Exclusive: UEFA confirm they could ban Celtic from UCL but not Rangers from UEL

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Exclusive: UEFA confirm they could ban Celtic from UCL but not Rangers from UEL


Uefa got back to Ibrox Noise on our contact over legal action and its ramifications for Scottish clubs’ European football campaigns.

The governing body of the European game has been rumoured as barring our clubs from European tournaments if any member of the SPL carries out legal action upon the domestic governing body, the SPFL.

Hearts are threatening legal action over being relegated, while Rangers are doing similar over being denied the opportunity to catch Celtic.

But what did Uefa say?

Well, word from Nyon is close to its chest indeed, and a spokesman told Ibrox Noise:

“With regard to the eligibility for participation in UEFA competitions for season 2020/21, we refer you to the official communication and guidelines approved by the UEFA Executive Committee on 23 April.”

A touch vague.

And the guidelines in question contain no information about the scenario in question, but instead reveal something even more interesting:

“UEFA reserves the right to refuse or evaluate the admission to any club proposed by a National Association from a prematurely terminated domestic competition in particular where:

b, the clubs were selected pursuant to a procedure which was not objective, transparent and non-discriminatory so that the selected clubs could not be considered as having been qualified on sporting merit;

c. there is a public perception of unfairness in the qualification of the club”

Now this isn’t directly related to the legal action, but UEFA have confirmed something damning here.

Firstly, they’ve revealed if a qualification is achieved subjectively, and the qualification is not on grounds of sporting merit, that’s potentially a ban. They’ve also announced that ‘being considered unfair by the public’ (which Celtic’s title most certainly is) is also grounds enough to exclude a side from qualification to their competitions.

The non-objective one is huge. And could have Rangers legitimately in the UEL while Celtic are banned from the UCL.

These same rules could also see PSG barred as well. But probably not in their case because they’re rather big and more influential.

Interesting response really…

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