Crystal Palace co-owner and chairman Steve Parish says he has mixed feelings about the latest revision to the Champions League format and called for an independent regulator to govern UEFA.
News broke on Monday that UEFA were ditching their original plan - set to be implemented from the 2024/25 season - that would have seen some spots in Europe’s top club competition awarded to teams with the best record over the previous five years. That has now shrunk to just one year of historic performance following criticisms that their original plan appeared too similar to the scrapped Super League proposal.
Two teams will now get the chance to qualify for the Champions League despite missing out on automatic qualification via their domestic league position, with those teams decided based on how their specific countries have collectively performed best in Europe's club competitions in the previous season. Had this system already been in use, England would have been awarded an extra place in four of the last five seasons - meaning a fifth-place finish in the Premier League would garner entry to the competition.
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In theory, up to seven English teams could qualify in one season - the top four clubs in the Premier League, a fifth-placed team via country coefficient plus the winners of the Champions League and Europa League, as long as all seven were different sides.
Parish, who was a leading voice against the Super League during its creation and eventual demise in 2021, called UEFA the “greatest enemy of modern football” at a sport business conference in March and, following the latest reforms, was critical of the organisation once again.
Speaking at Crystal Palace’s end-of-season awards night in Croydon on Tuesday evening, Parish said: “If you ask me honestly as a football person, is that what UEFA should be doing? UEFA to me should be spreading the game across Europe. It is all short-term gain and 'let's try get as many of these clubs in so we can get the most broadcast money' which for me is wrong. For me this tournament needs to be taken away from UEFA.
“We talk about an independent regulator over here overseeing everything but European football needs somebody independent. I know they made a few more places available so finally the Ajax's don't have to qualify in the summer and the nonsense of all that stuff, so okay I get it and for the Premier League and maybe one day for Crystal Palace we will celebrate that and the Champions League, but I do have mixed feelings about it, because of the way it has arrived at that and I don't think it is for the right reasons.
“I don't think it is what UEFA should be about. They should be about broadening the appeal of the game, taking a long-term view, and trying to bring other countries into it so in the end the game is bigger across Europe and in the end they are getting a bigger television audience but for me it is all short-termism. I think it is driven by political reasons and not for the best interests of the game. But if [ Crystal Palace ] finish fifth and we get the Champions League, I'll take it!”
