ENGLAND’S Big Six could ALL be part of a new-look Champions League.
The latest blueprint unveiled to the Prem elite opens the way for Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United AND Spurs to all share millions in extra Euro revenue from 2024.
Chelsea and Arsenal could both find their route into the Champions League easier under new plansCredit: Getty Images – Getty
Uefa will work with the European Club Association, led by Juve supremo Andrea Agnelli, to find a competition format the top clubs will acceptCredit: Getty – Contributor
But the rest of the Prem would have to finish in the top FOUR to get their passport to the big time.
Uefa chiefs’ latest plan intends to fend off the genuine threat of a breakaway European Super League.
Europe’s governing body is now working with the European Club Association, headed by Juventus president Andrea Agnelli, to find a format acceptable to the biggest clubs.
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Uefa is aware that clubs want more games — and more guaranteed TV cash.
That has seen them adopt the outline plan of a 36-team league, with each side playing an initial ten matches in seeding brackets to ensure opponents of a similar strength.
But in a sop to the biggest clubs in the wealthiest nations, England could be allowed up to SIX sides in the new-look senior competition — plus the FA Cup winners in the Europa League and Carabao Cup holders in the new third-tier Europa Conference League.
As now, the top four in the Prem would get an automatic place in the elite, along with four sides from Germany, Spain and Italy.
Secondary leagues would offer two or three places, with further slots accessed through play-off rounds to ensure a nominal path to the high table for every country.
But two places would be left open to the two clubs from across Europe with the highest coefficient score — calculated by results in Uefa competitions over the previous five seasons — who had not qualified by right.
And with all of England’s Big Six currently rated in Europe’s top 15, that would give Prem sides a genuine chance of sneaking in through the back door.
Yet it is a door effectively shut in the faces of the likes of Leicester, Everton and Wolves, who have not been regular European competitors and are well down the coefficient table.
Uefa hope the format is agreed at April’s Congress of the 55 associations.
European Leagues representative Lars-Christer Olsson said: “It should be possible to squeeze in an extra four dates.”
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Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
