Qualification for next season's UCL must be based on 'Sporting Merit'- UEFA

UEFA have told leagues across Europe that they must ‘explore all possible options’ to complete their remaining fixtures in order to ensure next season’s Champions League participants are determined by ‘sporting merit’. 

The announcement was made after the Executive Committee met via video conference to discuss how best to end the season. 

European football’s governing body has formulated a series of Working Groups in association with the European Club Association, European Leagues and FIFPRO Europe, to try and solve the problem of how to finish this season’s Champions League and Europa League. 

The statement reads as follows: “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 meeting also discussed the qualification process for next season’s UEFA club competitions, in the event that the season cannot be completed due to the coronavirus pandemic. “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.” 

“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.”  

However, UEFA made one thing sure that the decision made must be “objective, transparent and non-discriminatory”, and must not have a “public perception of unfairness.” All this because if a league is unable to be completed, it would be up to the national governing body to select which team’s progressed into European competitions next season.   

With Bundesliga all-set to resume in May, it is finally a relief to all the football fans worldwide and also to the players who have been waiting to get back into action. 

featured image credits- sportstar.thehindu.com