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German, French clubs oppose more elitist UEFA Champions League

Arsenal forward Alexandre Lacazette celebrates after scoring his side’s second goal during the Europa League semifinal soccer match, second leg, between Valencia and Arsenal at the Camp de Mestalla stadium in Valencia, Spain, Thursday, May 9, 2019. (Alberto Saiz / Associated Press)
By Samuel Petrequin Associated Press

PARIS – French and German professional soccer clubs on Wednesday rejected a proposal that would turn the Champions League into a largely closed-off competition.

After the Bundesliga said all 36 members voted to reject the European Club Association’s reform plan, representatives from professional French clubs gathered in Paris and rejected the project with 32 votes against, and three abstentions.

European soccer’s governing body UEFA is planning to adopt similar plans to those proposed by the ECA. Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund are among 13 German members of the ECA, which is urging UEFA to make radical changes to the Champions League format. France has nine clubs in the powerful organization.

The ECA wants 24 of 32 Champions League teams to automatically retain their places based on a high placing in expanded eight-team groups, starting from the 2024-25 season. Currently, Champions League places can only be earned by a high finish in a domestic league or by winning the competition or the second-tier Europa League title.

Bundesliga CEO Christian Seifert said Champions League changes “must not jeopardize the relevance and future” of European national leagues. He added the ECA’s plan “would sustainably damage the whole of European football – and that can never be in the interest of the UEFA.”

Hours later, the French league added its opposition to the plans.

“French football is worried about the current project’s sporting and economic consequences on national leagues,” the league said.

According to Didier Quillot, the French league’s executive director, big clubs including Paris Saint-Germain, Marseille and Lyon took part in the vote, amid reports that PSG and Lyon could support the current project. Quillot did not reveal how they voted.

French football federation president Noel Le Graet attended the meeting and presented an alternative proposal to overhaul Europe’s top tournament. Both Quillot and Le Graet declined to reveal its details.

Le Graet should represent France on Friday at a UEFA summit of 55 member federations in Budapest, Hungary. UEFA has said it will update its members on the Champions League reform project.

Fearing a loss of TV revenues for French football authorities and clubs, and an overcrowded match calendar, Le Graet said a closed-off Champions League would undermine the country’s domestic championship.

“We worked over the past few days to try and convince a certain number of people of amending the UEFA proposal,” Le Graet said. “Clubs have decided to think about our proposal. We will present it to UEFA in the coming days.”

The French league said clubs unanimously agreed to present an alternative option to UEFA, which has said talks about which changes to make will take about a year.

Graham Dunbar in Geneva contributed to this report