EUROPA League
BELGIAN FEDERATION IN UEFA TALKS OVER DECISION ON SUDDEN END TO ITS SEASON
The Belgian Football Association (KBVB) announced on Saturday (April 4) that it is working with UEFA towards a “constructive” solution regarding the premature end to the Belgian championship.
On Thursday, the Belgian Pro League recommended that the season be declared finished owing to the coronavirus pandemic with the current table accepted as final. It became the first European league to propose such a measure, though others could follow.
On Friday, UEFA, the governing body of European football, in a joint statement with the European Club Association and the European Leagues, warned that “abandoning domestic competitions is, at this stage, premature and not justified”.
UEFA threatened to ban all teams from European competitions next season if they did not complete their league season.
The KBVB released a statement on Saturday saying that its president, Mehdi Bayat, had spoken to the president of the governing body of European football, Aleksander Ceferin.
The statement did not specify the nature of this “jointly” negotiated solution, saying only that the Belgian association would present the UEFA executive committee with its “recommendations for stopping its championship”.
The Pro League board’s voted unanimously on Thursday to advise its general assembly not to resume the 2019-2020 first division campaign.
Club Brugge, who are 15 points clear with one regular-season and 10 play-off matches to go, would become Belgian champions.
The AGM is expected to ratify this decision on April 15 but its board will present the proposal to UEFA’s executive committee.
The Belgian federation, which will also present its recommendations and aims to “preserve Belgium’s European places in the 2020-2021 season”, said the statement.
The statement also reminded UEFA that it had called for solidarity within European football during the coronavirus crisis during and said Bayat had “advocated a flexible approach to this concept, which allows the specific circumstances of each league to be taken into account”.
–AFP
Four-times Europa League winner Unai Emery booked an astonishing sixth final in the competition as a manager on Thursday when his Aston Villa team swept aside Nottingham Forest in the second leg of their all-English semi-final.
The 54-year-old Spaniard has won three times with Sevilla (2014, 2015, 2016) and once with Villarreal (2021) – either side of a defeat with Arsenal (2019) – deservedly earning him the epithet “Mr Europa League” from some fans and media.
Now he goes to the 2026 final seeking a fifth title, this time with Aston Villa against Bundesliga side Freiburg.
“His track record speaks for itself,” said Villa striker Ollie Watkins, heaping praise on his boss as the man to guarantee Europa League success. “We need to go and win it now.”
Emery was delighted with how his team overturned a 1-0 deficit to Forest in the first leg of the Europa League semi-final to score four times at home and win 4-1 on aggregate.
“Now we have to look to the final,” he said, hoping that Villa will do “something fantastic” for their fans.
Though thrilled at Thursday’s win, Emery left the pitch quickly after the final whistle, pumping his fist a few times at the crowd before letting his players enjoy the moment with fans
He and his Villa side will be favourites at the Europa League final in Istanbul on May 20, but Emery was taking nothing for granted. “Of course German teams are so difficult, their coaches, their players are so good,” he added of the upcoming opponents.
-Reuters
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List of teams which have qualified for the next round of the Europa League after the league phase concluded on Thursday, ranked by table position:
Directly to the round of 16:
1. Olympique Lyonnais (France)
2. Aston Villa (England)
3. Midtjylland (Denmark)
4. Real Betis (Spain)
5. Porto (Portugal)
6. Braga (Portugal)
7. Freiburg (Germany)
8. AS Roma (Italy)
Knockout phase play-off places (seeded)
9. Genk (Belgium)
10. Bologna (Italy)
11. VfB Stuttgart (Germany)
12. Ferencvaros (Hungary)
13. Nottingham Forest (England)
14. Viktoria Plzen (Czech Republic)
15. Red Star Belgrade (Serbia)
16. Celta Vigo (Spain)
Knockout phase play-off places (unseeded)
17. PAOK (Greece)
18. Lille (France)
19. Fenerbahce (Turkey)
20. Panathinaikos (Greece)
21. Celtic (Scotland)
22. Ludogorets (Bulgaria)
23. Dinamo Zagreb (Croatia)
24. SK Brann (Norway)
-Reuters
UEFA Europa League – Aston Villa v RB Salzburg – Villa Park, Birmingham, Britain – January 29, 2026 Aston
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Israeli club Maccabi Tel Aviv will not accept any away fan tickets for their Europa League match at Aston Villa next month, even if local authorities reverse the decision to ban their supporters, they said on Monday.
The ban followed safety concerns raised by British Police, who cited potential protests outside Villa Park, following demonstrations at Israel’s recent World Cup qualifiers in Oslo and Udine.
“From hard lessons learned we have taken the decision to decline any allocation offered on behalf of away fans and our decision should be understood in that context,” Maccabi said in a statement.
“We hope that circumstances will change and look forward to being able to play in Birmingham in a sporting environment in the near future.”
Aston Villa announced the decision last week, saying they were following instructions from the Safety Advisory Group (SAG), who are responsible for issuing safety certificates for games at Villa Park.
West Midlands Police described the match as high risk, past incidents, including violent confrontations and hate crime offences involving Ajax and Maccabi Tel Aviv supporters ahead of a November 2024 game in Amsterdam.
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar described the announcement as “shameful”.
Villa are third in the Europa League standings while Maccabi Tel Aviv are 30th after two rounds.
-Reuters
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