Tottenham face being eliminated from the Europa Conference League after UEFA confirmed they were unable to reschedule their fixture against Rennes.
Spurs confirmed on Wednesday that the game against the Ligue 1 club had been postponed with the north London club dealing with a significant Covid outbreak that is reported to have affected as many as 20 staff connected with the first team.
Rennes were highly critical of Tottenham’s decision, branding it ‘unilateral’, but it could now backfire given a date for their final group fixture could not be found.
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Antonio Conte’s side are currently third in their section and needed a positive result to force their way into one of the qualification spots ahead of Dutch club Vitesse Arnhem.
UEFA released a statement on Saturday with an update on the situation, which read: ‘Following a COVID-19 outbreak in the team of Tottenham Hotspur FC ahead of the UEFA Europa Conference League group stage match against Stade Rennais FC, scheduled to take place on 9 December 2021 in London, the match could not take place.
‘In accordance with Annex J of the UEFA Europa Conference League regulations, UEFA, in cooperation with the two clubs tried to find a viable solution in order to reschedule the match, so as to ensure the group stage could be completed accordingly.
‘Unfortunately, despite all efforts, a solution that could work for both clubs could not be found. As a consequence, the match can no longer be played and the matter will, therefore, be referred to the UEFA Control, Ethics and Disciplinary Body for a decision to be taken in accordance with Annex J of the above-mentioned competition regulations.”
Annex J says ‘the club that cannot play the match will be held responsible for the match not taking place and the match will be declared by the UEFA Control, Ethics and Disciplinary Body to be forfeited by the club, which will be considered to have lost the match 3-0.’
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