FA Cup winners to get Champions League spot but only on one condition
FA Cup winners could earn a Champions League place under proposals to reform the English fixture calendar.
The FA Cup winners, under the new rules agreed with UEFA, would only earn the spot if they are one of the European clubs with historical success in UEFA competitions.
The new proposals provide for two additional places in the new 36-team Champions League from 2024 at odds, a formula UEFA uses to measure historic success in the competition.
Champions League spots will be awarded to the top two unqualified clubs on the UEFA coefficient list if they either finished one league spot outside the Champions League spots in their domestic league or won their domestic cup. .
The Premier League and the Football League have been considering ways to reduce the number of fixtures played by clubs, including axing FA Cup replays and reducing League Cup semi-finals from two legs to just one.
Speaking to The Guardian about the discussions, FA chief executive Martin Glenn admitted that he would “love to see” the winners of the FA Cup be guaranteed a place in Europe’s elite club tournament.
“It would add lustre to the competition,” he said. “You can’t solve things in isolation. It’s a Rubik’s Cube. That might be one possibility. Of course, running the FA, I’d love it.
“It just needs to be set up and weighed up against all the other criteria and the desires of the competition owners, the Premier League, the Football League, etc. I think it would be attractive but you’ve got job one [which] is make sure we’ve got enough coefficient points in Europe to make sure we keep the four places.”
The Premier League are also considering offering financial incentives to sides competing in the Europa League to encourage improved performances on the continent.
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