European leagues vow to fight Champions League changes

LONDON: The organisation representing Europe’s domestic football leagues is refusing to accept the proposed changes to the Champions League that guarantee four places for the strongest nations.

UEFA announced in August a series of changes to its premier club competition from 2018, including guaranteeing a place to the top four clubs in the four top-ranked associations to leave only 16 spots for the rest of the continent.

European football ruling body also plans to give precedence to former winners of the competition regardless of their current form.

However, Lars-Christer Olsson, chairman of European Professional Football Leagues (EPFL), said on Wednesday that there was almost unanimous opposition to the changes across Europe, including from England and Spain.

That is due to a fear that they are the first towards a closed Champions League for the chosen few of Europe’s elite clubs.

“The deal is not done,” Olsson told delegates at the Leaders in Sport Business Summit at Chelsea’s Stamford Bridge ground.

“The new UEFA president (Slovenian Aleksander Ceferin) has said he will look at it again and I am confident that we can change it,” he added.