The National Leagues of Denmark and Switzerland have both rejected UEFA’s plans to further streamline the Champions League.
With the backing of the very friendly European Club Association UEFA are planning to create four groups of eight clubs which will produce 14 rounds of fixtures which would decimate the midweek fixture lists of every European nation.
The latest proposals will also provide a guaranteed group place the following season to teams finishing in the top five of each group which helps close the door further on clubs outside the major leagues.
In 2017 four group places were given to each of the top four nations, the effect of that was that the champions of Scotland had to negotiate four qualifying rounds to claim one of the four places available through the ‘Champions Route’.
It seems that UEFA and the ECA seem to think that keeping a couple of places open through the ‘Champions Route’ is enough of an incentive to keep everyone happy but the European Leagues, which covers 28 countries including Scotland, Germany, Spain and Portugal, are leading resistance to UEFA’s latest power grab.
The Swiss Football League stated:
At the extraordinary General Assembly, the 20 clubs from the Swiss Football League (SFL) discussed the current vision for UEFA club competitions from 2024 onwards. The SFL and its members unanimously reject the vision. The presently discussed concept presented by UEFA and supported by the European Club Association (ECA) would have unacceptable consequences for the SFL and should therefore not be implemented in this form.
The SFL clubs firmly believe in sporting merit in domestic league competitions as the sole criteria to qualify to international club competitions such as the present UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League. Any change in these competitions must not jeopardize the calendar of domestic league competitions. The SFL clubs are vehemently against the introduction of more matchdays than there are currently.
The draw for the first two Champions League qualifying rounds will take place on June 18 with the first round first leg matches being played on July 9/10.
The Danish Superliga @Superligaen reject the vision for UEFA club competitions
“Qualification for European Club Competitions through domestic competitions is the essence of our footballing system and European football culture.”
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— European Leagues (@EuropeanLeagues) May 29, 2019
