Clubs’ group eyes Euro expansion

The European Club Association (ECA) wants Uefa to expand the Champions League and Europa League, guaranteeing its members more games and more money.

The successor organisation to the G-14 group of Europe’s richest clubs, the ECA now represents more than 220 leading sides across the continent and its executive board has just met in Warsaw.

The board was updated on the work the ECA has been doing with Uefa on revamping the Europa League from 2021 onwards, and an agreement with European football’s governing body is expected in September.

That deal is likely to result in European club football’s secondary competition being opened to more teams, with each side getting more games. But the ECA does not want to stop with the Europa League – it wants a bigger Champions League, too.

The reasons for this were spelled out byue fa on tuesday when it announced its projected revenue and prize fund for next season’s club competitions. With a central pot of £1.75billion for the Champions League clubs to play for, a victory in Madrid next spring would be worth more than £100 million to a British club.

Any change to the Champions League will not come until the 2024/25 season.