UEFA and the European Club Association have hammered out an agreement which will see four clubs from each of the top four leagues play in the UCL group stage from 2018.
It was a long and arduous process that saw Europe’s top clubs threaten to form a breakaway Super League. That would have ended European soccer as we know it. European Club Association (ECA) chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge – who also serves as Bayern Munich’s CEO – and Umberto Gandini – his deputy and also of AC Milan – spoke plenty this year about the future prospects of European football.