Uefa explore plans to deal with ‘biggest ever crisis’
WHEN the various parties of European football got together for an extraordinary Uefa video conference yesterday morning, two stances were very quickly agreed upon.
The first — in the words of president Alexander Ceferin — was that this “is the biggest crisis” the sport has faced
“in history”, and needs to be approached accordingly. The second was that the absolute priority of all involved was to finish the 2019-20 season — no matter when that may be.
In that sense, supporters of Liverpool, Leeds and so many others can rest a little easier.
To achieve that, however, everyone is going to have to be very flexible and very patient.
“There are a lot of different scenarios, we are ruling nothing out,” FA chief executive Mark Bullingham said.
That was very much the theme of the day, as Uefa now set up a series of working groups to try and work through these many problems — not least regarding the future of financially-stricken clubs.
On that, and the potential threat of litigation depending on decisions, Bullingham struck an inclusive tone.
“What I would say is the unity at a domestic level and international level has been fantastic. From my point of view, the football family has really come together in the discussions we’ve been having.”
This was another more encouraging undercurrent of a tough day, as Ceferin spoke of “a reset of the world football” and how “there is no time for egoistic ideas” and “no more time for selfishness”.
Time will tell on that. There were still parties privately speaking after the briefing over whether certain concessions had been offered for political reasons, and because of the expectation of some return later.
It all meant, however, that the essential first step was entirely expected: the postponement of Euro 2020 until 2021. That, according to Ceferin, naturally had “100% full support of all 55 national associations,
European Leagues, European Club Association and FIFPro.
“We think that postponing the Euro sis the only chance to get a chance to the national leagues and to all the club competitions to finish.”
That is only a chance, though, It isn’t the solution. There isn’t really a solution, since — as Ceferin added — “it’s not up to us, it’s up to the experts” — and “that terrible virus”. That has meant that Uefa have shown more flexibility in another key area: they haven’t set a fixed date for the finals of the Europa League or Champions League. This is crucial.
Although the tentative plan is still to finish the season by June 30, it means the domestic leagues aren’t anchored to specific dates, meaning there just isn’t the same pressure.
Uefa are also trying to come up with all manner of contingency plans for what is an ever-changing situation.
“We have Plan A, Plan B, Plan C, Plan D. Depends all on the time when we will have a chance to start playing again.”
One of those higher-ranked plans does involve playing the Europa League final on June 24 in Gdansk and Champions League final on June 27 in Istanbul but they’re provisional.
Another plan is to stage the final few rounds in those countries in what would be effective
weekend festivals of football. The very prospect, however, sounds fanciful.
Either way, it currently suits Uefa as much as the domestic leagues. They don’t want the 2020 entries on their lists of champions left blank either.
As regards that, Ceferin insisted the continental body are against the idea of just taking the current tables as final. Most leagues want to avoid it. The English leagues certainly do.
Their plan to finish between July and September at least seems more feasible than most.
“I’ve also seen and heard some fake news that Uefa will advise leagues to finish now and decide that the winners are the ones who are No.1 now,” Ceferin said. “I can say that it’s not true. Our goal is to finish.”
The biggest complication after June 30 is financial. It would mean many clubs going months without games, and likely going out of business.
Ceferin admitted the cost to Uefa will go to “hundreds of millions of euros”, but insisted reports they asked leagues for money to delay the end of the season as more “fake news”.
“We are all in the same situation here and we have to help each other. One working group will deal with the calendar and the other working group will deal with financial impact,” he said. “I don’t know what will happen, but the fact is that what I saw today is that this situation brought us together. If anything, we saw our ecosystem is fragile, it’s one ecosystem, we have to act responsibly and help each other.”
This was the vibe of the day. They still have to — together — figure out what next.
This is indeed the biggest crisis the game has ever faced. It may require the most imaginative and inclusive solution.