UEFA have confirmed a major rule change ahead of the 2021/22 season which will affect Rangers [UEFA.com].
The long-standing away goals rule has been officially abolished.
The news was announced via the governing body’s official channels on Thursday afternoon after its Executive Committee approved a proposal that had already been recommended by its Competitions Committee and Women’s Football Committee.
Any tie in which the scores are level after two legs will now go to half an hour of extra time and if the teams still cannot be separated, then a penalty shootout.
The rationale behind the move is that over the years, the difficulty of playing away from home has reduced due to things like standardised pitch sizes, better travel conditions and the introduction of VAR.
“The impact of the rule now runs counter to its original purpose as, in fact, it now dissuades home teams – especially in first legs – from attacking, because they fear conceding a goal that would give their opponents a crucial advantage,” said UEFA President Aleksander Čeferin [UEFA.com]. “There is also criticism of the unfairness, especially in extra time, of obliging the home team to score twice when the away team has scored.”
“It is fair to say that home advantage is nowadays no longer as significant as it once was.
“Taking into consideration the consistency across Europe in terms of styles of play, and many different factors which have led to a decline in home advantage, the UEFA Executive Committee has taken the correct decision in adopting the view that it is no longer appropriate for an away goal to carry more weight than one scored at home.”
The change will come into effect ahead of qualifying for all 2021/22 European club competitions.
Rangers still don’t know who they will face when their Champions League qualifying campaign gets underway next month, but they do know that they will have to defeat two teams over two legs to make it to the competition proper.
However, unlike in previous campaigns, they have the safety net of knowing that they will play European football of some description next season.
A defeat in the third round of Champions League qualifying would see them drop into the Europa League play-off round and even if they were to lose there, they would drop into the inaugural UEFA Europa Conference League.
Here’s an estimation of how much prize money the Gers made from their run to the Europa League Last 16 last season.
