Europa League May Get the Chop says UEFA President Platini

The Europa League may be on the chopping block while the Champions League is set for a revamp according to UEFA president Michel Platini.

The sport’s governing body for Europe is keen on a number of changes to the format of European competitions from 2015.

Plans to scrap the Europa League in favour of a 64-club Champions League are reported to be on the table for discussion.

Platini told French newspaper Ouest France: “There is a debate to determine what form the European competitions will have between 2015 and 2018.

“We are discussing it, we will make a decision in 2014. There is nothing decided yet.”

If the alterations get the nod, it would mean that seven English clubs and five Scottish teams would be qualifying for European football’s elite competition.

The 57-year-old former France international also played down the ongoing threat of Europe’s biggest clubs forming a breakaway competition to rival the Champions League.

“It’s a question that is regularly brought up,” Platini added.

“I can’t see how it could work outside the Uefa framework. Who will referee them? In what stadiums will they play?”

And regarding the possibility of introducing new technology to help officials, Platini said: “There is a complicated thing for which we might, and I say might, need video and it’s offside.

“It is very difficult for the referees to rule on that.”