Tottenham out of Europa Conference League as UEFA rule that Spurs forfeited Rennes game

The UEFA has released a ruling that essentially means that Premier League club Tottenham Hotspurs are out of the UEFA Europa Conference League. UEFA ruled that Tottenham's match against French side Rennes which was called off because of 13 Spurs players testing positive for COVID-19 would be considered as a forfeit with Spurs awarding a 3-0 win to Rennes. It means that Tottenham will finish third in their group behind Rennes who finish first and Vitesse who are second.

This comes as a massive blow to Spurs who were hoping they could the distance in the newly created Europa Conference League. Antonio Conte's side had requested that the game be postponed after a sudden spike in COVID-19 cases in the team but after UEFA accepted that they could not confirm a date for the rescheduled game, they have now released a statement saying that Tottenham have forfeited their game after Europe's governing body referred the matter to their appeals body.

UEFA's Statement regarding Tottenham vs Rennes

"Following several positive cases of COVID-19 that were identified from players and staff of Tottenham Hotspur FC, the 2021/22 UEFA Europa Conference League group stage match between Tottenham Hotspur FC and Stade Rennais FC - scheduled to be played on 9 December 2021 in London, United Kingdom – could not be played," the statement from UEFA read. "The matter was submitted to the UEFA Control, Ethics and Disciplinary Body, for a decision to be taken in accordance with Annex J of the Regulations of the UEFA Europa Conference League (2021/22 Season). Based on the Article 30 (4) of the UEFA Disciplinary Regulations and given the urgent circumstances of the matter, the ad-hoc chairman of the Control, Ethics and Disciplinary Body referred the case to the Appeals Body. The Chairman of the UEFA Appeals Body took the following decision: To declare 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)."

Image: AP