Europe awaits the Champions League draw due to concern about Corona

The holding of the Champions League group stage draw today, Thursday, behind closed doors, is the latest indication that conditions will not return to normal at the present time in the continental tournament.

Some six weeks after Bayern Munich were crowned with the latest version of the Champions League in the empty stands of Lisbon, the 32 teams will be divided into eight groups in the absence of public outcry, but amid growing doubts about the emerging crisis of the Corona virus.

Traveling to high-risk areas such as Budapest, as happened last week in the European Super Cup between Bayern Munich and Seville, European champions, can become a regular occurrence for teams participating in the continental tournament.

“The legal requirements for us to be able to play these games are still lacking,” Michael Zork, Borussia Dortmund football director, told the “Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntag Zeitung” newspaper.

“If we participate in the Champions League on Wednesday in a high-risk region, which will probably happen in more than half of the major cities involved, then there should be regulations so that we can play in the Bundesliga again on Saturday,” he added.

The tournament draw ceremony was moved from its original location in Athens to the headquarters of the European Football Association (UEFA), which issued guidelines to combat the Corona virus, leaving room for interpretation.

Match host clubs must propose alternative venues, including neutral countries, if travel restrictions apply to visiting clubs.

However, this order can only be applied if the travel ban is fully enforced and not if the visiting team is subject to the rules of medical isolation in their country after their return.

The European Super Cup showed that exceptions can be applied to football teams living in a bubble these days to avoid contagion.

But at the same time, German team Hertha Berlin was denied payment by their Polish striker Krzysztof Piatik in the cup competition due to the imposition of medical isolation for five days upon his return after participating with his country.

The German Robert Koch Institute for Disease Control has classified many countries and regions of the participating teams of the European Champions League as high-risk areas, including Spain and many regions of France.

Bayern Munich, for example, may fall into a group with Barcelona of Spain, Dynamo Kiev of Ukraine and Rennes of France, and all three clubs are in high-risk areas.

The regulations allow clubs to replace their original stadium or move to a neutral location, and UEFA has also allowed the possibility of extending group stage competitions between the eighth and ninth day of December to 28 January if necessary. .

In the event that the group stage competitions are not completed, the UEFA Executive Committee will determine the teams qualified for the playoffs, applying the same laws in the European League.

Today, Thursday, the teams will be located on four levels, with Bayern, Sevilla, Real Madrid, Juventus, Liverpool, Paris Saint-Germain, Zenit Saint Petersburg and Porto at the first level.

Barcelona, ​​Manchester City, Manchester United, Chelsea, Atlético de Madrid, Borussia Dortmund, Ajax Amsterdam and Shakhtar Donetsk are in the second tier.

The group stage matches will start from October 20-21 with the final match being played on May 29 in Istanbul.

UEFA allowed fans to partially attend the European Super Cup match last week, but their fate of attending the Champions League group stage activities is expected to be decided this week.