Agnelli stands by Champions League reform plan

GENEVA (AP):

European football clubs’ leader Andrea Agnelli still supports a radical but stalled plan to reform the Champions League, and warns some will not like the final agreement reached with UEFA.

Juventus president Agnelli prefers a proposal for eight-team groups that would create more Champions League games between elite clubs from 2024. It is resisted by leagues in England, Spain, and elsewhere, who fear their 20-team schedules being squeezed.

The original plan worked on by UEFA and clubs also suggested 24 of 32 entries being retained year-on-year, closing off qualifying paths for clubs from lower-ranked leagues. They could earn promotion from the second-tier Europa League.

Defending the “good proposal” after a two-day European Club Association meeting, Agnelli says it is “in the interests of all.”

Eventual UEFA-approved changes by 2022 will be “a solution to fit the majority, not all” of ECA’s members.

Agnelli says “we can’t go beyond” satisfying 70-80% of the group’s 230-plus clubs.