Promotion and relegation plan for new European club competition

Plans are being hatched to replace the Champions League with a new competition involving promotion and relegation.

Andrea Agnelli, the chairman of the European Club Association (ECA) and president of Serie A champions Juventus. Picture: AFP

Plans to replace the Champions League with a new competition involving promotion and relegation — which would include more European matches for the top clubs — have been revealed in a leaked letter.

Andrea Agnelli, the chairman of the European Club Association (ECA) and president of Juventus, has written to all 232 member clubs outlining his blueprint to change the Champions League after 2024.

In the letter, Agnelli also tells members to boycott a meeting on Champions League changes being convened next month by the major European leagues, which he accuses of trying to preserve the “status quo”. Agnelli has organised a special meeting for the clubs on June 6 and 7 in Malta. His letter says: “More European football is good for the game … for fans, for society, for cultural, sporting and financial development.”

The Times has previously revealed that the ECA is pushing for a competition featuring four groups of eight teams. The top six in each group would be guaranteed to play in the following season’s Champions League.

There are no specific details of the ECA proposals but Agnelli spells out a list of principles that would effectively amount to a European super league organised by UEFA.

These include: more European matches; a pyramid league system across Europe with “carefully applied promotion and relegation”; the competition would be based on sporting meritocracy, not historical privilege; and it would be a “forward-looking” competition not looking to preserve the status quo.

Agnelli’s proposed reforms would entrench the power of the biggest clubs and secure a greater share of money for ones such as Juventus, for whom domestic competition is becoming less relevant, having wrapped up their eighth straight Serie A title last weekend.

Under the present system, only the winners of the Europa League are promoted to the Champions League. The winner of a third-tier competition, launching in 2021, will also be promoted to the next Europa League. The Champions League winners are guaranteed entry but the other slots are determined based on where a team finishes in their domestic league.

Meanwhile, Paul Pogba is considering his future at Manchester United after becoming concerned about the direction of the club.

The day after Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s team suffered a damaging 2-0 home defeat by Manchester City, it emerged that Pogba is keen to talk to Real Madrid about a move in the northern summer after becoming concerned about United’s recent decline.

And Romelu Lukaku, the United striker, said yesterday that he could join the exodus from Old Trafford and move to Italy.

THE TIMES