Clubs engaged in the Champions League will have to be very careful, because UEFA will be ruthless if matches are disrupted by the coronavirus.
After deciding to postpone Euro 2020 for a year, then having organized a Final 8 in Portugal in order to finish the Champions League, theUEFA doesn’t want things to escalate for the 2020-2021 season. So, Aleksander Ceferin, the boss of the European football body, decided that very strict rules will be applied to clubs engaged in C1 so that the situation does not degenerate, UEFA having understood that the current epidemic was not going not stop anytime soon. The purpose of this rule change, adopted on Tuesday, is clear: to do everything to ensure that the schedule is respected, no matter what. And for this, sanctions are already planned for clubs that have not taken the necessary measures to avoid cases of Covid in their workforce or if countries close borders.
Example of this change, if a club cannot host a match due to a health decision in its country, it must provide a fallback stadium abroad, otherwise it will be a match lost by forfeit. Likewise, if a team is decimated by cases of Covid19 and is unable to play, even when calling on players not on their roster, then they will have lost the game 3-0. More anecdotally, if a referee cannot officiate due to a positive last minute test, then he may be replaced by a referee from the same country as one of the two teams. It is obvious, UEFA does not want to laugh with its next Champions League, and it is the clubs that will have to assume it.
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