European football is torn apart in the midst of a coronavirus pandemic. Belgium was the first country to make the decision to end the football season on Thursday due to the coronavirus pandemic. But UEFA, which is pushing for a resumption of European and national competitions in the coming weeks, raised its tone in a letter sent Thursday to the federations, leagues and clubs of the Old Continent, of which AFP obtained a copy.
"Any decision to abandon domestic competitions is premature and unjustified at this stage," wrote Aleksander Ceferin, the president of UEFA, that of the European Association of Clubs (ECA) Andrea Agnelli, and that of the Association of European Leagues (EL) Lars-Christer Olsson. The objective? Discourage those who would like to permanently stop their domestic championship in the face of the health crisis.
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Threat of exclusion from European competitions
The Belgian decision goes against the position repeatedly repeated by UEFA, which has set up working groups supposed to work to "ensure that the primary objective of bringing the competitions to a conclusion is reached". Stopping competitions must be "the last resort", insists the confederation in its letter. The European body has even left the threat of exclusion from European competitions (Champions League and Europa League) for the clubs that have stopped their championships.
"As participation in UEFA competitions is determined by the sporting result attained at the end of each full domestic competition, premature interruption would raise doubts as to the fulfillment of this condition. UEFA reserves the right to assess the legitimacy (of these clubs) to participate in UEFA competitions in 2020-2021, "writes Aleksander Ceferin.
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This threat targets, for example, FC Bruges, leader of the Belgian championship before the end of the season and who should logically qualify directly for the next Champions League. Despite this sword of Damocles, Belgian football refused to reverse its position, assuming to "challenge any approach which would consist in forcing a league to continue its competition in the current state of the health crisis under penalty of not being able to participate in the European competitions for next season ".
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Italy and England are also thinking about stopping the season
Does this strategy of the European body constitute a real threat, or does it act above all to avoid contagion to the rest of Europe? In Italy and England, two of the most prestigious championships in the world, the track of an outright stop of the season is also mentioned. The president of Brescia (last in Serie A), a Lombard city located at the heart of the epidemic on the other side of the Alps, has even threatened to forfeit all the matches remaining to be played if the season starts again. In England, West Ham vice president Karren Brady expressed the same idea in The Sun newspaper.
The idea is also starting to take hold in France, where the president of Brest, Denis Le Saint, was Friday the first to request a stop of the season. "From my point of view, it's the end. It stops there. The Championship must stop. The season cannot resume," he told L'Equipe .
However, stopping domestic competitions could have major repercussions for UEFA. Broadcasters across Europe are indeed attentive to the situation and some, such as beIN Sports and Canal + in France, have already interrupted the payment of TV rights. Above all, if certain countries whistled the end of the season, it becomes difficult to imagine the Champions League going to completion. And it would then be the TV rights of the C1, UEFA's flagship product and its goose that should be questioned.