Monday 13 May 2019 20:24, UK
Former Premier League executive chairman Richard Scudamore believes turning the Champions League into a largely closed-off competition would be "completely out of order" and has urged UEFA to "do the right thing" and scrap the concept.
Under a European Club Association proposal that was presented by UEFA to European leagues last week, 24 out of the 32 teams in the group stage would retain their Champions League places for the following season, as promotion and relegation are introduced into three tiers of competition.
It has been met with widespread criticism and Scudamore, who stood down as Premier League executive chairman after more than 20 years at the end of 2018, believes domestic leagues will be harmed.
He told the BBC: "The ECA's proposals under the chairmanship of Mr [Andrea] Agnelli from Juventus, from what I have seen so far, look completely out of order to me.
"If you go down Mr Agnelli's proposed route which is more European competition and less domestic competition it is bound to harm those domestic leagues. Not just the Premier League, but across the whole of Europe.
"I think it is a very delicate ecosystem that we have, and you have to support domestic leagues and competitiveness within domestic leagues, and make sure sporting merit says you can theoretically start a club, get promoted all the way through the leagues and get to the very top, and when you finish in one, two, three or four, you should then go off to Europe."
The radical vision for European competitions was presented to officials from domestic leagues on Wednesday at a meeting hosted by UEFA President Aleksander Ceferin.
And Scudamore, who remains an advisor to the Premier League - the world's richest domestic soccer competition, said: "I think he needs to take a real, hard look at what this could do to domestic leagues, which are effectively the bed-rock of football across the whole of Europe [and] across the whole world.
"I hope that this is the start of a consultation, and not the end of it, and I trust Mr Ceferin will do the right thing."
