Soccer
UEFA won't wipe out bans
2012-05-02 12:55
Branislav Ivanovic (File)
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London -UEFA will not wipe the suspensions
preventing six Bayern Munich and Chelsea players featuring in the
Champions League final despite an appeal from the global football
players' union to change the rule.
Bayern's David Alaba, Holger
Badstuber and Luiz Gustavo, and Chelsea's Branislav Ivanovic, Raul
Meireles and Ramires are serving one-match UEFA bans for picking up
their third bookings in the competition in the semifinals.
"UEFA
said it will not respond to the appeal for clemency for the six players
who will have to miss the coming Champions League final because they
were awarded a yellow card in the second match of their semifinal,"
FIFPro said in a statement. "In fact, UEFA states the rule will stay in
force for the coming three years."
A yellow-card amnesty rule already applies after the quarter-finals in UEFA's European Championship and FIFA's World Cup.
"Different
rules can apply in different competitions," UEFA executive committee
member Michael van Praag, who heads the body's Champions League Rules
group, said in the FIFPro statement.
Van Praag said UEFA "did not
receive any request whatsoever concerning the yellow card rule, not even
from the representative of Bayern Munich."
The Champions League final is in Munich on May 19.