By Andrew Warshaw
October 14 – Talks about an Atlantic League featuring clubs from Scotland, Denmark, the Netherlands, Belgium, Norway and Sweden – first floated over a decade ago – are back on the table, seemingly in response to UEFA’s decision to revamp the Champions League in favour of Europe’s biggest clubs.
Any club that wants be part of such a breakaway would almost certainly have to leave its domestic league but with Europe’s premier club competition in danger of freezing out the continent’s also-rans, Anders Horsholt, director of FC Copenhagen, says discussions have been rekindled after the idea was resurrected back in February.
Horsholt, whose side face Leicester City in the Champions League next week, told Danish newspaper BT: “Yes it’s true. If we do not act now, we will see the biggest clubs grow larger and stronger while it will be increasingly difficult for clubs like us.
“It is still too early to talk about specific models, but the discussion of leagues across European borders is a theme that we look at and actively participate in.”
The concept of a competition involving less advantaged clubs to generate their own television revenue has never been implemented but UEFA’s announcement last month that Europe’s top four leagues will have four automatic places in the Champions League group stage from the 2018-19 season onwards infuriated top-flight leagues as well as smaller and mid-sized clubs.
“We understand that the biggest clubs act as they do,” Horsholt said. “But it also means that we must look at the market it leaves and seek alliances with teams from other countries in the same situation.”
The increasingly influential Association of European Professional Football Leagues (EPFL) is expected to discuss the idea when they meet on October 21 for their annual assembly in Zurich.
“This is not a situation that we have created, but we have to deal with it because we cannot live with the alternative accounting,” said Horsholt. “We must continue to develop as a club and be attractive to sponsors, the most skilled players and staff. Therefore, it is essential that we are at the European level. It is still well in the future but it may well be the result.”
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