UEFA president Michel Platini has spelt out his plans for a new era in European football including a proposal for 'play-offs' for Champions League qualification. Platini is proposing a new final qualifying round where there could be play-off-style matches, where the lowest-placed qualifiers from England, Spain, Italy, France, Germany and Portugal would play against each other. The current system works on seeding, meaning clubs from the major leagues usually avoid each other in the final qualifying round and have easier games against smaller teams.
Platini said: "It's not about disturbing England, Italy or Spain, but about finding a good balance. "My problem is that the two English, Spanish and Italian teams in the final qualifying round do not play against each other, they play against smaller teams.
"Perhaps the teams from the bigger countries, who have four and three qualifying teams, should play against each other. "We want to add some of the other countries to the competition and to do that we have take some of the others away. I'm not sure that the fourth clubs from Spain, Italy and England are more important than the champions of Poland, the Czech Republic and Denmark."
Platini's other ideas, revealed in a media briefing in London, include: Establishing a UEFA strategic committee where UEFA, the European leagues, the clubs and the players' union FIFPro would each have an equal voice in deciding changes in European club football.
Banning players going on loan to teams playing in the same competitions as the club that owns them.
Preventing European clubs from signing players who are still owned by agents or companies - as happened with West Ham and the Argentinian players Carlos Tevez and Javier Mascherano.
Having tougher penalties for players who damage the image of the game by becoming involved in unsavoury incidents such as mass brawls.
Backing the introduction of a rule where clubs can only spend a percentage of their turnover on player wages and transfers.
Encouraging referees to abandon matches where there is overt racist abuse. The Champions League proposal will be one of the first issues dealt with by the new strategic committee. The committee has to be ratified by a special UEFA Congress on May 27, but if approved it will include three voices from English football - Football Association chairman and UEFA vice-president Geoff Thompson, Premier League chairman Sir Dave Richards and Chelsea chief executive Peter Kenyon.
Four clubs have been voted in as representatives by the European Club Forum - Chelsea, AC Milan, Barcelona and Ajax, - and Platini's backing for the strategic committee will give Kenyon a powerful voice in European football.
In relation to changing the rules on loan players, Platini added: "If a player is on loan at one club it is logical for me that he is excluded in playing in the same competition as the club who owns him. "He should not be able to play in the same league as his own club."
The issue has grabbed public attention in relation to Chelsea's connection with Brazilian defender Alex, who is currently at Dutch side PSV Eindhoven. The clubs could face each other in the Champions League semi-final but Chelsea say there are no eligibility issues because the player is not on loan at PSV, merely that they have an option to sign him. Proposed changes to the Champions League are set to be debated at the strategic committee's meeting in Monaco in August, before being voted on by UEFA's executive committee the following month.
Any changes to the format would not come into force until the 2009-10 season.