The English Premier League and Football Association are likely to face sanctions for allowing domestic matches to be broadcast at the same time as European ties, contrary to a signed agreement between UEFA and the European Professional Football Leagues.
On Tuesday night, the Liverpool derby was shown live on Sky Sports at the same time as the Champions League matches between Internazionale and Marseilles, and Bayern Munich and FC Basle. Last week, ITV broadcast the FA Cup replay between Birmingham City and Chelsea on the same night as Arsenal versus AC Milan and Benfica versus Zenit St Petersburg in the Champions League, while the following night ESPN televised Tottenham Hotspur versus Stevenage Borough despite Champions League action on other channels.
That has angered the Scottish Football Assocation, who have written to UEFA for clarification after recently being told that Hearts' Scottish Cup replay with St Johnstone could not be televised as it would clash with Europa League ties, costing each club £82,500 of broadcasting income. Last season, St Johnstone also had to play two matches at 6pm so as to avoid being in direct competition with Champions League ties.
A UEFA spokesperson revealed that, on occasion, exceptions can be granted to allow domestic matches to be screened in competition with European games but that neither the FA nor the Premier League had received approval to broadcast the match between Liverpool and Everton. "There is a Memorandum of Understanding signed between UEFA and the EPFL (European Professional Football Leagues) which is also a basis for all national associations on the procedures and circumstances of use of UEFA dates," he said. "Top division matches cannot be on international match calendar dates, but exceptions are possible (eg force majeur). The game you mention of the English Premier League [the Liverpool derby] has not been approved by UEFA. The FA and the Premier League are aware about this and will face sanctions ."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article