European leagues on Friday asked UEFA to scale back its plan to add more Champions League games and help teams qualify based on their historical performance in the competition.
“An increase of more than 50% of matches will hurt the vast majority of teams and benefit very few,” European leagues president Claus Thomsen said after a meeting in Istanbul. “We need to have fewer rounds.”
The divisions within European football come a year after UEFA joined with the leagues to thwart the Super League project raised by elite clubs that would still benefit from planned changes to the Champions League format for 2024.
The competition would increase from 32 to 36 teams and two of those places would go to teams with a good European record in the last five seasons but who have failed to qualify for their place in their local league table.
The group of European leagues met to formalize its opposition to places described as safety nets for the biggest teams, telling UEFA that all Champions League places must be based on the results of the previous season of the league. local league.
UEFA has been asked ahead of next month’s meetings in Vienna to scale back the extended group stage, as it only increases from six to eight games per team and not the 10 planned for 2024.
The proposed spots for two teams based on their UEFA “quotient” are worth tens of millions of dollars in prize money and would reward elite teams that have poor seasons, as well as guarantee broadcasters the broadcast of the biggest teams in the Premier League. Champions. Those teams will still need to finish in Europa League qualifying spots, or win their local Cup tournament, to advance to the Champions League, rather than finishing lower in the table and ahead of other rivals in best position.
But the European leagues want those places completely removed from the format to ensure that all places are achieved on sporting merit in the previous season.