With Ligue 1 having been suspended, Paris Saint-Germain will probably be keen to play their Champions League home games in Qatar. Is that even possible?
The big bang in France: since Tuesday it has been clear that the Ligue 1 season will not be continued.
For Paris Saint-Germain’s star-studded side, that means the championship title at the green table, but not the end of the season. After all, Thomas Tuchel’s club have qualified for the longed-for quarter-finals of the Champions League.
“We are planning for the Champions League whenever and wherever it is played,” club boss Nasser Al-Khelaifi made clear. “If it’s not possible to play in France, then we’ll play abroad.”
The 46-year-old would probably prefer to move to his home country Qatar. There are even plans to do so.
Playing in Qatar doesn’t give you the statutes
But can a club even play its home games in the top division in another country? The simple answer is yes.
“Exceptionally, the UEFA administration may accept a venue on the territory of another UEFA member association if no suitable venue is available on its own territory,” says Article 24.05 of the UEFA Champions League regulations.
However, the statutes do not (!) allow Champions League matches to be played in Qatar, as the country is not a member of the European Football Association. So what to do?
UEFA investigates the PSG case
UEFA currently does not want to comment on thought games around the top tier.
However, we learned from UEFA’s environment that the European football association is already working on the various scenarios and discussing possible solutions around PSG, but also Olympique Lyon as the second French representative still in the running.
Although the Qatar scenario is extremely unlikely as a venue, given the unclear circumstances and developments in football Europe, nothing is ruled out. Every week, several task forces deal with the current situation.
At a meeting of UEFA’s Executive Committee in Amsterdam on 2 March, General Secretary Theodore Theodoridis set out the direction in which UEFA is heading: “We have to look at this on a case-by-case basis”. This attitude of UEFA is unlikely to have changed in the face of uncertainty.
But on what are the future developments dependent?
Decision date end of May
One idea that UEFA has recently brought into play time and again is a final tournament in the Champions League and Europa League. This would probably take place in a European country that has not been too badly affected by the corona crisis. The problems surrounding PSG’s home game could thus be avoided.