The final will be played at the Agia Sophia Stadium in Athens, Greece. I would say I hope our paths cross once more but I think it's fair to say that everyone connected with Spurs hopes to never ever see you again.The 2023–24 UEFA Europa Conference League is the third season of the UEFA Europa Conference League, Europe's tertiary club football tournament organised by UEFA. Yes, winning the Europa Conference League would mean ending Spurs’ (by then) 14-year trophy drought, but it is a competition with little to no pedigree and would hardly shift the dial in that regard. Not to mention the most obvious reward, which would be simply being back in the Champions League after two seasons out. Doing so would more than offset the relatively meagre financial benefits of winning the European Conference League, while at the same time allow Spurs to attract a much higher calibre of player in the summer. (As harsh as it is, the only real benefit to the competition has been that it contributed to Nuno Espirito Santo losing his job.)Įxiting the competition gives head coach Conte more time to work with his players on the training pitch, and the benefit of this cannot be understated.Ĭonte is one of the best training-ground coaches in the world and having this extra time could be the difference between finishing in the top four and not. It's been a drain on resources pockmarked by various humiliations and has served only to cause divisions in the squad and dent the confidence of players as they succumbed to embarrassing defeats. Tottenham played with purpose and identity - and at last it wasn't all about Kane and SonĪre Spurs really better off not being in the competition?Įver since Spurs were beaten in the first leg of the qualifying round by Pacos de Ferreira, the Europa Conference League has felt like an unwanted slog. I tell you, we deserve to play this game and to try to have a chance to go to the next round.” I think we don't have fault for what happened. It’s a really strange situation because we didn’t play through no fault of our own but because of a big problem and because the Government decided to close our training ground, to stop our training session for three days. “Tottenham deserves to play the game, to play the last game of this group. The Athletic reported last week that Tottenham had offered to play the match in France as they desperately attempted to find a new date for the fixture, while head coach Antonio Conte said the club asked the Premier League if their match against Leicester last week could be rescheduled so they could play the Rennes instead. UEFA said in a statement that the chairman of its appeal body had declared “the 2021/22 UEFA Europa Conference League group stage match between Tottenham Hotspur FC and Stade Rennais FC, that was initially scheduled to be played on 9 December 2021, as forfeited by Tottenham Hotspur FC, who is therefore deemed to have lost the match 0-3 in accordance with Annex J.3.1 to the Regulations of the UEFA Europa Conference League (2021/22 Season).” “We have to accept this ruling, however, and our focus now turns to the competitions we remain in.” The outbreak also led to the postponement of Tottenham’s Premier League fixtures against Brighton & Hove Albion and Leicester City.īut Spurs did not technically meet UEFA’s criteria for a postponement of the Rennes fixture to be considered, which is that a team must have fewer than 13 available A-list registered players or no goalkeepers.Ī Tottenham Hotspur spokesperson said: “We are disappointed by the ruling of the UEFA Appeals Body and the refusal to allow more time for the match to be rescheduled. The match at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium was due to be played on December 9 but was called off after a COVID-19 outbreak among the Spurs squad. That result sees Tottenham finish third in Group G, three points behind Dutch side Vitesse Arnhem, who progress to the knockout stages where they will play Rapid Wien. Tottenham Hotspur have been eliminated from the Europa Conference League after UEFA ruled their postponed fixture against Rennes would be deemed as a forfeit.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |