Arsenal and Chelsea’s hopes of staying in this season’s European competitions have been given an almighty boost.
Both teams sparked outrage after they agreed to become founding members of the new Super League and have since been threatened with potential punishment.
With UEFA up in arms over the proposed formation of the new competition, the governing body’s chief Aleksander Ceferin threatened to ‘ban’ teams from competitions ‘as soon as possible.’
That meant Arsenal and Chelsea‘s participation in the Europa League and Champions League semi-finals this season could be put at serious risk.
Ceferin said on Monday: “We’re still assessing with our legal team but we will take all the sanctions that we can and we will inform you as soon we can.
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“My opinion is that as soon as possible they have to be banned from all our competitions and the players from all our competitions.”
But leading sports rights expert Juan de Dios Crespo has told Goal Espana that Arsenal and Chelsea are unlikely to be kicked out of this season’s competitions, or at least not without serious compensation.
“In the regulations of the Champions League, as in the Europe League, there is a procedure of admission, with established criteria,” explained Crespo. “They may not be expelled, but they may also not be allowed in.
“Once they are in this year, they cannot be kicked out, it will be the next year that they are not allowed to come in, at most.”
UEFA also threatened that any player who competes in the Super League would be banned from competing for their national team, and Crespo has given his thoughts on that.
“UEFA is formed through national federations and if the players are not registered with the federation, because they don’t play in national competitions, then they cannot play with their national teams,” Crespo added.
“If these clubs are expelled from the national competitions, that would mean that the players could not play for their national teams because they would not be registered.”