Scotland to have five teams in Europe from next year

Jun 15 2008 By Gordon Waddell

SCOTLAND will have five teams in Europe from next summer as the UEFA Cup gets a massive revamp.

But the move comes at a price - with the SPL's fourth-placed team facing a possible summer break of just four weeks before having to play their first European qualifier.

European football chiefs have opted to scrap the Intertoto Cup after 14 seasons and incorporate the games as qualifiers in a bigger UEFA Cup that will kick off in June next year.

And that means a massive shift because competing in those early rounds will now become mandatory. That's a change from the Intertoto as clubs could choose not to apply for a place. Scotland's top two in the SPL will still qualify for the Champions League and new changes give our champions a better chance of a direct route to the group stages. But instead of the two UEFA Cup spots currently on offer - along with the option of one team to play in the Intertoto - three clubs will now go straight into that competition.

As part of an edict from UEFA president Michel Platini the Scottish Cup winners will start in the final qualifying round before the group stages.

But the SPL's third and fourth placed teams will play one and two rounds more respectively.

SPL secretary Iain Blair said: "The changes next year are major.

"Everyone knows Celtic go straight into the group stages of the Champions League this season and that's because of Manchester United winning last term's final in Moscow.

"But Celtic wouldn't normally do that from 10th place in the rankings where we are just now.

"After next season our champions WILL go into the group stages and that's good right down to 12th place.

"It doesn't change for our second team. They will still have to play two qualifying rounds.

"But the UEFA Cup is where it does change. They've brought the Intertoto and UEFA Cup together which means it's now compulsory to play - the Intertoto was always voluntary.

"As of next summer two clubs will go into the Champions League while the sides in third and fourth place will go into the UEFA Cup along with the Scottish Cup winners.

"But they will be starting early. The Scottish Cup winner will go into qualifying round four which is the last one before the group stage.

"The only team who will qualify directly for the group stage will be the winner of the competition.

"The UEFA Cup will start in June and participation is mandatory.

"If a team don't want to start their season in June or early July they no longer have a choice.

"The third-placed team in the SPL will go in at qualifying round three and the fourth-placed team will go in at round two which is early in July.

"It's not an option to refuse it. The regulations say they play - that's it. So a team could play in the Cup Final on May 30, lose it and be playing in Europe four or five weeks later.

"That's certainly a possibility. And to be fair our league season only finishes a week earlier anyway. So it's still a short break."

And that could be made worse every second year when either the World Cup or European Championships eat even further into the summer.

Blair added: "If it's a year where there's a championship, the international team could be playing June or early July and the European competitions will already have started by then.

"And the international competition takes precedence so you could be without players in the UEFA Cup."

However, if Scotland want another UEFA Cup place it's going to take a quantum leap in Euro performances to overhaul Holland, Romania or Portugal directly above us in the European rankings.

Blair admitted: "We're now 10th but to increase the number of clubs you need to get to eighth.

"Ninth is achievable in the short term, depending on what other countries do, but eighth would take a couple of good years in Europe to have a serious chance."