week said that the tournament in Mamaroneck, New York, was likely to be put back until later in the summer.

The course was closed last week, since when the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in the United States has passed 215,000, over 90,000 of them in New York state.

Tour de France

Scheduled dates: June 27-July 19

The Tour de France is still scheduled to start in Nice on June 27, despite France having extended its lockdown until April 15.

Sports minister Roxana Maracineanu on Wednesday said that the world's most prestigious cycling race, which usually draws more than 10 million fans to the roadsides, could take place with no spectators.

But she also admitted that all options, including cancellation, are being considered.

British Open

Scheduled dates: July 16-19

British media reported on Friday said that the British Open at Royal St George's could be postponed within days.

Over 200,000 spectators are due to attend the tournament in Sandwich.

A delay could have a knock-on effect on the rest of the golf calendar, with space at a premium after the postponements of the PGA and the Masters.

It is highly unlikely that the 149th Open could be held later than September due to the weather, but a delay until next year would impact plans to hold the 150th edition at St Andrews.

LONDON — Premier League clubs have been accused of living in a "moral vacuum", with players urged to take their share of the financial hit from the coronavirus pandemic as non-playing staff begin to feel the pinch.

Last year's Champions League finalists Tottenham as well as Newcastle and Norwich have faced a backlash for using the British government's furlough scheme, which will guarantee 80 per cent of employees' income up to a maximum of £2,500 ($3,000) a month.

"It sticks in the throat," said lawmaker Julian Knight, who chairs the Commons Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee, referring to the use of public funds to prop up wage bills.

"This exposes the crazy economics in English football and the moral vacuum at its centre."

The Times said the elite should not be a "drain on the exchequer".

"[The] furlough scheme is for clubs lower down the pyramid enduring the cash-flow crisis without gate receipts, not by the likes of Spurs and Newcastle United," the paper said in a comment piece.

That £2,500 sum would be a drop in the ocean for many Premier League stars, yet there has so far been no agreement on wage cuts or deferrals for players, unlike the situation at other top European clubs such as Juventus and Barcelona.

Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy said he hoped discussions between the Premier League and players' and managers' representatives would "result in players and coaches doing their bit for the football eco-system".

Levy is in the firing line despite taking a 20 per cent cut in salary for the next two months.

On Tuesday he announced a 20 per cent cut for 550 non-playing staff on the same day it was revealed he was paid £7 million last season, including a £3 million bonus for the completion of the club's new stadium, which ran well over time and budget.

Players at Barcelona have taken a 70 per cent pay cut during Spain's state of emergency and will make additional contributions to ensure other employees receive full wages.

The squad of Italian champions Juventus, including Cristiano Ronaldo, have agreed to have their wages stopped for four months while players at German giants Bayern Munich accepted a 20 per cent pay cut.

"Clearly, when players at Barcelona, or Juventus voluntarily, or some German clubs voluntarily enter into these agreements with their clubs, then good on them," said FIFPro general secretary Jonas Baer-Hoffmann.

"Where the players have the means and they step forward I think that shows very much that they understand what is happening right now and frankly we will be seeing more of that."

The chasm in player earnings between the top end of the game and the lower leagues, and even within the same clubs, complicates the role of players' unions in finding common ground.

London Mayor Sadiq Khan told the BBC that top-flight players should take the hit.

He said: "Highly paid football players are people who can carry the greatest burden and they should be the first one to, with respect, sacrifice their salary, rather than the person selling the programme or the person who does catering."

Players do not want to be the fall guys in a crisis only for clubs to behave irresponsibly when their income returns.

"If a club is doing deferrals then the regulations state that they would be embargoed from signing any players," said PFA chief executive Gordon Taylor.

"It's ridiculous to have clubs deferring their obligations to players and then making big-money transfer signings."

Transfer talk tends to fill the void during the summer football break, but that is far from the minds of most executives just trying to ensure their clubs are still standing in a few months' time.

"When I read or hear stories about player transfers this summer like nothing has happened, people need to wake up to the enormity of what is happening around us," said Levy.

LONDON — English football's major stakeholders will meet on Friday to discuss their options to rescue a season derailed by the coronavirus outbreak.

The Premier League campaign has been postponed until at least April 30 because of the pandemic, but the chances of a return in May look bleak.

AFP Sport takes a closer look at the various scenarios that are likely to be considered in the talks over if and how to finish the season:

Go behind closed doors

One option is for clubs to converge on a neutral location in which all remaining games are played behind closed doors, with only essential personnel and broadcasters allowed to attend.

There is believed to be growing support among clubs for this plan, with nine rounds of matches potentially in line to be staged in June and July.

