Four Italian teams in the Champions League? In theory yes, from the 2018-19 season but according to reports in Spanish sports daily Marca, the plans to reform European club football’s biggest tournament have been shelved.
 

On August 26, a meeting of UEFA officials decided to adjust the competition to guarantee that four representatives from England, Spain, Germany and Italy would go straight into the group stages. Now that seems to have been scrapped for two reasons.
 

Firstly, the pressure from the smaller associations and secondly, on a more political note, when the new motion was passed, at the head of UEFA was Ángel María Villar who was interim President. Now the head of the organisation is Slovenian Aleksander Ceferin who is believed to be against such changes being introduced.  

This news will not be welcome by the Italian football federation (FIGC) who have been campaigning to get back the fourth place that they lost to the Bundesliga.


Steve Mitchell @barafundler