UEFA declines Bayern's unofficial request

After collecting third yellow cards of the competition in Bayern's Champions League return away to Real Madrid, Holger Badstuber, Luiz Gustavo and David Alaba are compulsorily suspended for the final at the Allianz Arena on 19 May, when FCB play Chelsea. Acting in the interests of the players, FC Bayern directors and officials have attempted to have the bans rescinded, lodging an unofficial enquiry with UEFA with the aim of checking the governing body’s readiness to lift the suspensions on the Bayern trio, and similarly afflicted Chelsea players Branislav Ivanovic, Ramires and Raul Meireiles.

Unfortunately, the result of the unofficial enquiry has proved negative, as UEFA has stated that there is no chance of a successful appeal. The fact of both finalists losing players to suspension has frequently happened in the past, the European governing body said. In fact, there have been previous formal requests launched jointly by both finalists to rescind yellow cards, for example in 2009 by Barcelona and Manchester United on behalf of suspended players Wes Brown (United) and Eric Abidal (Barcelona). This appeal was also unsuccessful.

In his capacity as chairman of the European Clubs Association (ECA), Karl-Heinz Rummenigge will now petition the UEFA committee for club competitions to consider changing the rules and have yellow cards annulled after the semi-finals, as at the World Cup and European championships. However, any change in the regulations would have to be endorsed by the UEFA Executive Committee and could not be introduced until the 2012/13 competition at the earliest.