UEFA change rules for good

By Redsfan
June 11 2005

UEFA yesterday admitted that they had made a mistake in not allowing the Champions League winners to have automatic entry, to enable them to defend their title.

The situation will never rise again because UEFA have now decided that the Champions League winners will automatically go through the following season.

Lennart Johansson said:

"We, as most people, do certain mistakes," Johansson said. "This is a mistake.

"When we formulated the new regulations we did not think of the possibility that somebody outside the four best in one of the big countries could still win the Champions League.

"Now we have tried to correct it for the future and take a decision which may be criticised but I think will be appreciated in most places.

"If you make an error or mistake you have to try your best not to repeat it in the future and take a decision that could be accepted by the absolute majority."

Johansson defended UEFA's decision to force Liverpool to start from the first qualifying round next season, meaning their competitive season will start in the second week of July.

"We thought in a situation like this we should not make too many changes," he added. "We had to find a possibility to let them in without hurting somebody else."