UEFA have decided that Tottenham Hotspur forfeited their Europa Conference League match against Rennes and are now out of the competition.
Spurs suffered a Covid outbreak which spread through their camp, affecting nine first team players, five members of the coaching staff and many U23 players.
They had their matches against Rennes and then Brighton in the Premier League called off and then their match against Leicester postponed due to the Foxes’ own problems.
Now UEFA have decided that Spurs’ European journey is over this season.
“Following several positive cases of COVID-19 that were identified from players and staff of Tottenham Hotspur FC, the 2021/22 UEFA Europa Conference League group stage match between Tottenham Hotspur FC and Stade Rennais FC – scheduled to be played on 9 December 2021 in London, United Kingdom – could not be played,” read their statement.
“The matter was submitted to the UEFA Control, Ethics and Disciplinary Body, for a decision to be taken in accordance with Annex J of the Regulations of the UEFA Europa Conference League (2021/22 Season). Based on the Article 30 (4) of the UEFA Disciplinary Regulations and given the urgent circumstances of the matter, the ad-hoc chairman of the Control, Ethics and Disciplinary Body referred the case to the Appeals Body.
“The Chairman of the UEFA Appeals Body took the following decision: To declare the 2021/22 UEFA Europa Conference League group stage match between Tottenham Hotspur FC and Stade Rennais FC, that was initially scheduled to be played on 9 December 2021, as forfeited by Tottenham Hotspur FC, who is therefore deemed to have lost the match 0-3 in accordance with Annex J.3.1 to the Regulations of the UEFA Europa Conference League (2021/22 Season).”
Tottenham are understood to be considering their response to the decision.