UEFA will not change suspension sanctions
Reuters - Wednesday 02 May 2012, 11:48
UEFA has ruled out changing its
Champions League suspension rules regarding yellow cards for at
least three years and has no intention of bringing them in line
with the rules used in the European Championships, officials have
told players' representatives.
FIFpro, the international players' union, said in a
statement on Tuesday that UEFA had rejected their plea for
clemency for the six Chelsea and Bayern Munich players who
picked up a third yellow card in last week's Champions League
semi-finals.
The decision means that Branislav Ivanovic, Ramires and Raul
Meireles of Chelsea and Luiz Gustavo (pictured), David Alaba and Holger
Badstuber of Bayern will all miss the final in Munich on May 19.
FIFpro said UEFA adopted FIFA's policy for the European
Championship, where existing yellow cards are waived after the
quarter-finals, and should do the same for the Champions League.
However, Michael van Praag, the chairman of UEFA's Champions
League competition workshop, told them: "We have just had three
sessions with representatives of the ECA [European Club
Association] and others, in which we confirmed the rule for the
coming three years.
"We did not receive any request whatsoever concerning the
yellow-card rule, not even from the representative of Bayern
Munich, and so we will be continuing the rule for the next three
years.
"Different rules can apply in different competitions. The
current rules are the result of a careful, democratic
procedure," he said.
FIFPro spokesman Simon Barker said: "Anybody committing a
serious offence in the semi-final should be awarded a red card
and miss the final but the offences that result in a yellow card
do not justify the serious punishment of missing the match of
your life.
"For example, Alaba slipped over and got the ball kicked
against his hand - it is not right that such a player should
miss the Champions League final because of this.
"Some people say that this will give players the licence to
kick all and sundry during the semi-final, but that is utter
nonsense. Any serious offence will result in a red card and that
still means exclusion from the final."
Chelsea knocked out Barcelona to reach the final against
Bayern, who beat Real Madrid in their semi-final.
Chelsea's skipper John Terry will also miss the final as he
was shown a red card in the second leg of their semi-final in
Barcelona.