http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/s...rem/7702448.stm

The second placed SPL team is now going to enter the qualifying of the Europa League if they fail to win their first champions league qualification match.

It also says "The fourth-placed team in the SPL will enter at the second qualifying round stage of the Europa League, with the third place side joining them one round later." Does this mean that fourth place are garaunteed a Uefa cup place regardless of who wins the Scottish cup?

Remarkable speed and alacrity from the BBC here, reporting details which came out months ago...

For next season at least (our co-efficient drop may affect after that), the SPL winner gets straight into the Champions League. The SPL runner-up continues to have to win 2 'knock-out qualifiers' to join them. However, they will have to do this in a section only for 'big countries' clubs. As scant compensation though, they fall into the UEFA Cup/Europa League even if they lose the first tie, not just the second.

The Intertoto place is now a Europa League place. Scottish Cup winner still enters 1 round before the Groups. 3rd in the SPL continues to enter 2 rounds before the Groups. Now 4th in the SPL must enter, 3 rounds before the Groups. If the Scottish Cup winner qualifies for the Champions League, the SPL qualifiers both come in a round later; and Scottish Cup runner-up takes weakest (ex-Intertoto) place.

So yes, we still have 5 European slots - 2 in the Champions League, and 3 in the Europa League.

All these worlds are yours except Europa. Attempt no landings there.

Was Platini not out to prevent cup runners-up getting into Europe or did I imagine that?

No, you're thinking of Gordon Smith (our esteemed leader of the SFA... who wished to devalue his own competition in order to help the SPL... such is Scottish football). This issue went to a vote at a recent UEFA meeting, however it was rejected "overwhelmingly" according to reports.


The reasons for this are obvious. Firstly the issue of quality. 'Big' countries have enough strong teams that 2 decent outfits usually make the cup final - and even if they don't, the country is getting enough European places that they don't fret about it. No-one in England was concerned when Millwall qualified as cup runners-up a few years ago, for example. 'Small' countries only get 1 Champions League place, so it would need someone to 'do the double' for the cup runner-up to get in. In addition, their teams tend to be of more uniform (weak) standard, so again no worries.

Secondly, the issue of the cup format. It's a lot easier for a 'diddy' team to reach the Cup final in Scotland than in most other countries. We have an unseeded draw all the way. We have cup replays, giving small clubs a second chance. At the same time, all rounds are not over 2 legs - so the big teams can be eliminated by a shock result, and don't have another 90 minutes to redeem themselves. Most small teams here are really up for it, while in other countries cups are low key.


The cup runners-up issue is a niche one that only affects Scotland and a handful of other middle sized nations with cup tournaments of a certain format. The rest of Europe like cup runners-up!!

Best bet is to hope that, if one of the OF reach the Final, they both do!! Then it passes to SPL.

Wikipedia has it noted that from this coming season, if the winners of a domestic cup have qualified, the spot will go the highest placed team in the top division for that country without a European Spot. NOT the runners-up.

How trustworthy that is though, is up to you to decide.

Edit:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UEFA_Cup

the whole thing is basically a money grabbing opportunity where as many teams as possible get as many european games as possible, kinda devalues the competition if it doesnt matter how rubbish the second placed team in the spl does because whether they win or lose theyre in europe until christmas at least

As i've stated before a euro league is not far away (5-10 years) ?
Think the bigger domestic leagues , England, Spain , Italy , Germany & perhaps France , might be ok but the 2nd tier euro teams , ourselves , Dutch , Portugese etc will be more involved in an 'experimental' european league putting domestic matters on the backburner.
Not really that unbelievable when you see how far the European Cup/Champions League has evolved over the last 15 years.

... you do realise that, to all intents and purposes, little if anything has changed from the old format? The only different now is that, when Rangers lose to Kaunas or Celtic lose to the third best team in Bratislava, they drop into the Europa League instead of going straight out. Apart from that, the runner-up still has to win 2 ties; the Champion still gets straight into the Group Stage; the Europa League entrants continue to be the same number of ties from their groups.

Apart from some tweaks with co-efficient points/calculations, and dates, nothing else's changed.




Ah yes, the refuge and sanctuary for the Old Firm fan who has come to realise that the English neither want them, nor will take them...the glory of the Atlantic League...the wistful days of the freezing Thursday in Rotterdam, Sunday 12 noon kick-off in Braga, and a 11th/12th place super-clash versus Rosenborg Trondheim... I can feel the anticipation building within me as I write this...

Any 'Atlantic League' would have to split away from UEFA, surely, because it seems the very last thing UEFA wants is international leagues, elitism, changing the old order etc. etc. - so how will these Atlantic League clubs survive, deprived of Champions League cash and exposure? How will they justify to their fans, competing in some over-blown friendly tournament where you need to fly to another country for virtually every away game? Why would elite players want to play in it?

And what, exactly, is the benefit for Ajax, FC Porto, or Anderlecht in joining this over-blown 'Super League for Medium-Diddy Countries' Big Teams'? What does this "Atlantic League" have over the Eredivisie, or the Ligra Sagres? What does any "2nd-tier Euro League" bring to the table, really?

The Atlantic League is a kind of second-rate pipe dream for Rangers, Celtic, a handful of Danish, Norwegian and Swedish outfits, and the odd Central European, who'd get invited in to make up the numbers. Levski Sofia v Valerengen, Celtic v Grasshopper, Goteborg v Brugge. Cannae wait...



Also - regarding WeArethePeople's post, Wikipedia is wrong (no surprises there...). The motion is effectively dead, because it was overwhelmingly defeated at UEFA, for the reasons I mentioned.

You can see the opponents and situtation the SPL Runner-up faces HERE (under Non-Champions): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UEFA_Champion...ions_Qualifying

So currently 2nd in the SPL (Rangers) would need to beat:
Dynamo Moscow/Unirea/Benfica/Ajax/Ankaraspor/Metal Kharkiv/Anderlecht/Xanthi/Mlada Bolslav
THEN Arsenal/Valencia/Napoli/Bordeaux/Bayern Munich to reach the Group Stages.

If a 'euro league' of some description did happen would you want Hibs to participate?
'..the very last thing uefa want is elitism...' . Seriously?

Scotland had 5 European places for next season.

It's not trustworthy at all because it's quite simply downright wrong.

As has been said already.

To be fair to Dunning, I believe Platini also declared that was his preference. However, the proposal was voted down regardless of him and Smith being "on board".