DRAFT UEFA proposals leaked into the public domain last night which would see 24 of the 32 Champions League entrants into the group stages from 2024 onwards qualify automatically for the following year’s competition regardless of their domestic league placing.

Surely the first step towards a much-trailed bona fide European Super League, according to a document revealed by the Associated Press, each group would now comprise eight teams rather than four, with every team guaranteed at least 14 games rather than six, enough to earn them additional tens of millions of pounds.

As for the remaining members of this 32, four of the remaining eight spots would come from the four semi-finalists from the Europa League, leaving just four slots for champion sides from their domestic leagues on the continent.

The current 16-team knockout stage will also be retained, with the bottom two teams in every eight-team group effectively ‘relegated’ out of the competition.

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While current Scottish champions Celtic would retain their spot in the group stages if the plans had come into force this season by dint of finishing third in their group, the plans clearly have major ramifications for Scottish teams.

If you were to continue this year’s parallel onto this year’s model, the proposal would allow for Arsenal and Chelsea to gain ‘promotion’ via the Europa League route to take England’s quotient of Champions League teams to six, an amount which could quite easily continue for perpetuity.

The Spanish and German leagues would gain a further team too, leaving Scotland’s champions – whoever they are – likely to be left battling it out either with the remainder of the continent’s domestic champions or requiring to reach the last four of the Europa League just to access the Champions League.