The Premier League and the Football Association have issued a joint statement.
Following comments in the media made by Portsmouth FC's Administrator Andrew Andronikou regarding the Uefa Club Licence the Premier League and the FA would like to make clear the following:
- Portsmouth FC did not meet the strict 1st March deadline for applications for a Uefa Club Licence for the 2010/11 season.
- Portsmouth FC has, as of 28th April, not attempted to put in a formal application for a Uefa Club Licence for the 2010/11 season.
- The FA and Premier League made Mr. Andronikou's lawyers, who we had been asked to deal with, aware on 16th April that we would not accept a late Uefa Club Licence application from Portsmouth FC.
- The exceptional circumstances referred to by Mr. Andronikou only apply to clubs who qualify for European competition whilst they are in the Football League.
- In any event, in order for a club to obtain a Uefa Club Licence for the
2010/11 season they need to show that as of December 2009 they had no outstanding money owed to the tax authorities or football clubs. This is manifestly not the case for Portsmouth FC.
The Premier League and the FA are both fully committed to upholding the governance criteria set out in the Uefa Licence for all clubs looking to compete in European competition.