Fixtures would reportedly be played in one or two locations in the Midlands and London.

That could mean players and coaches being quarantined away from their families in World Cup-style camps to avoid infection, with stadiums, hotels and training facilities undergoing a deep clean.

A radical upturn in testing for the virus in the United Kingdom over the next two months is the key to this plan for a number of reasons.

Firstly, to ease players' concerns of contracting COVID-19 while playing, but also to avoid criticism of privileged professional players being tested with mild or no symptoms if that is not available to the general public and in particular frontline workers.

If the curve of cases is not significantly flattened come the summer the optics for the Premier League to have medical officials at non-essential events would also not be good.

Play the waiting game

Given the massive impact of the virus on society in general, it is seen in some quarters as morally inappropriate for football to return too soon.

Instead of rushing back to action, waiting until the virus is completely under control before play resumes is the preferred strategy in this scenario.

With the virus reportedly set to peak in the UK in June, that could mean remaining in sporting lockdown until August or September.

Waiting would allow the current season to be completed in full, ensuring the Premier League does not have to repay an estimated £750 million ($930 million, 842 million euros) to television companies for breach of contract.

But it would have a huge knock-on effect for next season, potentially leading to a shortened schedule in 2020-21 in a bid to be ready for the delayed European Championship.

Tottenham striker Harry Kane believes the campaign should be cancelled if it cannot be finished by the end of June.

"Playing into July or August and pushing next season back, I don't see too much benefit in that," Kane said.

"Probably the limit for me is the end of June. If the season's not completed by the end of June we need to look at the options and just look forward to next season."

Cancel the season

In what would be the worst-case scenario for the Premier League, some clubs reportedly want to abandon the current season immediately.

Senior figures in English club football believe there is "no place for sport at the moment", according to a recent report in the Athletic.

FA chairman Greg Clarke reportedly told the Premier League earlier this month he does not believe the season will be completed.

Declaring the season over could trigger legal action from a host of clubs, regardless of whether or not the standings are allowed to count.

Liverpool need only two more wins to confirm their first league title since 1990 and hold a 25-point lead over Manchester City.

Cancelling the season would scupper their hopes of ending a 30-year title drought, unless it was agreed to declare them champions anyway.

Manchester United, Wolves, Sheffield United and Tottenham, all currently outside the top four, would surely claim they had been unfairly been denied a chance of Champions League qualification.

Aston Villa would be relegated along with Norwich and Bournemouth, but Dean Smith's team would point to the game in hand that would lift them above Watford to safety if they won it.

In the Championship, the current top two are Leeds and West Bromwich Albion and they would be furious if a 'null and void' ruling robbed them of a lucrative promotion. 

TOKYO — The Tokyo Olympics will begin on July 23 next year, organisers said on Monday, after the coronavirus forced the historic decision to postpone the Games until 2021.

The announcement comes less than a week after the organisers were forced to delay the Games under heavy pressure from athletes and sports federations as the global outbreak worsened.

"The Olympics will be held from July 23 to August 8, 2021. The Paralympics will be held from August 24 to September 5," Tokyo 2020 chief Yoshiro Mori told reporters at a hastily arranged evening news conference.

Only hours earlier, Mori had said he expected a decision from the International Olympic Committee (IOC) during the course of the week.

But on Monday evening, he said an emergency teleconference had been held with the IOC and the date finalised.

"We agreed that the timing of the event will be in summer as originally planned, considering the coronavirus... and a certain amount of time needed for preparations, selection and qualification of athletes," he added.

In a statement, the IOC said the new dates would give health authorities and organisers "the maximum time to deal with the constantly changing landscape and the disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic."

The decision would also cause "minimum" disruption to the international sports calendar, the body said.

The Tokyo 2020 Olympics were due to open on July 24 this year and run for 16 days, but the coronavirus pandemic forced the first peace-time postponement of the Games.

The IOC and Japan had for weeks insisted the show could go on but the rapid spread of COVID-19 prompted growing disquiet among athletes and sporting federations.

The Olympics was the highest-profile sporting casualty of the coronavirus that has wiped out fixtures worldwide and all but halted professional sport.

There was some speculation that Japanese organisers could take advantage of the blank canvas to shift the Games to spring, avoiding the heat of the Tokyo summer that had been their main concern before coronavirus struck.

Due to the heat, the marathon has been moved to Sapporo, a city some 800 kilometres to the north of Tokyo where the weather is cooler even at the height of summer.

The postponement has handed organisers the "unprecedented" task of rearranging an event seven years in the making, and Tokyo 2020 CEO Toshiro Muto has admitted the additional costs will be "massive".

