Clubs want Euro super league with relegation

T h e b o s s o f t h e o rg a n i - s a t i o n t h a t r e p r e s e n t s Europe’s biggest clubs has f i n a l l y a d mi t t e d t h a t h e wants to see the Champions League replaced with a mi dwe e k , c o n t i n e n t a l league, involving promo - tion and relegation, from 2024 onward.

T h e p l a n , w h i c h h a s b een the subject of wide speculation, was outlined in a letter from European C l u b A s s o c i a t i o n c h a i r - man Andrea Agnelli to his 232 member clubs, which include the English Pre - mier League’s ‘big six’ plus E v e r t o n , L e i c e s t e r a n d Newcastle, as well as Scotland’s Old Firm, Aberdeen, Hearts and Motherwell.

In his letter, the Juventus chairman updates the clubs on the preliminar y meetings the ECA b oard h a s h a d w i t h E u r o p e a n football’s governing body Uefa ab out the future of European club football, as well as the organisation’s own general assembly in Amsterdam last month.

Agnelli tells them that the ECA, Uefa and other stakeholders are at the start of a consultation process and, contrar y to some media reports, no decisions have been made. But he does ask for their “views on some principles we feel are fundamental to the future of E u r o p e a n f o o t b a l l a n d around which we will seek to work with Uefa to evolve the club competitions”.

These include the creation of a “pyramidal PanEuropean league system with continuity and opportunity to grow from within” and the “enhancement of mobility and dynamism across the system through carefully applied promo - tion and relegation”.

If that sounds like the creation of a European Super League – a term both the ECA and Uefa have been at pains to avoid – Agnelli’s other principles are that the new competitions have t o b e “a n i n c l u s ive p l a tform for all clubs, based on spor ting meritocracy, not historical privilege”, “symbiosis” must be maintained with the domestic leagues and the revamped Champions League must be “open to all”.

A g n e l l i h a s s u g g e s t e d changing the Champions League’s format of eight groups of four teams, to four groups of eight.