Football: EPL chief shuns Champions League plan

EPL Chief Executive Richard Scudamore has rejected a proposal to reduce the major European leagues to 16 teams.

LONDON: English Premier League Chief Executive Richard Scudamore has rejected a proposal to reduce the major European leagues to 16 teams and play Champions League fixtures at weekends. Barcelona President Sandro Rosell put forward the plan at a conference in Qatar earlier this week as a way of bolstering the Champions League. But Scudamore said the idea was of no interest to leading English teams and was adamant there were no plans to reduce the Premier League from its current 20 teams. “That’s a very Barcelona-centric view,” said Scudamore. “Our clubs have no view whatsoever to be playing European football on a weekend.”

Published in The Express Tribune, November 19^th,  2011.