According to the latest budget, the Games were due to cost $12.6 billion, shared between the organising committee, the government of Japan and Tokyo city.

However, that number is hotly contested with a much-publicised government audit suggesting the central government was spending several times that amount — on items organisers claim are only tangentially related to the Olympics.

'Mankind's victory'

The postponement affects every aspect of the organisation — hotels, ticketing, venues and transport being among the major headaches.

Hotels have had to cancel bookings, dealing them a bitter blow at a time when tourism is already being hammered by the coronavirus.

Some venues that had booked events years in advance will potentially have to scrap them to make way for the rescheduled Olympics and there is still uncertainty about whether ticket-holders will get refunded.

Another thorny issue is the athletes' village, which was due to be converted into luxury apartments after the Games, some of which have already found buyers.

The Japanese government had touted the Games as the "Recovery Olympics", designed to show how the country had bounced back from the 2011 triple disaster of the earthquake, tsunami and nuclear meltdown in the northeastern Fukushima region.

The Games are now being billed as the expression of humanity's triumph over the coronavirus.

"Humankind currently finds itself in a dark tunnel," IOC chief Thomas Bach said in Monday's statement announcing the new date.

"These Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 can be a light at the end of this tunnel."

Mori earlier warned that organisers were faced with an "unprecedented challenge."

"But I believe it is the mission of the Tokyo 2020 organising committee to hold the Olympics and Paralympics next year as a proof of mankind's victory" against the virus.

TOKYO — Tokyo Olympics organisers are eyeing next July as a start date for the postponed Games, Japanese media reported Sunday, following the historic decision to delay the event due to the coronavirus.

Given the on going pandemic and need for preparation time, the most likely plan would be for the Games to begin on July 23, 2021, public broadcaster NHK said, citing sources within the organising panel.

It came after Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike raised the idea on Friday of moving the event to a less hot and humid time of year.

She argued that this would make marathons and other races easier to endure, meaning they could be held in the capital instead of in northern Sapporo city, where the International Olympic Committee (IOC) had decided to move them.

The Tokyo 2020 team led by Yoshiro Mori is currently discussing possible dates with the IOC, according to the Asahi Shimbun newspaper.

On Saturday, Mori told a Japanese TV station that "some kind of conclusion" would be reached within a week.

The Olympics were scheduled to open on July 24 this year with the Paralympics on August 25, but Japan announced last week it had secured agreement from the IOC to postpone the Games — a decision unprecedented in peacetime.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said they would be held in around a year instead as a testament to humanity's victory over the pandemic.

The decision had been seen to open options for Tokyo, with IOC chief Thomas Bach saying that "all the options are on the table" and rescheduling "is not restricted just to the summer months".

Meanwhile, NHK said the Olympic flame would be displayed for a month at the J-Village sports complex in Fukushima, which was used as a base camp for thousands of relief workers in radiation protection suits during the 2011 nuclear disaster.

Meanwhile, World Athletics president Sebastian Coe said Sunday that the decision to postpone this year's Tokyo Olympics because of the coronavirus has saved athletes from "mental turmoil".

Former Olympic champion Coe supported the move to push the Games back to 2021 and said competitors would have been placed in an impossible position if the event had been left to start on July 24 as originally scheduled.

They would have been tempted to continue training despite large parts of the world being in lockdown due the COVID-19 pandemic, which has now killed more than 32,000 people.

"We didn't want to have the athletes in a position where they were countering government advice, maybe even breaking the law," Coe told TalkSport on Sunday.

"And of course in the back of their minds was always that concern, it wasn't just their own training programme, but that they ran the risk of effectively infecting themselves, their families, their kids, grandparents or parents, and we just wanted to take them out of that mental turmoil as quickly as we possibly could.

"We're no different from everyone else out there but I think we just concluded that sport, on this occasion, had to take a back seat."

TOKYO — Every cloud has a silver lining and the devastating postponement of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics could hand organisers a heaven-sent opportunity to solve their other massive problem: the summer heat.

The historic decision to delay the Games due to the coronavirus pandemic gave Tokyo a wide range of options when rescheduling: the Games will be held "beyond 2020, but not later than summer 2021."

This leaves open the possibility of a spring Olympics when the weather in Tokyo is at its finest and removes at a stroke the worries about athletes and fans suffering in the brutal heat and humidity of Japan's summer.

Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike confirmed the postponement had opened up this tantalising option — that would also give her the opportunity of reclaiming the marathon which before the postponement was shifted to the northern city of Sapporo over heat fears.

"Since we are in this situation, one idea is to have [the IOC] move the date to a time that is not hot," she said.

