Champions League spot for Cup winners, says FA chief

FOOTBALL ASSOCIATION chief executive Martin Glenn wants to see the FA Cup winners rewarded with a Champions League spot. There have been calls to revamp England’s oldest club competition to help ease fixture congestion for clubs competing in Europe. And Glenn is keen on one of the top-flight’s four Champions League qualification places being handed to FA Cup winners to make clubs take it more seriously. ‘I’d love to see that,’ he told Sportsmail. ‘It would add lustre to the competition. You’ve got to be able to say, “Right, that might be one possibility”. Of course, running the FA, I’d love it. It needs to be weighed against other criteria and desires of the competition owners, the Premier League and Football League. Job one is make sure we’ve enough co-efficient points in Europe to keep the four places.’ The Premier League’s fourth Champions League spot is under threat from Italy’s Serie A owing to poor performances in Europe. To further ease scheduling, Glenn has indicated he will fight Uefa’s ban on playing domestic fixtures on the same night as Champions League or Europa League action. The FA were fined £1million in 2013 for fixtures in the 2010-11 and 2011-12 seasons clashing, but Glenn believes the regulations need to be scrapped altogether. Glenn also confirmed Sportsmail’s story that the FA and Premier League are considering a winter break, adding: ‘It’s not FA policy but I would love there to be a winter break. I think it’d be good for the England team, I think it’d probably be good for the clubs.’