No plans for euro super league - (contary to other reports)
Posted: Wed Mar 18, 2009 6:00 pm
Wednesday, 18th March 2009
No plans for Euro super league
Reuters
European soccer's governing body UEFA and the continent's top clubs have no plans to create a "Super League" to replace the Champions League and UEFA Cup, officials said yesterday.
UEFA officials told Reuters a European Super League is a "non-starter" for their president Michel Platini, playing down media reports it was mulling plans for such a competition.
Platini was quoted by France Football as saying UEFA was prepared to discuss plans from European teams to create a continental league to replace the Champions League and UEFA Cup.
Italy's Gazzetta dello Sport said the project also had some backing from within UEFA.
"People should not mix up the philosophy and reality. As far as the president (Platini) is concerned such a proposal (super league) is a non-starter," a senior official close to Platini told Reuters.
"He (Platini) is always open to dialogue and to look at ways of adapting and improving UEFA competitions in line with the times. But he has his own philosophy and beliefs about the game and one such belief is that he is dead set against a super league."
France Football quoted Platini as saying: "Everybody knows my philosophy about European competitions... but the world is changing and we must be careful about that."
"If it was up to me, I would revert to European Cups as they were at the beginning, with just knockout rounds. But we must listen carefully to any suggestion. If clubs come and talk to us, we would listen to them and then decide."
The French publication also said the ECA talked about a "Super League" during a meeting last week in Nyon, Switzerland.
But a spokesman for the European Club Association said the organisation - representing 137 clubs such as Manchester United, Real Madrid and Milan - "is very happy with the existing European competitions".
"ECA regrets these unfounded rumours which can only damage the harmony in the European football family," he said after the ECA executive discussed the media reports at a meeting in Amsterdam yesterday.
"We have never had any intention of implementing such a competition. We have never discussed it and it has never been on our agenda."
The Super League would be made up of three divisions with 20 to 22 clubs in each tier, the two newspapers said.
Domestic leagues would remain if a Super League ever got the go-ahead, Gazzetta said, but matches would have to be reduced.
No plans for Euro super league
Reuters
European soccer's governing body UEFA and the continent's top clubs have no plans to create a "Super League" to replace the Champions League and UEFA Cup, officials said yesterday.
UEFA officials told Reuters a European Super League is a "non-starter" for their president Michel Platini, playing down media reports it was mulling plans for such a competition.
Platini was quoted by France Football as saying UEFA was prepared to discuss plans from European teams to create a continental league to replace the Champions League and UEFA Cup.
Italy's Gazzetta dello Sport said the project also had some backing from within UEFA.
"People should not mix up the philosophy and reality. As far as the president (Platini) is concerned such a proposal (super league) is a non-starter," a senior official close to Platini told Reuters.
"He (Platini) is always open to dialogue and to look at ways of adapting and improving UEFA competitions in line with the times. But he has his own philosophy and beliefs about the game and one such belief is that he is dead set against a super league."
France Football quoted Platini as saying: "Everybody knows my philosophy about European competitions... but the world is changing and we must be careful about that."
"If it was up to me, I would revert to European Cups as they were at the beginning, with just knockout rounds. But we must listen carefully to any suggestion. If clubs come and talk to us, we would listen to them and then decide."
The French publication also said the ECA talked about a "Super League" during a meeting last week in Nyon, Switzerland.
But a spokesman for the European Club Association said the organisation - representing 137 clubs such as Manchester United, Real Madrid and Milan - "is very happy with the existing European competitions".
"ECA regrets these unfounded rumours which can only damage the harmony in the European football family," he said after the ECA executive discussed the media reports at a meeting in Amsterdam yesterday.
"We have never had any intention of implementing such a competition. We have never discussed it and it has never been on our agenda."
The Super League would be made up of three divisions with 20 to 22 clubs in each tier, the two newspapers said.
Domestic leagues would remain if a Super League ever got the go-ahead, Gazzetta said, but matches would have to be reduced.