Harry Diamond
UEFA president Alexander Ceferin has called for the English FA to consider scrapping the League Cup, insisting the absence of the competition ‘would be better for everyone’ as changes are contemplated to ease a congested fixture list.
The European governing body are already looking to expand the Champions League, a move which would only add further pressure onto an already packed fixture schedule for the country’s leading clubs, with the League Cup believed to be at risk in a bid to ease the work-load.
Manchester City were crowned winners of the competition for the seventh time in their history after beating Aston Villa 2-1 at Wembley last weekend, though the tournament is often the least prioritised of the major competitions with leading sides fielding inexperienced and rotated teams.
France have already announced that their League Cup competition will be disbanded at the end of the current season, and there have been some suggestions from Premier League bosses that England should follow suit, and Ceferin believes the absence of the tournament would prove beneficial to the footballing calendar.
“The League Cup is off in France already. Only England remains,” Ceferin told The Times.
“I think that everybody knows that it would be better for everyone if that were not played any more.
“But the problem is that, through that cup, you finance a lot of clubs that are quite disadvantaged, so I understand the problem.
“The English are also quite traditionalist, you like things that have been there for ages.”
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