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Celtic's stance that they should be crowned Premiership champions if the Scottish season ends has been given credence by a UEFA intervention in 1999.

And Aleksandar Vukovic can claim to be one of the very few to have a first-hand experience of the unknown.

The Scottish football season looks set to be declared over because of the deadly coronavirus with it now looking highly unlikely there will be any more football for many months.

Decisions will need to be taken among Scottish football chiefs, who could ask European football's governing body for guidance, about champions, promotion and relegations from the four major leagues.

Hoops boss Neil Lennon has insisted Celtic should be declared nine-in-a-row champions after stretching 13 points clear of Rangers at the top.

(Image: NurPhoto via Getty Images)

And the last time UEFA acted when a league was suspended indefinitely, they declared the winners to be the team who were top of the league at the time.

In 1999, the First League of Yugoslavia was halted after 24 games into a 34-game season because of NATO bombing of the country.

Partizan Belgrade were just two points clear of second placed Obilic, but when football was given the all-clear to resume later that year, UEFA and the Yugoslavian Football authorities declared Partizan the 1998/999 winners - their 16th domestic title.

They also rubbed salt into Obilic's wounds by excluding them from Europan competitions because the club owner, Arkan, was charged with war crimes.

Polish football is currently going through a similar scenario to Scottish football. The Ekstraklasa is regarded as one of the leagues most similar to the Premiership because they split their top league into two sections after 30 games and play seven games after the split.

Legia are eight points clear at the top but, like Celtic, face an anxious wait to find out what will happen to the season and possible title.

Their manager Vukovic also played for Partizan Belgrade in 1999 when their season was interrupted.

And he said: "I'm probably one of the very few people in the world who has experienced an interruption of the season and is experiencing it now.

"In April 1999, NATO raided what is now Serbia so all football was stopped.

"We couldn't finish the season but it wasn't annulled. It was declared that we won the championship that season.

"And we had actually played fewer games back then in that season than we have now.

"It's not as if we have played two games this season or something. Most of the football has been played.

"I don't know whether we will be back in April or December, I'm not a clairvoyant. The only thing I know and I also tell this to my players, is not to underestimate the enemy we are currently fighting."