September 1 – UEFA has revealed details of new Covid-19 protocols ahead of the Nations League kicking off this week, warning that teams could have to forfeit games if their squads are disrupted by Covid-19.
Two rounds of matches are to be played between September 3 and 8, the first competitive internationals in Europe since the coronavirus outbreak but with infection rates rising in many parts of the Continent, UEFA said there was a danger of “groups of players or entire teams being placed into quarantine and national associations being unable to field a team for a specific match”.
If a team did not have 13 available players, UEFA said it would try to reschedule the match, potentially in a neutral country.
However, if this was not possible, “the national association that is responsible for the match not taking place or not being played in full will be declared to have forfeited the match by the UEFA Control, Ethics and Disciplinary Body unless the latter comes to the conclusion that both or none of the teams is/are responsible for the match not taking place or not being played in full, meaning the match cannot be declared as forfeited.
“If the match cannot be declared as forfeited, the outcome of the match will be decided by drawing of lots (i.e. win 1-0, loss 0-1 or draw 0-0) carried out by the UEFA administration.”
UEFA acknowledged that preparations were progressing against “a background of difficulties”. All matches are due to be played in the originally-scheduled venues except Moldova v Kosovo which has been moved to Parma in Italy though this because Moldova does not recognise Kosovo as an independent nation rather than anything to do with Covid.
UEFA also said that if any of the match officials test positive, it might “exceptionally appoint replacement match officials who may be of the same nationality as one of the national associations and/or may not be on the FIFA list”.
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