If the big European football leagues can’t get their league back up and running by June, they could be forced to finish the season using PLAYOFFS, according to reports.
UK newspaper the Daily Mail reports that UEFA has issued guidelines to clubs and leagues across the continent in a bid to maintain the integrity of the big European competitions – the UEFA Champions League and Europa League.
UEFA announced that 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.”
A UEFA meeting to discuss the way forward for the continent’s big leagues has stated that leagues restarting in June must finish their seasons by August 3, but any leagues that do not resume play by June may be guided toward alternative methods to complete the season, with playoffs a likely solution.
Any leagues that declare themselves unable to complete their seasons would then have to decide which teams are eligible for the UEFA European competitions on sporting merit, but there will be no UEFA rankings or wild cards to decide who gets into those competitions.
UEFA warned that it reserved the right to refuse admission to its European competitions if its guidelines were not followed and if “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”.
UEFA said it would also evaluate or refuse admission if “there is a public perception of unfairness in the qualification of the club.”
