UEFA may review rule that hit Spurs bid
Reuters - Wednesday 23 May 2012, 18:09
The Champions League rule which
has denied Tottenham Hotspur a place in next season's
competition because Chelsea won Saturday's final could be
reviewed by UEFA's executive committee, president Michel Platini
said on Wednesday.
Chelsea automatically qualified for next season as European
champions despite only finishing sixth in the Premier League.
If they had lost on Saturday they would have only qualified
for the Europa League, but their victory over Bayern Munich
means that they, rather than Spurs who finished fourth in the
Premier League, will compete in the Champions League.
Speaking in Budapest ahead of this week's FIFA Congress,
Platini said he was aware the rule was unpopular because of the
potentially huge Champions League revenue a club can lose
because of another's success.
But he told reporters: "Everything can be discussed - the
rules, yellow cards, but not during the competition. Perhaps in
the next executive committee we can speak about it".
On Tuesday, FIFA President Sepp Blatter questioned whether
Chelsea should be allowed to enter next season's Champions
League because he said all confederations should follow FIFA's
rules on competition winners.
Blatter told Reuters: "We had this rule in FIFA that the
winner of the World Cup was automatically qualified and we
abandoned it, so the winner of a competition should not be
automatically qualified.
"This is the FIFA rule and if we have the same rule all
around the world then this should be applicable to UEFA as
well."
Platini rejected suggestions that Tottenham were being
unfairly punished and that by denying them a place in the
competition it made a mockery of their season.
"No, they have not been punished, they know the rules, they
should have been third and not fourth, they could have finished
first. Did they fight for first place?"