juara fa cup 2008-2009 langsung masuk champion league 2009-2010 bersama dgn
klub yg berakhir di posisi 1-3
untuk wakil Inggris,spanyol dan italia mendapat 4 kandidat; prancis,jerman dan
portugal dapat 3
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"Evertonians are Born, Not Manufactured
We do not Choose, We are Chosen
Those who Understand, Need No Explanation
Those That Don't Understand, Don't Matter"
Cup winners to qualify for Champions League
England will keep four places under Platini plan
Uefa proposals to breathe new life into FA's flagship
Paul Kelso
Friday August 24, 2007
The Guardian
Future FA Cup winners will automatically receive a place in the Champions
League under proposals for the fundamental reform of the competition due to be
considered by Uefa next week. The move, which would provide a huge boost to the
FA Cup and revolutionise the status of domestic knockout competitions across
Europe, is part of a proposal to be unveiled by the Uefa president Michel
Platini prior to the Champions League group stage draw next week.
Platini was elected Uefa president last year, promising to reduce the maximum
number of Champions League entrants from a single country from four to three, a
pledge that won him support from many of Europe's smaller national
associations.
That proposal was opposed by the most powerful leagues and clubs in Europe
however, and Platini is understood to have revised his proposals, with the
domestic cup option being offered as a compromise. Currently the top four clubs
in the Premier League qualify for the Champions League, with two progressing
straight to the group stage and two entering the third and final qualifying
round.
By granting a place to the FA Cup winners from the 2009-2010 season England
would retain four entrants but it is hoped that the pool of competitors will
spread beyond the predictable "big four" clubs.
Platini is keen to widen the Champions League pool; currently the champions
from only nine countries are guaranteed a place in the group stage, with the
runners-up from six of those also qualifying directly for the latter stages and
the remaining 43 national champions having to play qualifying rounds. By
allowing the Cup winners to enter, possibly in a qualifying competition,
Platini believes Europe's elite competition will become less predictable and
open to a wider spread of clubs.
Along with England, the Spanish and Italian leagues also receive the maximum
four entrants; France, Germany and Portugal have three, two of which go
straight to the group stage, while Holland, Greece and Russia have two.
Liverpool and Arsenal play the second legs of their qualifying matches next
week.
Under Platini's proposal the three leading nations will retain four entrants,
with three based on league position and the fourth coming from the FA Cup. The
proposal has the support of national associations including the FA, who would
benefit from having a Champions League place effectively in their gift.
Clubs and leagues are less well disposed to the idea and that opposition is
likely to be aired next week at a meeting of Uefa's Professional Football
Strategy Council.
The PFSC includes representatives from national associations, professional
leagues, clubs and the players' unions. The FA chairman Geoff Thompson, his
Premier League counterpart Sir Dave Richards and Chelsea's chief executive
Peter Kenyon are all members of the committee. Last month the European
Professional Leagues umbrella group, of which Richards is chairman, registered
its opposition, stating "anything which could affect negatively the league's
competitions would be detrimental to the whole of European football."
The issue was discussed at last week's Premier League shareholders' meeting,
where the FA chief executive, Brian Barwick, suggested the proposal was in the
best interests of many clubs. There was opposition however, with Kenyon and the
Manchester United chief executive, David Gill, maintaining that the clubs had
the power to prevent the changes.
Uefa insiders insist the PFSC does not have the power to overturn the proposal,
and that it will be approved before being rubber-stamped at Uefa's executive
committee meeting next month. The evidence from recent seasons, however,
suggests there would be little change in the English entrants. Since the
European Cup brought in clubs other than the champions in 1992, only Everton,
in 1995, have disturbed the Cup-winning cartel of Manchester United, Chelsea,
Arsenal and Liverpool.
It is thought that if the Cup winners have already qualified for the Champions
League via their league position, the fourth place would revert to the club
that came fourth in the league. Among the losing clubs that might have been a
game away from a place at Europe's elite table were Sunderland, Sheffield
Wednesday, Middlesbrough, Aston Villa, Southampton, Millwall and West Ham.
The prospects of Champions League wealth being spread ought to excite chairmen.
A good run is worth over £20m and finalists earn close to £30m.
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