By Andrew Warshaw
October 24 – European leagues are seeking membership of UEFA’s executive committee as part of negotiations to stave off a potential fixture free-for-all next season.
Last week, the simmering dispute over proposed changes to the Champions League escalated dramatically when the leagues threatened to rip up their working relationship with UEFA unless the governing body meets their demands for the controversial deal to be either scrapped or tweaked.
Until now, under an agreement between UEFA and the leagues, domestic top-flight fixtures have been outlawed whenever Champions League fixtures take place.
But the so-called Memorandum of Understanding will be ripped up if UEFA continues to bend to the demands of the Continent’s elite clubs and refuses to amend the changes by mid-March next year, allowing for individual leagues to schedule games against the Champions League.
The get-tough approach by the 25-strong European Professional Football Leagues came as something of a surprise given the “very fruitful” discussions held last month between EPFL boss Lars-Christer Olsson (pictured) and UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin.
But the EPFL’s real fight is with Europe’s biggest clubs, with whom UEFA struck the Champions League deal. Since his meeting with Ceferin, Olsson revealed, “there has been evidence that the big clubs are putting pressure on our members, telling them there is no use in bothering to get involved since the deal is set in stone.”
A key part of the dispute, said Olsson, relates to the leagues having more say in UEFA decisions that could affect them.
“We are of the opinion that there should be proper inclusion of the EPLF in decision-making procedures,” Olsson told Insideworldfootball. “The clubs are on the exco (as observers) and we are not. They also dominate the UEFA club competitions committee. It’s misuse of power.”
Olsson also wants any new agreement with UEFA to also include a clause preventing the top 20 or so elite clubs from setting up a breakaway Super League.
“We cannot allow one party (the clubs) to cannibalise another,” he said. “If the clubs get their way and form a Super League, it would be the end of the competitive lifeblood of football as we know it. It’s only the leagues who are trying to protect the game’s core values.”
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