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Tottenham stadium move delayed until March at earliest

Tottenham's stadium move has been further delayed until March at the earliest.

The club have announced that all home matches up until the end of February, including the Champions League round of 16 tie against Borussia Dortmund on Feb. 13, will be played at Wembley.

If Spurs reach the fifth round of the FA Cup and are drawn at home, that tie on the weekend of Feb. 16/17 would also be played at the national stadium. Spurs' stadium was due to open on Sept. 15 last year but has been beset by delays due to problems with critical safety systems, and tests are ongoing.

The club will have to hold two test events in order to get a safety certificate but those are yet to be scheduled and it remains unclear when the first fixture will be played at the new 62,000-seater ground.

Spurs' first home match after Dortmund is the north London derby against Arsenal in March, but sources have told ESPN FC that this is unlikely to be chosen as the curtain-raiser due to safety concerns.

"I should like to apologise to our fans and thank you for your continued patience, chairman Daniel Levy said. "The response from those who attended the familiarisation event was great to hear and reinforced our commitment to deliver an exceptional matchday experience for everyone.

"We shall now seek clarity in respect of building test schedules and test event dates and provide further information on these in the next two to three weeks."

There were reports that had Tottenham played the first leg of their clash with Dortmund at Wembley, they would have had to play every other home match in this season's campaign at the same stadium.

However, UEFA have confirmed this may not be the case.

"UEFA will remain in close contact with Tottenham Hotspur to assess the possibility of the club hosting UEFA competition matches in their new stadium this season, if the club qualifies for the next round of the UEFA Champions League," a statement read.