Football: European Leagues Threaten UEFA Match Clashes
Zeeshan Mehtab Published October 05, 2016 | 05:15 PM
LONDON, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 05th Oct, 2016 ) - European leagues could be encouraged to engineer fixture clashes with the Champions League over contentious changes to the competition, the European Professional Football Leagues (EPFL) threatened on Wednesday.
UEFA has angered the continent's small and medium-sized leagues by guaranteeing England, Spain, Germany and Italy four Champions League slots between 2018 and 2021. EPFL believes Europe's governing body has broken an agreement to avoid clashes between UEFA matches and domestic games.
"This is why we're reacting as we are now," EPFL president Lars-Christer Olsson, whose organisation represents the European leagues, said at the Leaders Sport business summit in London. "They (UEFA) are setting all the conditions for a private, closed league in the future.
"In my opinion UEFA has forced EPFL to act because UEFA has broken the agreement. We were not at all consulted. "The process has not only been wrong, it has been slow. We have to come to a conclusion fairly soon for the best solution for European football and that can only be made by talking to each other." However, Olsson said clubs who had qualified for the Champions League would not be forced to choose between fulfilling fixtures in the competition and playing league matches.
"We would not create problems for our own clubs because that would not be sensible," he said. "We are reasonably well-educated." Scottish Professional Football League chief executive Neil Doncaster, appearing alongside Olsson, said countries such as Scotland could be seriously harmed by the new agreement.
"It threatens the very future of very top-level football," Doncaster said. "It is important to be a domestic champion club -- that is the same across Europe. It is about access to the top-tier of European competitive football with the other champions of European football.
"Remove that and you fundamentally remove what is important about being a champion in a domestic contest. You would damage irreversibly the mid-level domestic leagues." Doncaster's words were echoed by Karren Brady, vice-chairwoman of English Premier League club West Ham United.
"Competition and merit is important," she said. "When you pick who plays, you lose the integrity of the sport."
Related Topics
Recent Stories
Tennis: ATP Barcelona Open results - 1st update
Swiatek's perfect 10 in Stuttgart as Vondrousova stuns Sabalenka
Arandu's roads closed due to flooding
Oil tanker catches fire in Islamabad’s Blue Area
Pakistan committed to ensure safety of foreign nationals: FO
Tennis: WTA Stuttgart results - 1st update
Four passengers injured as train hit an empty vehicle
Over- speeding bus crushed to death two bike riders
Turkey's Freedom Flotilla ready to set sail for Gaza
French teen dies from heart failure after knife attack near school
Iranians appear unfazed by Isfahan blasts
UAF celebrates Int'l Chinese Language Day
More Stories From Sports
-
Tennis: ATP Barcelona Open results - 1st update
7 hours ago -
Swiatek's perfect 10 in Stuttgart as Vondrousova stuns Sabalenka
7 hours ago -
Tennis: WTA Stuttgart results - 1st update
7 hours ago -
Tennis: WTA Stuttgart results
9 hours ago -
Inaugurate of fitness gym at Ayum Stadium on 25th April
9 hours ago -
Tennis: ATP Barcelona Open results
9 hours ago
-
Women’s One-Day tournament: Multan beat Rawalpindi, Quetta beat Peshawar, Lahore beat Karachi
9 hours ago -
Argentinian Etcheverry sees off Norrie to head into Barcelona Open semis
11 hours ago -
Pakistan all set to face New Zealand tomorrow
12 hours ago -
Duplantis to unleash 'inner' pole vault contest as Olympics beckon
12 hours ago -
Tennis: ATP Barcelona Open results
12 hours ago -
'All-or-nothing' Norris takes sprint pole in rain chaos at Chinese GP
13 hours ago