The team that ended up at the 7th place will play the Europa League if there is no Copa del Rey final organized
UEFA has informed the Spanish Football Federation -RFEF – that if the Copa del Rey final between Real Sociedad and Athletic cannot be organized, the European place for the winner will be lost. Valencia would benefit from that scenario.
UEFA have announced that the team which finishes the LaLiga in seventh place will qualify for next season’s Europa League on the condition that the Copa del Rey final isn’t played. It means that UEFA have effectively overruled the RFEF’s decision to give the Europa League place to one of the two finalists if the final can’t take place. This year’s Copa del Rey final between Athletic Club and Real Sociedad was planned to organized on 18 April in Seville, but was cancelled because of the outbreak of coronavirus.
Now the game plan is up in the air, and finding a new date mostly depends on when LaLiga can resume which depends on how quick the pandemic can be handle. As things stand, Real Sociedad currently stands at fourth in the table and would qualify for next season’s Champions League along with Real Madrid, Barcelona, and Sevilla. Athletic are the tenth. The team occupying seventh place in the table is Valencia who, if the Copa del Rey final can’t be organized, will take up the last Europa League place.
However, if the Copa del Rey final does go ahead, “in its original format”, the winners will automatically qualify for Europa League. Earlier this month, the RFEF discussed on three different outcomes if the Copa final couldn’t be played. Even though finding a new date for the final will be hard, it would seem unlikely that it wouldn’t go ahead considering it is an historic occasion with this year’s finalists being clubs with the biggest opponent in the Basque Country. All will be revealed in the coming weeks…