It is a letter dated 14 May, signed Aleksander Ceferin, the president of UEFA, that our media obtained. It is addressed to Jean-Michel Aulas, the president of Lyon, and it could make noise since it undermines a preconceived idea: no, Ligue 1 did not have until August 3 to finish the championship of the 2019-2020 season. He could go further, contrary to what the French football authorities, however present at the meetings that Ceferin evokes, have said since the start of the health crisis.
Ceferin, in a factual tone, confines himself to summarizing what it was possible or not to do. "As for whether UEFA has actually given its member associations a deadline of August 3 to finish their national championships, the following clarification should answer your question," wrote the head of the European body. The dates of July 20 (for national associations classified 16 to 55) and August 3 (for those classified 1 to 1.5, which includes France) were mentioned in the presentations made at the meetings with secretaries and presidents of the 55 UEFA member associations on 21 April and at meetings between UEFA, the ECA (NDLR: Association of European Clubs) and EL (NDLR: Union of European Leagues) working groups. However, we have always mentioned at these meetings that these dates are only recommendations, provisional and not official. I hope that these explanations will provide sufficient answers to your questions. "
"Protect the integrity of competitions"
In his letter, at the start, the UEFA president also explained that there were two solutions to end the season. “During a videoconference on 23 April, the UEFA Executive Committee unanimously stressed that the health of the players, spectators and all those involved in football, as well as the general public, must remain the main consideration concern at present, details the Slovenian leader. […] These guidelines, sent in circular letter 24/2020, specify the following: […] UEFA's recommendation was therefore clearly to encourage national associations and leagues to do their best to complete the national championships in progress, either in the original format or in an adapted format, if necessary. The aim was to do everything to protect the integrity of competitions and guarantee the application of the principle of sporting merit. "
Ceferin does not therefore exclude that a championship does not end in the same way as it started, thus validating the thesis of the playoffs, as Jean-Michel Aulas had imagined it with crazy inventiveness. It is also because he had the minutes of this meeting of April 23 that the boss of Lyon had allowed himself to "invent" this end of the season with a multitude of meetings, with the 20 teams of Ligue 1 divided into several groups. Other methods of finishing would have been possible.
Sports channel Roxana Maracineanu, Minister of Sports, explained on May 5 how the government had come to demand the cessation of professional sports, including football, which was approved on April 30 by the Football League. professional. "This is the proposal I had on my desk: a season that was due to end on August 3 because of the dates imposed by UEFA," said Maracineanu. It is the next fight of Jean-Michel Aulas, who knows the minister in good faith: who gave her partially erroneous information, and for what purpose?
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