EUROPA CONFERENCE LEAGUE
When the notion of a third UEFA club competition was first floated a few years ago, the idea of a final between two Eastern European clubs whose best days were decades ago was a frequent criticism. Instead, four clubs with long and strong track records from England, France, Italy and the Netherlands made the semi-finals, with Roma beating Feyenoord1-0 to win the inaugural trophy in the Albanian capital of Tirana on May 25.
“People were against it because UEFA were working on the format before it was launched,” says Olivier Jarosz, former head of club services at the European Club Association and now an independent consultant at LTT Sports.
“One of the issues was, should you let the big five leagues [England, France, Italy, Germany and Spain] in, but if you don’t let them in then it becomes a league of the
