LONDON: There will be no breakaway European Super League, UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin and Andrea Agnelli, the chairman of the influential European Club Association, have told the BBC.

Instead their joint plans for the future of European football from 2024 onwards will see a revised football schedule which will possibly involve less domestic football and more European competition.

Earlier this month, German magazine Der Spiegel reported that plans for a European Super League were back on the agenda after several previous discussions came to nothing.

Der Spiegel and European Investigative Collaborations, a network of international media, citing leaked documents, reported that a fresh plan had recently been drafted by Spanish company Key Capital Partners for Real Madrid.

The plan foresees 11 top European clubs creating a Super League in 2021 when the current agreement on the Champions League format and revenue sharing ends.

“The Super League will not happen. It is in a way a fiction now or a dream,” Ceferin said.

Juventus chairman Agnelli said the clubs and UEFA are “united” in their views on how the game should progress over the coming years.

“We are fully engaged with UEFA in shaping the game going forward,” he added.

Juve were named as one of 11 prospective founders for the closed breakaway league but Agnelli said that the Italian club had not been involved.

“I can confirm we have never seen, never discussed, never been involved in the creation of this document [about a Super League],” said Agnelli.

Ceferin — who is due to be re-elected to his post unopposed next February — and Agnelli said discussions are taking place about how to change the format of European club football’s premier competition, the Champions League.

This is being done in order to obtain a more financially attractive broadcasting deal.

“We have some ideas,” said Ceferin. “All I can say is that any Super League is out of the question. Participation stays. And everybody will have an opportunity to compete in every European competition,” added the 51-year-old Slovenian lawyer.

Ceferin said a planned third European competition with 32 teams will be appreciated by European clubs.

Published in Dawn, November 21st, 2018