Champions League is for the elite few – and Uefa will struggle to change it | David Conn


Uefa’s president wants to improve competitive balance but the top clubs’ financial dominance equates to power too, and it is unlikely his mooted measures will make a significant difference

For football people raised on the foundational European Cup feats of Manchester United’s home-schooled Busby Babes and Celtic’s 1967 triumph with a team of local lads, the modern Champions League is a mixed blessing. Over the last 23 years the tournament has constructed a glittering stage for Lionel Messi and the world’s greatest players but European football’s concentration of wealth is delivering the final rounds and trophy itself to the same few richest clubs.

Related: Chelsea given painful reminder of declining European status by Barcelona | Dominic Fifield

The measures Ceferin has floated, complicated but worthy enough, nibble at the edges of the mountainous financial divide

Related: José Mourinho is pretty much cooked as a Champions League force

Continue reading...