European football will pause before everyfixture this week to remember the victims of Nepal’s late-August flash floods and landslides. UEFA confirmed on Monday that a moment of silence and a solidarity banner will take place ahead of all 18 league-phase games, starting on Tuesday night.
The governing body said the gesture is meant as support for a country still searching for thousands of missing people more than a week after the disaster.
“A moment of silence will be held, and a banner will be displayed as a sign of solidarity and support ahead of all UEFA Champions League matches this week,” UEFA said in a statement published on Monday.
The banner will carry a simple line: “You are not alone Nepal.”
UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin framed the tribute as a message from the whole continental game, not just the clubs playing this week.
“The entire European football family will stand together before this week’s matches to express our deepest condolences and our support to the people of Nepal. We wish them strength and resilience as they continue to recover from this tragedy and its aftermath,” Čeferin said.
The floods began on 26 August after an ice-and-rock avalanche near the Nepal-Tibet border sent a surge of water, mud and debris down the Bhotekoshi and Trishuli river systems. Towns, roads, bridges and hydropower sites in northern and centralwere torn apart.
Nepal’s National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority said the death toll had climbed to about 1,355 by Monday, with 4,996 people still missing, including at least 589 foreign nationals. More than 13,300 people have been rescued. Identification of recovered bodies has been slow because many were carried far downstream.
The scale of the loss is why UEFA chose the first week of the new Champions League campaign, when the largest television audience of the club season is watching.
The 2026/27 league phase begins on Tuesday, 8 September, with six matches, including against Inter Milan at the Santiago Bernabeu. Six more follow on Wednesday and six on Thursday, taking the week’s total to 18.
Wednesday’s slate includes Barcelona against Feyenoord and Liverpool against Atletico Madrid. Thursday features Bayern Munich against Bodø/Glimt and against Sabah. Every one of those kick-offs will be preceded by the same silence and the same banner.
Players, officials and supporters will be asked to stand together for a short pause before the first whistle. The banner is intended to be visible on the pitch and on broadcasts so the message reaches living rooms as well as stands.
This is not the first time European football has marked a disaster outside the continent. In September 2023, UEFA arranged similar tributes after the earthquake in Morocco and the floods in Libya. Monday’s statement follows that same pattern: a brief, shared pause rather than a change to the sporting calendar.
The silence begins on Tuesday in Madrid, Athens, Bruges, Dortmund, Porto and Lille. It will be repeated in Barcelona, Liverpool, Paris and the rest of the midweek venues until Thursday night.
