[Sport] Uefa deny receiving WHO advice to suspend football until end of 2021 after claims Arsenal could qualify for Champions League

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Uefa has denied receiving a request from the World Health Organisation to suspend all football until the end of 2021 following reports that the coronavirus pandemic could see the sport in Europe suspended for more than 21 months.

A report emerged in Italian publication La Republicca on Tuesday evening claiming that Uefa received notice from the WHO during a two-and-a-half hour Executive Committee meeting last Thursday, which recommended football is not resumed until the start of 2022 in order to avoid a second wave of Covid-19.

That would result in the postponed Euro 2020 tournament needing to be rescheduled once again or face full cancellation, and cause havoc with both the 2019/20 and 2020/21 domestic and European seasons, which would both face cancellation with no opportunity to resume.
The La Repubblica report quotes Brazilian weekly ‘Veja’ as the source of the information, with the Sao Paulo magazine claiming that the current talks of resuming the season in the coming months would be impossible due to WHO’s advice.

But a Uefa spokesman confirmed to The Independent that the WHO have not asked for football to be suspended until the end of 2021, with talks ongoing about how the 2019/20 campaign can be resumed when safe to do so.

WHO have also taken an active role in helping to reschedule the Tokyo Olympics next summer, a decision that was made by the International Olympic Committee and Tokyo 2020 organising committee based on information from the leading global health advisers, with the Games set to begin on 23 July which will include the Olympic football tournament.

A WHO statement added: “This is not correct. WHO never recommended that football should no longer be played until the end of 2021.”

The claims led to a spurious suggestion that Uefa could use the current coefficient rankings to determine who qualifies for the next Champions League campaign, which led to reports that Arsenal could make a shock return to the competition via a backdoor route as they are currently placed fourth out of the Premier League teams, ahead of Chelsea, Tottenham Hotspur and Leicester City, thanks to their recent European record.

However, it’s understood that this is not the case, and although coefficients are one way for Uefa to determine next season’s European qualifiers if the current campaign is unable to resume, the governing body remains fully committed in working towards a resumption and completing 2019/20 in the coming months.

Reports have suggested that the European governing body is tentatively working towards a Champions League final of 29 August, with a plan to complete all domestic cup and league competitions by the end of July to enable the Champions League and Europa League to be completed the following months.

The Uefa Executive Committee will meet again on Thursday, after calendar proposals were presented to the 55 member associates on Tuesday via videoconference, and an announcement on the topic is expected to follow as well as the latest on certain domestic leagues across Europe being ended immediately due to government regulations preventing football from restarting. The Belgian Pro League has already ended its season and crowned Club Brugge champions – though the decision is yet to be confirmed – while the Dutch Eredivisie has indicated they intend to do the same after the Netherlands government announced a ban on football until 1 September due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.

The KNVB “intends not to continue playing the 2019/20 competition” as a result of that decision and will consult with Uefa, “after which the decision will be taken” on the cancellation of the Eredivisie and other leagues.

The Dutch football association, clubs and other parties will discuss the consequences on Friday.

A WHO statement issued to The Independent read: “In addition to our existing  guidance on mass gatherings, WHO published a document providing public health guidance for organisers of sport events. WHO recommends that any decision to restrict, modify, postpone, cancel, or proceed with holding a mass gathering should be based on a standardised risk assessment exercise. These decisions should be part of a comprehensive approach taken by national authorities to respond to the outbreak. 

“WHO provides advice to organisers of sports events but it is not the decision maker. In general, the later the dates, the more time the world will have to gather additional knowledge and understanding of Covid-19, as well as to prepare for the global recovery from the pandemic.”