A bit long but worth a read

UEFA is set to approve some major structural changes to the Champions League, the highlight being automatic group stage qualification for the top four teams from the top four leagues. Gab Marcotti reviews what this might mean and how this happened.

Q: So, from 2018-19, the Champions' League will have 16 of 32 clubs coming from the top four leagues? When did that happen?

A: It hasn't -- yet. It needs to be approved by UEFA's executive committee later this month, but that's part of the compromise that was hammered out between UEFA's club competition committee, headed by Portugal's Fernando Gomes, and some of Europe's big clubs.

Given that it's been agreed, I think we can expect it to be rubber-stamped.

Q: So how is it going to work?

A: There are plenty of details yet to be determined. But what we do know is that the top four leagues, according to UEFA coefficients (right now it's Spain's Liga, Germany's Bundesliga, England's Premier League and Italy's Serie A), will each qualify four teams directly to the group stage.

That's a big change. Right now, the top three leagues get three guaranteed spots in the group stage plus they enter another team in the playoffs. The fourth league gets two spots, plus another in the playoffs.

Q: It doesn't look like a good deal for any league which isn't in the top four...

A: It isn't. In fact, it's a bit of a screw job. This is not just about the fewer spots available to everybody else, it's also the advantage that goes to the team that goes to the big league. It removes the uncertainty of the playoff stage, which allows you to raise more money from sponsors and makes it easier to plan. The rich will get richer; there's no escaping that.

Q: So why did UEFA do this? What are they thinking?

A: They found themselves between a rock and a hard place. Some of the big clubs from the big leagues had been lobbying for this for a while. Most of the revenue that comes into the Champions' League comes from broadcast and sponsorship rights. And, obviously, sponsors and broadcasters pay with the expectation that they'll see a Juventus or a Real Madrid or a Manchester United in the competition. If you can guarantee that, they figure it guarantees a certain level of audience. Therefore, they're happy to pay more.

If there's a greater risk that instead of, say, Barcelona vs. Bayern we get APOEL vs. BATE Borisov, that won't be as attractive. One of the clubs in favor of these changes reckons that it could generate an extra 20 percent in revenue per season.

The big clubs argue that because they invest more in their squads and generate more revenue for the competition, they should get more back and their participation should not be in doubt. They were threatening to do something about it unless the system was changed.

Q: Like what?

A: Remember the breakaway Super League talk? It wasn't just idle chitchat. There were clubs threatening to pull out of the Champions League and set up their own competition. And they were serious about it.

Q: How realistic was the threat?

A: Realistic enough that UEFA's lead negotiators -- Gomes, Michael van Praag from the Dutch FA and former Manchester United chief executive David Gill -- believed them. And they were probably right to do so. Imagine the damage that could be done if the likes of Real Madrid, Juventus and half a dozen other blue-chip clubs decided to sit out a season or, worse, set up their own competition.

I'm told that negotiations went on for six months and, at times, got rather nasty. Once they agreed to stay in, the clubs asked for a whole bunch of other things, beyond the guaranteed Champions League places.

Q: Such as?

A: They talked about having "wild card" entries for "historical merit," which is another way of taking a club like Manchester United or Milan and allowing them into the competition because they're a historically big club. They wanted to look at playing some Champions League games at the weekend so that TV revenue could be maximized. They even talked about setting up a new company to run the Champions League in which UEFA and the clubs (just the big ones, obviously) would be equal partners.

Q: Could UEFA have called their bluff and dared them to break away?

A: In theory, yes, I suppose. It's one thing for a team as big as Real Madrid to talk about setting up their own competition; it's another for them to actually do it and turn their back on winning a 12th European Cup. But that would have been meant taking a huge risk and essentially going to war with the clubs who generate the bulk of your revenue. It also could have led to the kind of split from which there's no going back.