The European Club Association (ECA) recently supported the changes, with chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge saying there are “no winners and no losers.I’m convinced that everyone will benefit”, per Reuters’ Brian Homewood (via MailOnline).
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UEFA are evidently looking forward to Champions League football returning next week, but did they just troll Manchester United?
“A major change in European football has been announced without the support and consensus of the organisers of domestic league football in Europe”, the EPFL said in a statement.
“This is a kind of guarantee that clubs stay united under the umbrella of UEFA”, he said.
Rummenigge spoke after two days of closed-door meetings that revealed disunity and unhappiness among clubs from lower-ranked national leagues which will be squeezed by the Champions League deal agreed last month.
The ECA Executive Board unanimously endorsed UEFA’s changes, which will be in force for 2018-2021 cycle.
European clubs are anticipating another windfall after changes to the Champions League and say the new system will be fairer as well as making them richer.
European governing body UEFA has decided for the period 2018-2021 that the four top-ranked leagues – Spain, England, Germany and Italy – will have four automatic places in the lucrative Champions League.
Rummenigge, the chief executive of Bayern Munich, also pointed out that four places in the Champions League group stage – down from the current five – would remain open to the champions of Europe’s smallest 40 leagues.
The changes to how the prize money is distributed will also favour the bigger teams as the formula will give points for historic success in European competitions.
Rummenigge said this decision – skewing future money away from newcomers like Leicester toward traditional clubs like AC Milan – was made by UEFA.
The changes are expected to take effect from the 2018/19 season.
The 153 clubs attending on Tuesday were told to expect a 30 percent rise in club competition revenues, a projected total of 3.2 billion euros ($3.6 billion).
Of course, no Champions League football will be played at Old Trafford this season after Louis van Gaal guided the club to a fifth-placed finish last term. The 32-team group stage this season has room for clubs from Bulgaria, Denmark and Poland.
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“We never talked about playing in the afternoon to make our Asian friends happy because I believe we have a sensible feeling for the necessity of our European supporters”.
