Covid-19/European Cups: qualification for UEFA competitions should be "based on sporting merit"

UEFA insists that admission to its club competitions should always be "based on sporting merit", but stressed that "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," said the European body following a meeting of its executive committee via videoconference on 23/04/2020.

"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," added the body.

"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," said UEFA.

UEFA: If a championship cannot be…