European football remains united in the hope of finishing the season during the summer after the postponement of Euro 2020 came at “huge cost”.

Governing body UEFA made “the biggest sacrifice” to tackle the disruption to the football calendar caused by the coronavirus pandemic by agreeing to push the showpiece event back until next year.

On Tuesday, a meeting convened by European football’s governing body accepted the switch in order to find a way to break the logjam of fixtures created by the spread of the virus throughout the continent.

The new dates proposed are June 11 to July 11, 2021, and the move appears to have been met with the approval of Europe’s national associations.

UEFA confirmed the Euro 2020 play-offs, due to be played this month, would now take place in the June international window.

The Women’s Euros, as well as the Nations League Finals and Under-21 Euros - all of which were due to take place in the summer of 2021, will be rescheduled. It is understood dates of June 24 and June 27 were pencilled in, but not officially confirmed, for the Europa League and Champions League finals.

UEFA, the European Club Association, European Leagues and players’ union FIFPRO Europe have signed a joint resolution committing to completing all domestic and European club competitions by June 30, “should the situation improve and resuming playing be appropriate and prudent enough”.

To help with scheduling, domestic league matches might be played in mid-week and UEFA competition matches on weekends.

In the event the club season cannot be completed by the end of June, the qualifying rounds for next season’s Champions and Europa Leagues may be adapted.

UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin admitted the postponement of Euro 2020 came at “huge cost” to the governing body, but that ploughing ahead - potentially behind closed doors - was not something UEFA had wanted to consider.

“There was a real spirit of co-operation, with everyone recognising that they had to sacrifice something in order to achieve the best result,” he said following Tuesday’s meeting.

“It was important that, as the governing body of European football, UEFA led the process and made the biggest sacrifice.

“Moving Euro 2020 comes at a huge cost for UEFA but we will do our best to ensure that the vital funding for grassroots, women’s football and the development of the game in our 55 countries is not affected.”