UEFA Executive Committee announces decisions related to UEFA club competitions

The UEFA Executive Committee has taken the following decisions in relation to the UEFA club competitions.

Removal of pending yellow cards on completion of the Round of 16 for 2019/20 UCL/UEL season

Following the changes approved by the UEFA Executive Committee on 17 June 2020 on the format of the 2019/20 UEFA Champions League and 2019/20 UEFA Europa League, the remaining stages of these competitions have reduced the quarter-finals and semi-finals rounds to single-leg matches.

In order to recreate the same balance of matches left after the removal of pending yellow cards, the UEFA Executive Committee has decided to anticipate the cut-off date for yellow cards received by players and staff after the Round of 16 instead of after the quarter-finals (i.e. two matches before the final) and to amend Article 51.04 of the Regulations of the UEFA Champions League (Season 2019/20) and Article 49.04 of the Regulations of the UEFA Europa League (Season 2019/20) accordingly as follows:

“Exceptionally, all yellow cards and pending yellow-card suspensions expire on completion of the play-offs. They are not carried forward to the group stage. In addition, all yellow cards expire on completion of the Round of 16. They are not carried forward to the quarter-finals.“

Special rules applicable to the qualifying phase and play-offs for 2020/21 season

In order to guarantee as much as possible the start and continuity of the qualifying phase and play-offs of the 2020/21 UEFA Champions League and 2020/21 UEFA Europa League, the UEFA Executive Committee has decided to approve the new Annex I to the Regulations of the UEFA Champions League (2020/21 Season) and Regulations of the UEFA Europa League (2020/21 Season). Such decision was justified by the current environment created by the COVID-19 pandemic and in particular, the various travel restrictions which have been imposed across the continent due to the persistence of the sanitary crisis.

This new Annex regulates the following issues: venue and country restrictions imposed by the relevant national/local authorities, testing and player eligibility, potential rescheduling of matches and specific rules aimed at reducing the deadlines for protests and appeals. Detailed information on these new special rules applicable to the qualifying phase and play-offs due to COVID-19 are available here.