GENEVA: The European Leagues organisation is optimistic that governing body UEFA will drop plans to give competition access to clubs based on historic performance.

They expect to find “common ground” with European football’s governing body, a meeting of the leagues’ general assembly heard on Friday.

UEFA’s executive committee is next month expected to confirm a new Champions League format from 2024.

Claus Thomsen, chairman of the European Leagues’ management board, said: “We have had very good dialogue with UEFA.”

Uefa agreed plans for a revamped 36-team tournament in April last year, one day after 12 clubs formed a now-cancelled ‘European Super League’.

The new proposals would allow two teams, who fail to qualify through their domestic leagues, entry to the Champions League based on a five-year ‘Uefa club co-efficient’.

Critics say this favours the traditionally ‘bigger’ clubs and gives them a safety net if they perform poorly in a season.

But Thomsen added: “I think we will find common ground on this.

“Our expectation is that Uefa also has the position of sporting merit being at the core of European and domestic competitions.”

Earlier this month, the Football Supporters’ Association’s Premier League Network labelled Uefa’s scheme “a return to the discredited idea of a European Super League”.

“We call on Uefa to demonstrate that it acts in the interests of the wider football community and its supporters, not just the interests of the few rich investors and state-owned clubs that, less than a year ago, tried to destroy the European football family,” it said.

Uefa’s executive committee will consider the plans when it meets in Vienna on 10 May.

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