
The UEFA Executive Committee held a meeting today, in which they recommended that countries try and finish their domestic leagues if possible. However, if countries provided a valid reason to UEFA why their league season must finish immediately, UEFA would allow them to do so and clubs would still be able to qualify for European competitions. That said, UEFA have stated that they reserve the right not to accept clubs into European competitions if their league seasons are not finished for a justifiable reason, or the process for selecting clubs into its competitions is done in an objective manner. Furthermore, UEFA have said that clubs should be granted entry into European competitions for the 2020/21 seasons based on performance in the 2019/20 league season, which in effect, arguably rules out countries declaring their league seasons "null and void".
A statement by the UEFA Executive Committee following today's meeting read: "The UEFA Executive Committee met today via videoconference. It received updates on the Working Groups established in partnership with the European Club Association (ECA), European Leagues (EL) and FIFPRO Europe. Of the two scenarios being examined by the Calendar Working Group, both envisage domestic football starting before UEFA club competitions, with one seeking to run the competitions in parallel and the other to complete domestic matches before re-starting UEFA matches in August.
The Committee heard of the work of the newly-established Medical sub group, chaired by Professor Tim Meyer, examining the health issues surrounding a return to football, which is working alongside the ECA and EL to link the work already being done by leagues and clubs to produce a set of guidelines which will align with the best health protocols available. The Committee valued the unity shown across European football and the emphasis being placed on prioritising health in trying to establish a path to football’s return.
As a result of representations made by the football authorities in Belgium and Scotland, the Committee recognises the issues raised and approved the Guidelines on eligibility principles for 2020/21 UEFA club competitions. The Guidelines reflect the principle that admission to UEFA club competitions is always based on sporting merit.
Therefore, UEFA urges National Associations and Leagues to explore all possible options to play all top domestic competitions giving access to UEFA club competitions to their natural conclusion. However, UEFA stresses that the health of players, spectators and all those involved in football as well as the public at large must remain the primary concern at this time.
The ideal scenario, should the pandemic situation permit it, is to have the currently suspended domestic competitions completed enabling football clubs to qualify for UEFA club competitions on sporting merit in their original format. Should this outcome not be possible, in particular due to calendar issues, it would be preferable that suspended domestic competitions would restart with a different format in a manner which would still facilitate clubs to qualify on sporting merit.
While using best efforts to complete the domestic competitions, National Associations and/or Leagues might have legitimate reasons to prematurely terminate their domestic competitions, in particular in the following cases:
• existence of an official order prohibiting sports events so that the domestic competitions cannot be completed before a date that would make it possible to complete the current season in good time before the next season to start.
• insurmountable economic problems which make finishing the season impossible because it would put at risk the long-term financial stability of the domestic competition and/or clubs.
If a domestic competition is prematurely terminated for legitimate reasons in accordance with the above conditions, UEFA would require the National Association concerned to select clubs for the UEFA club competitions 2020/21 based on sporting merit in the 2019/20 domestic competitions:
• the procedure for selecting clubs should be based on objective, transparent and non-discriminatory principles. National Associations and Leagues, should otherwise have the ability to decide the final positions in their domestic competitions, having regard to the specific circumstances of each competition;
• the final determination of eligible places for the UEFA club competitions should be confirmed by the relevant competent bodies at domestic level.
UEFA reserves the right to refuse or evaluate the admission to any club proposed by a National Association from a prematurely terminated domestic competition in particular where:
• the domestic competitions have not been prematurely terminated based on the reasons given in these UEFA guidelines or on the basis of any other legitimate public health reasons;
• the clubs were selected pursuant to a procedure which was not objective, transparent and non-discriminatory so that the selected clubs could not be considered as having been qualified on sporting merit;
• there is a public perception of unfairness in the qualification of the club." In addition, UEFA has also announced that the Women's Euro, which was scheduled to take place next year, has been postponed to 2022. Under the guidelines issued by UEFA, were the Premier League season to be curtailed, it is believed that the league would opt to go for a points-per-game basis (to take into account games in hand) to determine which teams qualify for European competition, although the possibility of play-offs have been mentioned. In the event that the former is chosen, the English teams who would qualify for Europe would be as follows: Champions League - Liverpool, Manchester City, Leicester City, Chelsea Europa League - Manchester United, Sheffield United, Wolves However, it should be pointed out that Manchester City face a ban from European competition for the next two seasons, which is subject to appeal (no outcome will be decided just yet) and it is unclear as to whether the ban would kick in from next season. In the event that their ban was upheld for next season, Manchester United would inherit their Champions League place, with Arsenal qualifying for Europa League. It should also be pointed out that, using the points-per-game basis, Sheffield United would currently leapfrog Wolves in the table, whilst Arsenal would finish above Tottenham Hotspur.
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