UEFA’s angry reaction to the decision of the Belgian Pro-League to declare Club Brugge as their 2019/20 champions has scared the SPFL away from making an early decision on the outcome of the Premiership.
Last Wednesday UEFA hosted a video conference call with all 55 national associations that seemed to result in a holding outcome but the following day the board of the Pro-League announced that they were recommending that Brugge get the title and Champions League entry.
That announcement- with 11 rounds of fixtures still to play- caused panic across UEFA where their richest members are sweating over completing their lucrative television agreements.
The Belgian decision has obvious parallels with Scotland. Brugge currently have a 15 point lead with one match in the regular season to play. After that is completed the top six have their points total halved before playing 10 more matches to decide the title and title and European places.
UEFA responded by reminding national associations that they have the authority to decline nominations for places in the Champions League and Europa League.
The Daily Record reports:
A Hampden source said: “UEFA’s response to the Belgians has been quite staggering and it makes sense to sit back and see how that argument plays out for as long as Scottish football can afford to do so. Everything now points towards the end of April as clubs all over Europe will require certainty by then.
“If, at that stage, there is no prospect of football being played in June or July then these big decisions will have to be made regardless of UEFA’s threats.”
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Celtic currently have a 13 point lead with eight matches left to play, SPFL Premiership clubs will host a conference call on Wednesday to discuss recent developments.