Bertrand Desplat on the reform project of the European Cups: "the announced death of national football"

In an interview with Europe 1, Bertrand Desplat opposes the reform of the European Cups, and castigates the clubs wishing to participate.

INTERVIEW

At the end of a meeting with the members of UCPF (Union of professional football clubs), the union of which he is vice-president, Bertrand Desplat, the president of En Avant de Guingamp, spoke on the reform of the European Cups on the European antenna 1. He denounces a project that "endangers the national championships, by over-hauling them, by diminishing their value", while highlighting "a football of the territories" .

The reform of the European Cups, initiated by the European authorities, could see the day in 2024. It would allow the clubs involved in the Champions League to qualify again for the next edition, regardless of their results in their competition. national championship. If the reform was passed, only four of the 32 Champions League seats would be reserved for the national championships. What annoys Bertrand Desplat, who sees there a way to "trample the historical principle, which was that through the results we get in his national championship, we reach a European competition".

Strong measures against clubs "complicit"

By reducing the interest of the national championships, the president Guingampais fears that the teams entered in the Champions League leave the championship aside. "In an extremely concrete way, tomorrow, the best French clubs, who are in the Champions League, will put their B team for the French league, they will no longer have the fierce desire to qualify for the Champions League, because it will be acquired almost for life, "he says.

READ ALSO - Football: what is the decreed reform project of the European Cups?

Faced with this danger, "with the unanimity of its members, the UCPF demands the suppression of the audiovisual rights related to the domestic championships for the clubs which would be engaged in this type of competition," announces Bertrand Desplat. Concretely, the UCPF will seize the general assembly of the professional football league, "so that this approach will come to an end" and this, from 2020. "Since the reform must be ratified during the year 2020, the clubs that would be complicit in this announced death of the national football will no longer have access to the revenues of the domestic championships, "said the president of the current red lantern League 1.

Nasser Al-Khelaïfi? "He can not be the gravedigger of the football spirit"

Faced with a reform that threatens the national championships, Bertrand Desplat does not mince words when it comes to evoke Nasser Al-Khelaïfi, president of the PSG and member of the ECA (European club association), at the origin of the reform project. "He can not be the gravedigger of the spirit of football," insists the Breton president. "The spirit of football is first and foremost a football of the territories, a football based on its regions.We would like, tomorrow, to put the sport of the regions completely flat.It is simply the death of the football in the broad sense ". But beyond Paris Saint-Germain, the UCPF vice president is targeting all major French clubs. "I have in mind all the clubs that today have a hope [...] of being able to qualify for this competition, it's a rent in fact, it's extremely tempting for them to do everything 'it takes to be in the Champions League from 2024. Thinking to maximize the income on the very short term, it is the football that we are killing ". "I think that the reason will prevail", concludes however Desplat, who wants to be optimistic. The draft reform must be voted on by the UEFA Executive Committee in 2020.