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Covid and Expulsion from European competition


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Yesterday, UEFA confirmed Linfield would be awarded a 3-0 victory in their Champions League preliminary final tie over Drita (Kosovo) following Drita players testing positive for Covid led to the game being cancelled. Drita will drop into the Europa League, assuming they can fulfil that fixture.

With the Aberdeen and Celtic situations, there's a serious risk that our clubs could be given losses through positive tests (especially given they're all one leg ties this season).

Luckily for Aberdeen, their European fixture is on 27 August (14 days from this post) - so their cases may be gone before their match. With the city still being in lockdown, we can be certain it will be lifted in the next two weeks - enabling the game to be played, even if there aren't continued (or new) cases.

Celtic haven't reported any positive cases (to my knowledge), but with their game in five days (18 Aug), there's a risk a player could test positive within that time.

And that's without considering both Motherwell and Rangers, albeit Rangers' next European game won't be until 17 September, having cases before their fixtures.

Edited by Clyde1998
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23 minutes ago, vanderark14 said:

Atletico had two players test positive. Will they be punished?

It's a question of whether the fixture can be fulfilled. If the entire squad has to be quarantined due to the cases, then yes.

In Atletico's case, I believe the two players who were positive haven't (or hadn't) travelled to Portugal - so the rest of the squad should be fine, unless there are any additional cases. The Drita case noted in the OP would be the same scenario: they had players who had tested positive who hadn't travelled and a new case was identified once they'd travelled - so the who squad had to quarantine and couldn't fulfil the fixture.

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18 hours ago, Clyde1998 said:

It's a question of whether the fixture can be fulfilled. If the entire squad has to be quarantined due to the cases, then yes.

In Atletico's case, I believe the two players who were positive haven't (or hadn't) travelled to Portugal - so the rest of the squad should be fine, unless there are any additional cases. The Drita case noted in the OP would be the same scenario: they had players who had tested positive who hadn't travelled and a new case was identified once they'd travelled - so the who squad had to quarantine and couldn't fulfil the fixture.

It was the Swiss authorities who stopped Drita from playing not UEFA. UEFA allow you to play if you have 13 players available.

It'll come down to the local authorities in every country to decide the outcome if there's positive tests. If the neutral venue countries start bringing in rules similar to those in Switzerland then I think that will increase the number of forfeits a fair bit. Luckily for UEFA, I think Poland just got rid of the "one case, match off" rule. Not sure about the other 3 countries.

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On 8/14/2020 at 1:32 PM, paper_lion said:

It was the Swiss authorities who stopped Drita from playing not UEFA. UEFA allow you to play if you have 13 players available.

It'll come down to the local authorities in every country to decide the outcome if there's positive tests. If the neutral venue countries start bringing in rules similar to those in Switzerland then I think that will increase the number of forfeits a fair bit. Luckily for UEFA, I think Poland just got rid of the "one case, match off" rule. Not sure about the other 3 countries.

Aye - the Swiss authorities put the entire squad into quarantine, but UEFA's stance in a case that close to kick off (when there's no external regulations at play) will be something to watch out for.

 

Edited by Clyde1998
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On 8/18/2020 at 9:14 PM, Clyde1998 said:

Lincoln Red Imps (Gibraltar) vs Prishtina (Kosovo) in the Europa League preliminary round cancelled due to multiple Prishtina players testing positive for Covid-19.

Strangely, this game has been re-scheduled for Saturday.

Not sure why Lincoln Red Imps haven't been awarded the tie?

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28 minutes ago, min said:

Strangely, this game has been re-scheduled for Saturday.

Not sure why Lincoln Red Imps haven't been awarded the tie?

Noticed that with the KI-Slovan Bratislava game in the Champions League too.

A look at the UEFA regulations for this situation:

Quote

I.2.1 If one or more players or officials of a club test positive for COVID-19 in the tests required by the UEFA Return to Play Protocol, the match will take place as scheduled unless the national/local authorities of one or both clubs involved or of where the match will take place (in case of a neutral country) require a large group of players or the entire team to go into quarantine. If at least 13 players registered on the A list (including at least one goalkeeper) are available, the match must go ahead on the scheduled date. If less than 13 players registered on the A list or no registered goalkeeper are available, UEFA may allow a rescheduling of the match within the deadlines set out in paragraph I.3.1, if the relevant national/local authority seeks new tests to allow a sufficient number of players (at least 13 including at least one goalkeeper) to participate in the match. Alternatively, the club may field players who have not been registered with UEFA within the deadlines stipulated in the present regulations, provided that these players (i) are duly registered with their national association as playing for the club concerned in accordance with the association’s own rules and those of FIFA and (ii) are tested negative in accordance with the UEFA Return to Play Protocol. If it is not possible to reschedule the match in accordance with the deadlines set out in paragraph I.3.1, the club that cannot play the match will be held responsible for the match not taking place and the match will be declared by the UEFA Control, Ethics and Disciplinary Body to be forfeited by the club, which will be considered to have lost the match 3-0.

I.3.1 In any case, the UEFA administration may reschedule matches of the qualifying phase or play-offs if this ensures a match is played and does not jeopardise the schedule of any forthcoming matches in the competition. Such decisions of the UEFA administration are final. The rescheduling of matches is subject to the following deadlines for the different stages of the competitions: (i) UCL PR: 14 August 2020; (ii) UCL Q1: 21 August 2020; (iii) UCL Q2: 11 September 2020; (iv) UCL Q3: 18 September 2020; (v) UCL PO 1st leg: 25 September 2020; (vi) UCL PO 2nd leg: 1 October 2020; (vii) UEL PR: 22 August 2020; (viii) UEL Q1: 12 September 2020; (ix) UEL Q2: 19 September 2020; (x) UEL Q3: 26 September 2020; (xi) UEL PO: 2 October 2020.

Basically, it appears there's a deadline for matches to be played and UEFA will determine if matches can be rescheduled before the end of the week the match was supposed to take place. Whether these rescheduled games can be played or not is another question.

Edited by Clyde1998
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