European leagues open hostilities over Champions League changes
European football leagues on Friday suspended an accord with UEFA in protest at reforms to the Champions League which gives greater power to major clubs. By freezing their UEFA deal, the 25 European Professional Football Leagues (EPFL) members could organise their own games at the same time as Champions League matches. Smaller European leagues are furious at UEFA's reforms agreed in August which guaranteed four Champions League places to England, Spain, Italy and Germany from 2018. It also changed the prize money shareout. The leagues insist they should have been consulted on the changes. "There is no other option but to terminate the current memorandum of understanding," EPFL president Lars-Christer Olsson told a press conference after a meeting of the body. Twenty-two leagues present at the meeting voted for the suspension which will last until March 15 next year, Olsson, head of Sweden's professional league, said. Italy's Serie A voted against and Romania abstained. "This will give us and UEFA sufficient time to negotiate," Olsson added. Olsson said he is to meet the new UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin in November. No league has yet announced that it will hold matches on Champions League days, but EPFL officials said each country was free to decide its own action. Many European leagues complain that the Champions League has been turned into a "closed party" and that the prize changes will increase the wealth gap between the continent's major clubs and the rest. "It is about preserving the basic values that football fans love," said Claus Thomsen, chief executive of Denmark's league. "Some clubs are making so much money that you don't have a competitive balance anymore in your own championship," said Claudius Schafer, chief executive of the Swiss Football League. - Breakaway leagues mooted - Swiss side Basel, who earn major income from the Champions League, are already on course to win the national title for the eighth straight season. Olsson said there should be a system of promotion and relegation to allow smaller countries and clubs to get Champions League places. The EPFL president also said that UEFA's new financial distribution proposals were unacceptable. "Its worse than before," he told the press conference. Ceferin and Olsson have already held some talks and UEFA and the EPFL have set up working groups on possible deals. Ceferin acknowledged after he was elected UEFA president in September that the changes had been badly handled. He said at the weekend that UEFA would make an effort to help small and medium-sized leagues that suffer from the changes. The EPFL feels it is getting less say than the European Clubs Association which represent the likes of Real Madrid, Barcelona, Manchester United and Bayern Munich. Following the reforms FC Copenhagen, who are in the Champions League this year, said they were in talks with Malmo in Sweden, Rosenborg in Norway, Ajax and PSV Eindhoven in the Netherlands and Celtic in Scotland to set up an Atlantic regional championship. Chinese conglomerate Wanda, a FIFA partner and part owner of Atletico Madrid, has proposed a rival contest to the Champions League. Media reports say that Europe's major clubs have considered setting up their own breakaway contest if they do not get more from the Champions League.
