NEIL Doncaster, the SPFL chief executive, last night welcomed confirmation the “champions route” into the Champions League has been retained by UEFA.
However, Doncaster has promised the SPFL will fight against any plans to do away with the path that Celtic took into the group stages of Europe’s premier club competition this season in the future.
Many of the continent’s biggest and most powerful clubs wanted the route, which former UEFA president Michel Platini introduced seven years ago to enable clubs from smaller footballing nations to qualify, to be scrapped.
They threatened to break away from UEFA and form a European super league comprising the leading teams from England, France, Germany, Italy and Spain unless the qualification process was changed.
There appears to be no possibility of that happening in the near future after European football’s governing body announced the new formats for the Champions League and Europa League for the three-year commercial cycle starting in the 2018/19 season.
The top four clubs in the leading four leagues in Europe – England, Italy, Germany and Spain – will all get into the group stages automatically.
At the moment, only the top three clubs in the Premier League, Bundesliga and La Liga qualify. The fourth-placed team has to go into a two-legged play-off. Meanwhile, only the top two clubs in Serie A get in with the third-placed side going into a play-off.
There is a possibility that clubs from outside the top four leagues in Europe may have to play an extra qualifying game. However, the fact the “champions route” will be retained will increase the chances of the Scottish champions getting into the group stages.
“There is still a lot to be worked through before we can comment fully on these changes, with UEFA stating that full details of the access list for both competitions will be finalised by the end of the year,” said Doncaster.
“What we can say now is that, after lobbying hard for the retention of the champions route for UEFA Champions League qualification, the SPFL is therefore pleased that the champions route has been protected as part of these changes.”
“This alone is good news for each season’s Ladbrokes Premiership champion club and indeed for Scottish football as a whole.
“However, we will monitor this issue and these changes very closely and pledge to continue to fight to protect the best interests of Scottish football in the wider European and global context.”
The threat of a breakaway European super league being formed by clubs from the five main leagues in Europe led to discussions between UEFA and members of the European Club Association (ECA).
Peter Lawwell, the Celtic chief executive who is on the ECA executive board, was involved in talks to prevent that from happening and to retain the “champions route” into the Champions League.
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