UEFA will not ‘step in’ over League Cup’s future

UEFA says it will be for the English authorities to make decisions affecting the future of the Carabao Cup.

The expansion of UEFA’s club competitions from next season will add further complication and congestion to the calendar.

It had been hoped that the Carabao Cup may be slimmed down and FA Cup replays scrapped if the Premier League and the EFL could reach a deal on extra funding, but that appears further away than ever after the top-flight clubs failed to make an offer at their meeting on Monday, with the focus instead on first agreeing new financial rules.

UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin has previously said the Carabao Cup should be scrapped, but its deputy general secretary Giorgio Marchetti said on Tuesday that any changes to the competition – and whether the winners should still be a European entrant – would be a matter for England’s authorities to instigate.

“We organise our own competitions and we try to be extremely respectful of what the leagues and associations decide in their own territory,” he said.

“(National associations and leagues) know what is best for their country.

“The qualification is locked for the League Cup winner, we decided a long time ago.

“It would be harsh for UEFA to clamp down and say ‘no way, stop this’. If this cup is meant to be important in the English ecosystem, it’s not for UEFA to step in and say ‘no’.

“It’s been decided like this for more than 20 years. (If) England one day will come and say ‘we don’t need it any more’ – if it will happen, I don’t know. If they ask for that, then there is no reason for UEFA to make another decision.”

■ Doncaster Rovers’ League Two trip to Colchester United last night was postponed due to a waterlogged pitch.