UCL decision is good news for Chelsea and Man Utd; bad for Arsenal & Tottenham
Arsenal and Tottenham have been dealt a blow to their hopes of Champions League qualification after Uefa confirmed their guidelines for awarding places next season.
Europe's governing body has urged national associations and leagues to "explore all possible options" to play domestic competitions to allow campaigns to reach their natural conclusion.
This is likely to include matches being played behind closed doors while other ideas, such as hosting several games at a neutral venue, have also been considered.
The Premier League are hoping to conclude the league 2019/20 campaign by July 31, with matches potentially shown on free-to-air television.
However, for countries such as Belgium, Germany and The Netherlands where the government has banned sporting events, Champions League and Europa League places must be awarded on "sporting merit" if seasons cannot be completed - making the prospect of places based on Uefa coefficient rankings extremely unlikely.
The announcement will come as a relief to Chelsea and Manchester United, who would therefore qualify for the Champions League in 2020/21 in fourth and fifth if the remainder of the Premier League season is cancelled.
As it stands, the Red Devils would take the final qualification spot if Manchester City's appeal over their two-season European ban is upheld by the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
The announcement appears to have ended Arsenal and Tottenham's hopes qualifying if the season is cancelled after The Sun claimed Uefa could seek to pick clubs to qualify based on their coefficient ranking, which measures how successful each club has fared in Uefa competition year-on-year.
Under that model, Arsenal would have benefited most with the highest coefficient while Tottenham, who finished as runners up in the 2019 Champions League final, would rank above Chelsea, Leicester City and Manchester United.
But there was nothing to suggest that coefficient rankings would be used as an alternative method in Uefa's latest announcement.
Europe's governing body has urged national associations and leagues to "explore all possible options" to play domestic competitions to allow campaigns to reach their natural conclusion.
This is likely to include matches being played behind closed doors while other ideas, such as hosting several games at a neutral venue, have also been considered.
The Premier League are hoping to conclude the league 2019/20 campaign by July 31, with matches potentially shown on free-to-air television.
However, for countries such as Belgium, Germany and The Netherlands where the government has banned sporting events, Champions League and Europa League places must be awarded on "sporting merit" if seasons cannot be completed - making the prospect of places based on Uefa coefficient rankings extremely unlikely.
The announcement will come as a relief to Chelsea and Manchester United, who would therefore qualify for the Champions League in 2020/21 in fourth and fifth if the remainder of the Premier League season is cancelled.
As it stands, the Red Devils would take the final qualification spot if Manchester City's appeal over their two-season European ban is upheld by the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
The announcement appears to have ended Arsenal and Tottenham's hopes qualifying if the season is cancelled after The Sun claimed Uefa could seek to pick clubs to qualify based on their coefficient ranking, which measures how successful each club has fared in Uefa competition year-on-year.
Under that model, Arsenal would have benefited most with the highest coefficient while Tottenham, who finished as runners up in the 2019 Champions League final, would rank above Chelsea, Leicester City and Manchester United.
But there was nothing to suggest that coefficient rankings would be used as an alternative method in Uefa's latest announcement.
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