UEFA Champions League: Steve Barrish says a reshuffle of the 36-team tournament would be “devastating” to English football

Crystal Palace president Steve Barrish said the proposed Champions League reforms would have a “devastating effect” on English football.

Parrish expressed his disagreement with plans that would inevitably threaten the League Cup’s prestige.

“It seems that we are expected to accept these proposals because they are not as bad as they would have been,” he said.

“This will have a devastating effect on domestic competitions in England. The League Cup is the largest financial contributor to the Football League and this will either be the end of that entire cup or turn it into a youth competition.”

“For clubs like us, it’s very difficult to understand where you have a voice in these conversations. We feel very far from the decision-making process.”

Barrish was speaking at the European Union meeting that took place on Wednesday morning. Despite invitations sent to all of the major European clubs, none of them took the opportunity to speak.

Premier League president Rick Barry, who also spoke at the meeting, said losing the League Cup would strip away a third of his organization’s revenue and would pose a “very real threat” to the existence of some clubs.

Earlier this week, European Club Association (ECA) President Andrea Agnelli said he expects an agreement on a 36-team competition. To be reached within two weeks.

Instead of eight groups of four matches each playing six matches as it currently is, all teams will play 10 matches against opponents of varying strengths and decide on each club’s UEFA ranking, with these results then forming one comprehensive table.

Discussions are ongoing about the exact structure of the competition, in particular the allocation of four additional places.

The proposals are expected to put an end to the debate over the European Premier League, but issues remain.

Although accepting an advantage in the system, European leagues will continue to argue against the exclusivity of UEFA dates as well as a plan to allocate two of four additional places from the current 32-team group stage based on effective historical participation rather than where they end up In the league table.

In a scenario discussed today, out of the three English clubs currently qualified for European competition, West Ham or Everton would lose an additional place in the Champions League for Tottenham, given their superior historical cooperation, despite being fewer than them in the tournament. Premier League table.

“Sports merit should be the guiding principle and we should not qualify teams on the basis of shared competence,” said European Leagues President Lars Christer Olsen.