The coronavirus pandemic has brought about a halt in all football activities worldwide with various European domestic leagues having series of matches left to complete the 2019/2020 season.
Liverpool in the English Premier League for instance are leading the log with 25 points away from their nearest rival Manchester City with nine games left.
Meanwhile, National Daily gathered that UEFA is urging all of its National Associations and Leagues to explore all of the possible options to complete the 2019/20 domestic seasons so that it can allow all UEFA club competitions to be completed.
UEFA held its latest round of talks via video conference on Thursday to discuss plans for the remainder of the campaign and what steps may need to be taken to bring the campaign to an end.
While the European football governing body have structured their intentions for the campaign to be concluded, they have however reiterated the importance of the health of players, spectators and all of those involved in football must remain as the top priority at this time.
In a statement, UEFA said: “As a result of representations made by the football authorities in Belgium and Scotland, the Committee recognises the issues raised and approved the Guidelines on eligibility principles for 2020/21 UEFA club competitions. The Guidelines reflect the principle that admission to UEFA club competitions is always based on sporting merit.
“Therefore, 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. However, UEFA stresses that the 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.
“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.”
UEFA also confirmed that should the 2019/20 campaign not be concluded, they will require each individual National Association concerned to select clubs for the UEFA club competitions in the 2020/21 campaign based on sporting merit in the 2019/20 domestic competitions.