Celtic have been assured that proposed changes to the Champions League will not bar them from Europe’s top table.
The European Club Association, led by Juventus President Andrea Agnelli, has been calling for a revamp of the tournament from 2024 onwards. It was widely assumed that this would mean a Super League would be created, effectively a closed shop for the big guns. Rumours of this exclusive competition were only enhanced when Barcelona signed up to the proposal and UEFA announced a third level competition/conference league.
Celtic are a huge club and indeed theRangers have massive support and infrastructure despite their eight year history. However, being in the Scottish league means that both clubs would have been concerned about not getting invited to compete among the elites, where Celtic once stood in the 60s and 70s.
Those fears are now allayed as UEFA chief Aleksander Ceferin assures that there will be no closed shop. Instead, he blames Real Madrid’s President for stirring things up in that regard.
Ceferin told 24ur: “This has been Florentino Perez’s dream for the last 30 years, when I wasn’t even in football. The two main candidates for the presidency of Barcelona have publicly spoken out against the Super League. Bayern (Munich), Juventus and the English clubs have spoken out against it. It’s an idea, a wish, of those who don’t care about the rest of football. Those who care about today’s football but not tomorrow’s.
“In any case the format will remain the same until 2024. That’s when the rights have been sold up to.
“We are talking about not playing at the weekend because we want to keep the value of national leagues. But we are talking about a slightly different, more interesting system that includes absolutely everyone.
“The dream of playing in the Champions League will be as realistic as it is now.”