French football authorities have scrapped the country’s League Cup tournament from next season due to plans to restructure the UEFA Champions League.
The Sun report that the Coupe de la Ligue will be suspended from next year due to plans that could see more matches take place in Europe’s premier club competition.
There are no plans for any similar measure in Scotland or England at present, but EFL chairman Rick Parry does admit that things could change soon down south.
“It clearly is a concern and something we’re mindful of,” he said, as reported by the BBC.
“We’re unique in having a League Cup now; the French have done away with theirs, and now with UEFA’s third-tier competition and the potential changes on the horizon, we’re watching intently and with great care to see what they may be and what impact they might have.”
Could we see the end of Celtic trebles?
Let’s face it, the rest of Scottish football has had little success in stopping us win trebles over the past few years. We’ve won all three domestic trophies for each of the past three seasons and are well on course to stretch that tally to four.
Nobody seems capable of stopping us. So maybe the Scottish football authorities will step in.
Celtic played 63 games in total last season so maybe lessening that workload could be seen as a positive move.
The counter argument is that it only takes us four games to win the Betfred Cup at present – much less than the six or seven required down south. The tournament is a massive part of the football calendar up here and has a very important place in our game, despite holding less value than the league and the Scottish Cup.
Of course, nothing is being mooted at this stage. But the way football is going, with continental competition seemingly extending, you wouldn’t be totally surprised if our trebles started becoming doubles in the not too distant future.
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