September 17 – UEFA have refused to confirm or deny reports that they are in discussions to create a third club competition for the first time since the old Cupwinners Cup was disbanded 16 years ago.
UEFA’s executive committee is meeting in Malta today and tomorrow amid reports that a session of all 54 members on Wednesday explored the merits of a new competition, possibly for smaller countries who never get a chance to participate in the group stages of the Champions League or Europe League.
The discussions are reported to be at an early phase and could not come into effect anyway until at least 2018 after the current round of TV rights deals expire.
“UEFA constantly reviews the format of its competitions and invites stakeholders, including member associations, to share their ideas in a consultative process,” a UEFA statement said. “There are no concrete proposals on the table at this stage as we are just beginning a new three-year cycle (2015-18) for club competitions. “
But Scottish Football Association chief executive Stewart Regan came as close as anyone to confirming the new competition.
“It’s a discussion around whether it’s a separate third competition exclusively for smaller countries who then relinquish their place in the Europa League and/or Champions League or whether it’s a competition that basically acts as a further safety net for those clubs that enter the Champions League or Europa League but are typically out by August and then [instead] they fall down into a third competition,” he was quoted as saying
“I don’t think anyone would want to participate in a loss-making competition for the sake of it. But there is certainly a development benefit for some of the smaller nations to experience international football as opposed to only having one or two games with one or two teams and being out by August.”
UEFA boss Michel Platini has long declared his aim of giving smaller nations the chance to compete, expansion of the European Championship to 24 teams being a case in point. The Frenchman may no longer be in charge of UEFA by the time any third club competition comes into play but his latest idea has drawn considerable backing. “We are really supportive of this,” Volodymyr Geninson, executive director at the Football Federation of Ukraine, told The Associated Press. “It will give more opportunity to the clubs who never get in the final stages to participate’ in Europe.”
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