Homesbook Factoring Caplan

Coronavirus – Joint Response Group Update 1/4

The Scottish FA and SPFL notes the update from UEFA’s Executive Committee following a video conference of all 55 member associations earlier today.

Scottish FA Chief Executive Ian Maxwell attended the video conference at which UEFA’s working group presented recommendations to mitigate the impact of COVID-19 on UEFA club and international competitions.

The Executive Committee made the following decisions:

  • All national team matches for men and women due to be played in June 2020 are postponed until further notice. This includes the play-off matches for UEFA EURO 2020 and qualifying matches for UEFA Women’s EURO 2021
  • All other UEFA competition matches, including the centralised international friendly matches, remain postponed until further notice.
  • Youth national team competitions:
    • (i) the UEFA European Under-17 Championship final tournament scheduled for May 2020 is cancelled;
    • (ii) the UEFA European Women’s Under-19 Championship final tournament scheduled for July 2020 is cancelled;
    • (iii) the UEFA European Women’s Under-17 Championship final tournament scheduled for May 2020 is postponed until further notice (as it is a qualifying competition for the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup);
    • (iv) the UEFA European Under-19 Championship final tournament scheduled for July 2020 is postponed until further notice (as it is a qualifying competition for the FIFA U-20 World Cup)
  • The UEFA Futsal Champions League finals scheduled for April 2020 are postponed until further notice.
  • The deadlines related to all 2020/21 UEFA club competitions are postponed until further notice, in particular as regards the admission process and the registration of players. UEFA will set new deadlines in due course.

This means that Scotland’s UEFA Nations League Play-Off against Israel, originally scheduled for March 26, will be played at a later date, to be determined.

The Scotland Women’s National Team UEFA Women’s EURO 2021 qualifying matches against Albania (home) and Finland (away) will also be affected.

Ian Maxwell, Scottish FA Chief Executive: “The update from UEFA was well-received and unsurprising under the circumstances we find ourselves in locally and internationally as a result of COVID-19.

“We have communicated the competition updates to the national teams department and they will plan accordingly, or as best they can with the information available.

“Given the ever-changing landscape it is understandable that UEFA cannot be definitive on when these rescheduled matches will take place but we will continue to liaise and input at the appropriate time. However during the presentation a number of viable and common-sense options were discussed, particularly with respect to the Nations League and Play-Off fixtures, that we look forward to receiving further information on.

“We will update our members when more details are received.”

Full UEFA statement can be found here.

Financial Mitigation

The Scottish FA and the SPFL have this week taken a series of measures to reduce costs. These measures include:

  • Staff at both organisations, including the Chief Executives, taking 10% pay cuts from April through to the end of June
  • The Scottish FA office bearers and the SPFL Chairman waiving 20% of their pay for the next three months, with the remaining 80% deferred until July
  • No SPFL staff receiving any pay increases or annual bonuses this season
  • A large number of employees being placed on Furlough Leave under the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme
  • Exploring opportunities for grant funding, rates relief etc.

These measures will substantially reduce costs whilst seeking to ensure that the capacity of each organisation to service the needs of our respective members is not materially affected – both during this crisis and once normal operations are resumed.