Platini Expands On His Champions League Plan

UEFA’s new president Michel Platini has expanded further on his views on
changing the format of the Champions League by stating that he is considering
making teams from the key European football nations play each to qualify for the
tournament.

Platini suggested that the lowest-placed qualifiers under the current system
from the ‘major leagues’ of England, Italy and Spain were finding it too easy to
qualify and that they should be forced to essentially play-off against each
other to gain entry to the competition.

‘It’s not about disturbing England, Italy or Spain, but about finding a
balance, Platini said. ‘Perhaps teams from bigger countries, who have four and
three qualifying teams, should play against each other.

‘My problem is that the two English, Spanish and Italian teams in the final
qualifying round do not play against each other, they play against smaller
teams. We want to add some of the other countries to the competition and to do
that we have take some of the others away.

‘I’m not sure that the fourth clubs from Spain, Italy and England are more
important than the champions of Poland, the Czech Republic and Denmark.’

Any changes to the Champions League format enforced by Platini would not come
into play until the 2009-10 season.