Champions League revamp will have ‘devastating effect’ of English footballs, warns Steve Parish

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Crystal Palace chairman Steve Parish has warned proposed changes to the format of the Champions League would have a "devastating effect" on competitions in England.

Uefa are looking at plans for a reformed 36-team Champions League which would start in 2024 and take the competition overall from 125 games to 225.

Parish believes that could effectively wipe out the League Cup and be the start of a "creep" towards a future European super league.

Speaking at the European Leagues' Club Advisory Platform, Parish said: "This would have a quite devastating effect on domestic competition in England.

"We have three competitions, one of which, the League Cup, is one of the largest contributors to the EFL and its clubs. This proposal will probably see the end of that cup in its entirety or reduced to some kind of youth competition."

Parish criticised the European Club Association, led by Juventus chairman Andrea Agnelli, which he said was "run for the benefit of a tiny amount of members yet has an extraordinarily powerful influence".

Parish also criticised proposals to allow two teams into the new-look Champions League based on historical performance.

"Last year, as it's proposed, Leicester would have finished fifth in the Premier League but the two clubs below them would have qualified for the Champions League based on some arbitrary period of success in Europe," he said.

"My question to everybody is, where does this all end? When we began the Champions League was a knockout competition with five games just for the champions, we're now looking at an extra 100 games.

"This may not be affecting your domestic league as much as it looks like it will be affecting our domestic competitions in this cycle, but the creep is never-ending.

"With the assault on the calendar we are talking about a transfer of value from domestic leagues to European competition and I think it's very concerning.

"We are seeing with the co-efficient and the calendar principles that are being attempted to be ingrained, so that next time things can be changed even more and domestic competition in the end takes a secondary seat to a European super league."

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