Edwin Van der Sar is continuing to fight clubs like Celtic’s corner in European football.
The Ajax CEO has seen his side buck the trend in this season’s Champions League. The Eridivisie outfit have knocked out both Real Madrid and Juventus en route to the Champions League semi-final. His club face Spurs in their first-leg encounter tonight.
But there’s a reason Ajax’s run is a fairytale story. The financial gulf between clubs in big and minor leagues only seems to be growing and growing. And Van der Sar remains determined to fight the likes of Ajax, Celtic, and Benfica’s cause in Europe.
And he provided his latest update in the form of a meeting with Juventus chairman Andrea Agnelli. Agnelli wants to introduce a proposal involving promotion and relegation from the Champions League. But Van der Sar, speaking in the Sun, wants to find a way of bridging the gap as opposed to making the Champions League a near closed shop.
“We need to create a system where the big clubs in the minor leagues can still confront the most important leagues.
“I think of clubs like us, Celtic, Benfica, Anderlecht, Salzburg, Galatasaray and Fenerbahce. I have recently discussed this with Agnelli. There are some things I share his view on like playing more European games.
“But the system at the moment is that the differences between the various national leagues, especially in terms of TV rights, deny competitiveness. We have to produce home players, but the rich clubs can shop around the world. Something has to be done.”
The rich don’t care about the poor
The fact TV revenue has been allowed to get so out of hand is incredible. The fact nothing has been done to bridge the growing financial gap between big clubs in minor leagues and the top leagues is even more galling.
Agnelli has seen first-hand just how much value the likes of Ajax can bring to the Champions League. If we had a more even playing field ourselves, who’s to say we couldn’t make some form of impact either in the long-term?
Agnelli is the chairman of the European Club Association (ECA). He’s already outlined his promotion-relegation idea to be integrated into the Champions League. But for the likes of us, who are so far behind many Champions League clubs in revenue, it could be disastrous and could almost lock the door up to clubs like Celtic.
The proposal wouldn’t be put into action until 2024 onwards, but it’s still not one we want to entertain. It’s difficult to feel anything but powerless when hearing about the head beaks debating what could happen to our European chances.
Van der Sar’s stance offers us hope. Hopefully Ajax’s progression in Europe’s premier club competition this season has also increased backing to keep the door open for clubs like ourselves and the Dutch revelations. Peter Lawwell, of course, is also on the ECA board having been appointed on September 2017.
So we have voices at the table. It’s now about making sure our voices are heard and acted upon. Will they? The truth is nobody truly knows.
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