Sports merit to qualify clubs in C1 in case of a stopped season

UEFA calms the game. Three weeks after tapping hard on the fragile little fingers of the Belgian football league, which was threatened with exclusion from the European cups next season for having announced that it was going to end its season, the organizer of European football has put away the cannons and disarmed the bayonets. Meeting by videoconference for the second time this week, the executive committee confirmed the possibility for the national championships not to finish the current season if the sanitary provisions or the governmental directives did not allow it.

For 2020/21, the UEFA Executive Committee has adopted its Directives on the qualification of clubs # UCL #UEL ⤵️⤵️https: //t.co/h5ZDDGYrIV

End the season including changing the format

A change in doctrine which could modify the balance of power in France as elsewhere. While Ligue 1 players have shown by a small majority their opposition to a resumption of the season in June as hoped by the LFP, the latter will be able to rely on general surprise on the precautions now issued by the UEFA.

Concretely, the representatives of the UEFA renewed their “strong recommendations to study all the possible options” in order to finish all the championships, even if that would pass “by a change of format” so that the competitions can know “their natural conclusion " No precise calendar, nor even a deadline to finish the domestic competitions. UEFA is now considering two different scenarios, with the remaining C1 and Europa League matches played at the same time as the end of the national championships if necessary.

Two exceptions in case of seasons stopped before their term

Nothing new so far, but it is coming. UEFA recognizes that "the health of the players, spectators and all those affected by the resumption of football must remain the first decision criteria". Consequently, the institution, prompted by the Belgian and Dutch examples, now provides for two exceptions which offer the National Leagues to end their season now.

• "The existence of an official government directive which would prohibit competitions from resuming and going to completion without endangering the holding of the 2020/2021 season". This is for example the case of Eredivisie, since the Prime Minister of the Netherlands announced that all sports meetings until September, including in camera, were prohibited.
• "Insurmountable economic problems that would put clubs or championships in jeopardy if the end of the 2019/2020 competitions were to be held at all costs".

Clearly, no more pressure on the LFP to resume Ligue 1 against all odds before the summer, especially if the state is not hot. What about the qualifications for the next European Cups in this case? Well there too, UEFA clarified its doctrine, while several media, notably Italian, had announced the idea of ​​a choice based on the UEFA coefficient, while in France, Lyon or Toulouse plead for a white season who would safeguard their interests.

"Sport will not be a priority in our society" according to Maracineanu via @ 20minutesSport https://t.co/BbJMmOseEb

Clubs qualified for the European Cup chosen "on sporting merit"

The procedure for selecting clubs qualified for the Champions League and the Europa League must "be based on sporting merit, according to objective, transparent and non-discriminatory criteria". A small line that changes a lot, while leaving considerable room for maneuver for the domestic leagues. The latter "will have the possibility of deciding the final positions of their championships, while taking into account the specificity of each competition".

In real French, if we look at our navel? On paper The LFP can decide to qualify who it wants in the European Cup, including the finalists of the Coupe de la Ligue and the Coupe de France (OL and Saint-Etienne), but it is not really what is advised. The executive committee explains that UEFA reserves the right to evaluate the decisions taken by the National Lines in the following cases:

• "The clubs qualified for European competitions or chosen to be relegated / promoted" were not so by following an objective, transparent and non-discriminatory procedure. Thus, "the clubs chosen cannot be considered to have been selected on the basis of sporting merit".
• "There is a general perception in the opinion of a certain inequity in the process of electing clubs qualified for the European Cup".

The shooting window isn't so big all of a sudden. Hence the importance of the discussions led by representatives of the League, the French Federation (FFF), the UCPF, the UNECATF, and nine representatives of clubs of L1 and L2, on the scenarios of resumption or termination of L1. What final classification would be sent to UEFA if the season was not to resume, a major prospect? Roxana Maracineanu, the Minister of Sports, said Wednesday that "the resumption of high performance sport would not be a priority" in the strategy of deconfinement thought by the executive.

Amateur clubs, injured by the stoppage of the championships, set off on a crusade via @ 20minutesSport https://t.co/rlt4cgFvQO

What classification in L1 in case of stoppage?

We quickly went around, in fact, even if the FFF had a lot of imagination in weighting certain rankings according to the number of games played away, which obviously provoked outraged reactions from certain clubs clearly injured by stopping the championships.

A picture of the classification after the 27th day, the last disputed in full

The league ranking at the end of day 27. - Screenshot / LFP website

A calculation formula with a calculation according to the number of matches played, in order to integrate the postponed match between Strasbourg and PSG

The classification of L1 at the end of the 28th day. - Screenshot / LFP website

According to the latest indiscretions, which were confirmed to us by a participant in the various meetings, a clear preference would emerge for the second hypothesis, which would have the distinction of making a very noisy victim: The OL of Jean-Michel Aulas, who would thus pass from 5th place to 7th place, and would no longer even qualify for the Europa League. The Lyon boss, always quick to preach for his parish, has already warned on Twitter that "the legal decisions after" could overturn the policy of UEFA and that of the LFP.

The European Cup moves away for OL and Saint-Etienne - Foot - L1 @OL @leprogreslyon disagree with the title: OL with 10 games to return, the league cup, the Champion's league to qualify and all legal decisions after! https://t.co/kEQcyBVdPD

OL might not like

It sounds like a threat of a showdown in sports justice, but Lyon may not be alone in this fight and could argue a certain inequity too, seen from its balcony. OL are still qualified for the Champions League with an honest chance of advancing to the quarter-finals, they must play a League Cup final against PSG which would send them to the Europa League if they win, and the club Lyonnais is the one that had to stuff the biggest calendar between January and March, with matches every three days in the middle of winter.

Accustomed to the finish in Ferrari and provided with an XXL manpower compared to Reims and Nice, its direct competitors for the C3, OL in theory still have 10 games to rebuild and hang Europe in extremis. If he can't play them, we risk hearing about them.

Sport

Coronavirus: "It's inequitable" ... Amateur clubs, injured by the end of the championships, set off on a crusade

Sport

Coronavirus: Bundesliga set to be the first major championship to resume

• PSG
• OL
• Coronavirus
• Champions League
• Soccer
• Uefa
• Sport