UEFA confirm Tuesday talks as they discuss Champions League ‘demotion’

UEFA have confirmed that talks will be held with the European Clubs Association tomorrow about further restricting entrance to the Champions League to ‘lesser nations’.

The phrase lesser nations seems to be countries that don’t deliver massive broadcasting deals.

This season saw the top four countries in the co-efficient table given four automatic places in the group stage with teams like Celtic having to go through four qualifying rounds on successive midweeks to reach the same stage.

Last week Real Madrid and Bayern Munich lost out at the round of 16 with both of those clubs regularly featuring in the semi-finals.

Ajax’s aggregate win over Real was welcomed by fans across Europe but seems to have underlined to the bigger clubs and nations the need to ensure that the prize money is ring-fenced even tighter.

Reports of reform first appeared in Sunday’s Wall Street Journal with German publisher Sport 1 picking up on the development, they reported:

An innovation that is apparently to be discussed at the meeting is an up and down mode.

Currently, teams for the Champions League qualify with the achievement of a specific table position in the respective leagues. Any kind of promotion mode could make it even more difficult for smaller clubs to reach the big players’ concert.

UEFA has confirmed to the British newspaper The Telegraph that talks will be held on Tuesday without, however, addressing specific issues. The European Football Union described the meeting as “informal brainstorming with members of the UEFA Executive Committee and members of the ECA board”. The participants would discuss what the club competitions might look like after 2024.

Also, the hosting of Champions League games on the weekend should be at the secret meeting on the agenda. Another step that would have far-reaching consequences.

According to the WSJ report, the fact that UEFA is even sitting down with ECA has something to do with the fact that the reflection on a Super League detached from the Champions League last year was discussed in detail.

No changes will come into play until 2024.