While there have been rumours about Manchester United and AC Milan lobbying for guaranteed Champions League spots for the European giants, Arsenal FC boss Arsene Wenger believes that such a move should not be made.
Both Manchester United and AC Milan are currently not in positions to qualify for the Champions League, and have been struggling to get into the respective qualification spots in the Premier League and Serie A.
Arsenal FC are vying for the Premier League title right now, and look very much like they will easily qualify for the Champions League next season. Their manager Arsene Wenger does not believe that reserving spots for big clubs would help the game.
“I think you can guess my answer,” Wenger was quoted as saying by Arsenal FC’s official website after being quizzed about the recent developments. “This sport is based on merit and is one of the few areas in social life where it’s down to merit.”
Wenger also went on to say that even the current format is not entirely merit-based, and even offered a solution to ensure that teams are judged upon merit alone.
“The ideal merit would give exactly the same amount of money to every single club in the Premier League [and you would say] let’s go for it, which is not the case,” he said. “You cannot guarantee anything to any club, no matter how big the support is.”
Football could lose its charm with the Champions League monopoly
If the suggestions to monopolise the Champions League for the big clubs is put into action, it could in turn churn in a lot of money through broadcast rights, but such a move might just end up killing all the excitement surrounding this great tournament. Sports like cricket and Formula One already follow similar models and have been widely criticised for it.
