Gill addresses fixture problems
International friendlies could be on the G14 hit-list as they look to persuade UEFA to expand the Champions League.
Although the lobby group – which comprises 18 of the biggest names in Europe, including Manchester United, Liverpool and Arsenal – have no plans to launch a breakaway competition, they are eager to resurrect a 17-game Champions League format.
United chief executive David Gill has confirmed G14 are looking at ways the extra matches could be incorporated into the calendar.
And, while he did not specify how it could be achieved, the most obvious way is by eliminating friendlies from the international fixture list.
G14 were aggrieved when UEFA axed the second group stage from the Champions League without any consultation three years ago and feel the gap has been filled by international matches, which benefit the national associations but not the clubs, who provide the players.
The plan is sure to be resisted by FIFA president Sepp Blatter, who has consistently argued against clubs being given any more power in the game.
However, G14 will press ahead with their working party anyway aware that their collective presence in the Champions League is essential to the competition’s status and marketability.
“What the clubs would like to do is look at the actual format of the Champions League run by UEFA,” Gill told BBC Radio Five Live’s Sportsweek programme.
“What we as G14 have done is retained some people to look at how the Champions League can return, we believe as clubs, from 13 match days to 17 match days.
“We, as clubs, were not happy, by and large, with that reduction when it was made three years ago and we would like it to return back to that level.
“We have done some work which looks at how that can be accommodated and it requires some changes – particularly in respect to the calendar.
“I have been in football now since 1997 and this old problem of the international calendar has never been solved. We have tried to look at solutions within that.
“The proposal is not to go to UEFA and say ‘go from 13 to 17’ but ‘this is how we can do it’. We may be right or we may be wrong but let’s have a dialogue about it.
“But UEFA are not owners of the Champions League. It has been decided and agreed by the European Union that the clubs are co-owners of the competition - it’s not UEFA.”
