UEFA to force through Champions League changes

UEFA are set to force through changes to the current Champions League structure on Wednesday, despite plenty of opposition from across Europe.

Plans to tinker with Europe's top competition have been circling for years and have gathered pace in recent months. Those in charge are eager to shake things up, but there has been plenty of opposition from clubs and fans.

However, according to The Times, those against UEFA's latest plans have privately accepted defeat and expect the committee to vote in favour of radical changes to the Champions League when they meet on Wednesday.

Bringing in what has been named 'the Swiss system', there will be 36 teams involved in the competition - four more than currently - with those teams set to take part in ten group-stage matches instead of six.

Each club will play five home and five away games against ten different opponents of varying strengths based on seeding, with the results feeding into one huge 32-team league table.

The top eight would then go through to the knockout stage automatically, with a play-off tournament for the teams between ninth and 24th to decide the other eight to make it through. Those at the bottom would not drop down to the Europa League.

One of the biggest issues with this new system is the access to the tournament. Two of the extra places will go to the clubs with the best coefficient who have missed out on qualifying for the Champions League through their league but have made it into the Europa League, meaning someone like Liverpool would have a greater chance of making it in even if they finish lower down in the Premier League table.

There's also the obvious pressure that all these matches would put on the domestic calendar. Playing all the group-stage games would be hard enough, but those who feature in the play-off tournament will face even more games in a schedule which is already seen as too hectic.

While UEFA officials have argued that the competition needs rejuvenating, their proposals have faced fierce opposition from a handful of smaller teams who feel as though the plans are simply being made to give more power (and money) to the big boys.

Crystal Palace chairman Steve Parish claimed the changes would 'have a devastating effect on domestic competition', while Aston Villa's Christian Purslow simply labelled them 'grossly unfair'.

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