She later added with a smile: "I think Tokyo would be good" to host the marathon if temperatures were less fierce.

IOC chief Thomas Bach himself has said rescheduling "is not restricted just to the summer months. All the options are on the table, before and including the summer of 2021."

And it was clearly on the mind of Tokyo 2020 chief Yoshiro Mori, even in the immediate aftermath of the crushing postponement.

"We are trying to set a new schedule to be done by the summer. It might be earlier... As a result, if the hottest part of the summer could be avoided, wouldn't that be a happy thing," he said just minutes after the postponement.

'Jigsaw puzzle'

Bach has described the unprecedented task of reorganising the world's biggest sports event as a huge "jigsaw puzzle" and any rearranged date brings challenges.

A spring Olympics would clash with the end of the European football season, as well as the NBA playoffs and the early part of the baseball season in the US, noted Marcus Luer, CEO of sports branding firm Total Sports Asia.

"I like the general idea, April-May is a beautiful time in Japan, it makes sense from that point," he told AFP.

But the clashes make it "too complicated and hard," he said.

However, any rescheduling involves clashes — a summer Games would require athletics and swimming to move their World Championships.

In terms of cost, organisers had already put aside huge sums for innovative antidotes to the summer heat and humidity, including heat-absorbing road paint, water sprinklers, and even fake snow.

After admitting that the delay will cause "massive" extra spending, Tokyo 2020 would surely welcome the savings if anti-heat measures were no longer required.

"The compensation and new spending required would probably be lower if the Olympics happened in spring rather than summer," one representative from a sporting federation, who asked to remain anonymous, told AFP.

But some federations believe that having postponed the Games for health reasons, organisers should think twice about risking the health of athletes and fans by exposing them to the Tokyo summer.

President of the International Federation for Equestrian Sport Ingmar de Vos urged Tokyo 2020 and the IOC to "find a date where there will be less heat and less humidity."

"But why not, for the IOC to look at it again and choose dates which are better from a weather point of view. It's maybe an opportunity," he added.

The European Handball Association's president Michael Wiederer said though that an Olympics "in the middle of the season will dramatically effect all the competitions" and might have a "negative impact" on the Olympic event.

The IOC is reportedly looking to make the decision in a few weeks, with powerful chief coordinator John Coates quoted in the Yomiuri Shimbun as leaning towards a summer Games.

The modern Olympic Games have been a moveable feast and organisers could point to historical precedent in considering a spring time slot.

The last time Tokyo held the Olympics, in 1964, they were held in October, as were the following Games in Mexico City.

The early versions of the modern Olympics were held in spring — starting in April or May for Athens 1896, Paris 1900, London 1908 and Stockholm 1912 (St Louis 1904 was timed to coincide with an international exhibition and lasted from July to November).

Speaking before the postponement was announced, the IOC's former head of marketing Michael Payne told AFP: "Summer 2021 is the best option — indeed the only option."

PARIS —  With the 2020 Olympics postponed until 2021, there are fears the delay will shatter the gold medal hopes of many ageing athletes.

AFP Sport looks at six evergreen stars for whom a delayed Tokyo Games might be a step too far.

Roger Federer

The 20-time Grand Slam champion, who will be 40 in August 2021, won Olympic gold when he partnered Stan Wawrinka to the men's doubles title at the 2008 Beijing Games. Federer was a quarter-finalist in singles in China, silver medallist in 2012 in London before injury forced him skip the 2016 Games in Rio.

In Sydney, in 2000, Federer made the semi-finals in singles but he still remembers Australia fondly as it was the place where he first started his romance with Mirka Vavrinec, who is now his wife.

"Overall it was probably the most unbelievable Olympics I ever had," said Federer, who was also Switzerland's flag-bearer in Beijing and in Athens in 2004 where he exited in the second round.

Serena Williams

The US great will be 40 in September next year although her desire to play in Tokyo might not be as pressing as that of Federer.

Williams already has four Olympic gold medals — singles at London in 2012 and women's doubles with sister Venus in 2000, 2008 in Beijing and London four years later.

The sisters lost their opening round match in Rio in 2016 while Serena's gold medal defence in the singles was ended by Elina Svitolina in the third round.

Tiger Woods

Woods, who will be 46 in December next year, would have struggled to make the US team for the Games if they had remained in their 2020 slot. He is currently only the sixth-ranked American with just the top four guaranteed to make the squad.

Woods, the winner of 15 majors, has been fighting a recurrence of a back injury so at least the delay to 2021 for the Olympics gives him renewed hope of a golden swansong.

Organisers would be desperate for Woods to play after he missed the return of golf at the 2016 Games in Rio due to injury.

