Celtic have reportedly joined up with Ajax and Copenhagen to spearhead a new proposal to the format of the Champions League, but what would it mean for the competition?

According to the Daily Record, the trio are looking to make the competition fairer to smaller teams by basing the qualification for the group stages on UEFA’s club coefficient rather than the ranking of the country in which they play their football.

So what would this proposal mean for the Champions League?

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Currently, the likes of Celtic, Ajax and Copenhagen all have to progress through four rounds of qualifiers in order to reach the group stages of the competition due to the respective country coefficient’s of Scotland, Holland and Denmark, which impacts how many automatic group stage places teams from said countries have.

However the proposal, which the trio have been working on for the past three years, would focus on where individual clubs are ranked in UEFA’s coefficient rather than the country; the number of automatic qualifying spots given out and the number of teams who have to progress through qualifying rounds.

Would the change benefit Celtic?

Yes

No

The change, therefore, could potentially benefit the teams who win their respective domestic leagues like Celtic, Ajax and Copenhagen all did last season with a place in the group stages, rather than forcing them to go through qualifiers.

Furthermore, it would also give the trio the advantage of not having to rely on results in Europe from teams in their respective countries, with all three the breakaway sides in terms of recent runs in European competitions.