​UEFA have told leagues across Europe that they must ‘explore all possible options’ to complete their remaining fixtures in order to ensure next season’s Champions League participants are determined by ‘sporting merit’. 

The announcement came after the Executive Committee met via video conference to discuss how best to end the season. 

European football’s governing body has formulated a series of Working Groups – in association with the European Club Association, European Leagues and FIFPRO Europe – to try and solve the conundrum of how to finish this season’s ​Champions League and Europa League.

“Of the two scenarios being examined by the Calendar Working Group, both envisage domestic football starting before UEFA club competitions, with one seeking to run the competitions in parallel and the other to complete domestic matches before re-starting UEFA matches in August,” a statement reads.

The meeting also included discussion how best to determine qualification for next season’s UEFA club competitions, in the event that the season cannot be completed due to the COVID-19 outbreak.

“UEFA urges National Associations and Leagues to explore all possible options to play all top domestic competitions giving access to UEFA club competitions to their natural conclusion,” the statement continued.

“Should this outcome not be possible, in particular due to calendar issues, it would be preferable that suspended domestic competitions would restart with a different format in a manner which would still facilitate clubs to qualify on sporting merit.”

If a league is unable to be completed, it would be up to the national governing body to select which team’s progressed into European competitions next season. However, UEFA pointed out that this decision must be: “objective, transparent and non-discriminatory,” and must not have a “a public perception of unfairness.”

The statement also outlined that next summer’s postponed European Championships would continue to be known as EURO 2020 – despite them taking place in 2021. 

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