Sports lawyer Ilya Skoropashkin highlighted forUVthe prospects of our country replacing Dnipro-1 with another team in the Conference League in case the club is liquidated.
Ilya Skoropashkin- Potential withdrawal of Dnipro-1 from the Ukrainian championship - who can replace them in the UPL and the Conference League?
- As they say, the holy place is never empty. If one place in the UPL is really freed up, then the clubs from the first league will be pulled up, as is usually the case. It is still hard to say on what principle. Because the UPL regulations for the 2024/2025 season, which should regulate this issue, have not yet been approved. That is, the rules are being written by the UPL and agreed with the UAF right now.
- And if we are talking about the qualification of the Conference League, can we replace Dnipro-1, for example, with Rukh, which finished sixth?
- As for the European Cups. According to paragraph 4.05 of Article 4 of the UEFA Conference League Regulations, if a club refuses to participate in the competition after qualifying on sporting merit and obtaining a license from the competent national authority, no other club from the same association can be registered instead... That is, the replacement of Dnipro-1 with any other Ukrainian club is expressly prohibited by the regulations.
The problem is that Dnipro-1 qualified and was allowed to participate in the UEFA tournament, having received the appropriate certificate from the UAF.
- Is there any way to avoid technical defeats?
- Under the current circumstances, this is hardly possible.
- Do you know of similar cases in the European Cups?
- I do not recall such cases, but theoretically something similar could have happened.
- If Dnipro-1 had announced its disappearance before the qualifying draw, could it have affected the situation in any way?
- If Dnipro-1 had timely announced its inability to participate in the Conference League or had not received a certificate to participate in this tournament from the UAF, it was quite possible that one Ukrainian club would be replaced by another Ukrainian club. The UEFA Conference League regulations of the current season provide for such a possibility, subject to timely decisions by the club applying for the competition and/or the national federation issuing the club's certificate.
- What factors can influence UEFA's decision to be in our favor?
- Perhaps, following the sports principle, taking into account the situation in our country and in order to support Ukrainian football, which exists in the context of a full-scale war, UEFA will meet with the UAF contrary to its own rules. But this is just an assumption. And this can only happen if Dnipro-1 takes appropriate action. No one has the right to exclude a club that has qualified and received a certificate from the competition.
- Returning to the UPL, who do you think could potentially replace Dnipro-1?
- I think that a candidate for Dnipro-1's place in the UPL, if it is really vacant by the time the UPL roster for the 2024/2025 season is approved, will be chosen between the First League clubs that left the UPL this season: Minaj and Metalist 1925.
- If Dnipro-1 disappears in the middle of the UPL season, what decisions will be made regarding their results in the standings?
- It depends on how the new regulations will be written. Previously, there was a cancellation if the team withdrew after playing less than half of the championship matches, and technical defeats / wins in matches that were not held if the team was withdrawn from the competition in the second round
Andriy Shevchenko