Lin Dan

The colourful and controversial Chinese badminton superstar will be 37 by the time the next Games roll around.

Lin already has gold from Beijing in 2008 and London four years later, adding to his five world titles.

However, there is a hint of unfinished business for Lin who was defeated in the bronze medal match in Rio in 2016 having been downed in the semi-finals by great rival Lee Chong Wei, the man he had beaten in the 2008 and 2012 Olympic finals.

Allyson Felix

The only female track and field athlete in history to win six Olympic gold medals, Felix had spent the last two years preparing for a golden farewell at the Tokyo Olympics.

Felix, who turns 35 at the end of this year, will be racing against Father Time as she attempts to improve her medal tally in what will be her fifth consecutive Olympics appearance.

The American star can take comfort from the fact she is by no means the oldest woman to chase Olympic glory in sprint events. Merlene Ottey was 40 when she anchored Jamaica's 4x100m relay team to a bronze medal in 2000.

Justin Gatlin

Gatlin had planned to retire in 2020 after competing in his fourth Olympics at the age of 38. However the controversial American star now plans to extend his career in order to compete in the rescheduled Tokyo Games.

"I think a lot of people think that time is against me or against older athletes in this situation, and it's far from the truth," said Gatlin, who has twice served suspensions for drug offences during his career.

Gatlin, the 2004 Olympic champion, though could face a battle to even qualify given the depth of the US men's sprinting squad, with Christian Coleman and Noah Lyles the favourites in the 100m and 200m.

But plenty of time for this pair

Syrian table tennis player Hend Zaza was set to become the youngest athlete at the Tokyo Olympics — at just 11 years old.

She would not have been alone in Japan as professional skateboarder Sky Brown — only five months older — was hoping to compete for Great Britain.

PARIS — MotoGP, like other sports and other businesses, is scrambling to deal with the problems posed by the coronavirus pandemic.

In the elite motorcycling championship, the 2020 season has yet to start. Teams, riders and organisers are trying to work out how they can rearrange the calendar, make up for financial losses and ensure a level track technically.

While the Moto2 and Moto3 categories competed in the opening race in Qatar, the headline MotoGP event was cancelled.

Dorna, the series promoter, has also postponed the next three events in Thailand, Texas and Argentina and hopes to run them in the second half of the season.

The May races in Spain, France and Italy are in doubt.

Dorna has already said it will push back the end of the season two weeks to 29 November.

It could also add races during the summer break (July 13-August 2) or extend the season further, within the limits imposed by logistics, time differences and weather.

"Our aim," said Dorna CEO Carmelo Ezpeleta, "is to maintain the Championship with the maximum number of races."

As things stand, the revised season will end with two gruelling blocks of three races in three weeks, with just one week off in between

"Physically we can manage everything," said Suzuki rider Joan Mir from Spain. "Mentally it will put us all to the test."

Financially, MotoGP teams need to race, Herve Poncharal, the boss of the French Tech3 team, KTM's satellite in MotoGP and Moto3, told AFP.

"If there are no more GPs, there is no more income linked to sponsors and prize money," he said.

Racing on tracks without paying fans is not an attractive option.

"Closed-door racing, economically speaking, is unplayable. We need income," he said.

Johan Stigefelt, who manages team SRT, a satellite of Yamaha that races in all three classes, tried to find an upside if more races are lost.

"Okay, in that scenario, we will also travel less so the cost for travelling will be less and so on," he said.

'Difficult scenario'

The cancellation of Qatar also created a technical problem.

Bikes are inspected on the Thursday before the opening race, a process called homologation, and after that teams, with exception of relative newcomers KTM and Aprilia, cannot upgrade engines and can only change the bike's "aero-body" once per rider.

In a statement on Monday, MotoGP said: "for reasons of equality and fairness the homologation must therefore be carried out remotely and digitally as soon as possible."

Like Formula One, in MotoGP teams are traditionally required to shut down their workshops in August. The four-wheel organisation has opted to lengthen and move forward that break to March-April but MotoGP "never considered a mandatory shutdown period".

The effects of the coronavirus will be felt in 2021 as well.

F1 has been forced, as a cost-saving measure, to postpone by a year its "big bang," which was due to give birth to completely redesigned single-seaters in 2021.

MotoGP has not yet said whether it will postpone development, but Poncharal said, "freezing the technical regulations to those of 2020 or organising fewer races" would reduce costs next year.

Stigefelt agrees.

"We are going to be travelling and racing until very late this year, until late in December perhaps," he said. "That means that the season next year will start early."

"If you have one month only to prepare yourself for 2021, one month or something like that before you start testing, that could be a difficult scenario for manufacturers."