UEFA campaign to KO
THE dust still hasn't settled at Glasgow City after UEFA confirmed the club must start its 2010/11 women's champions league campaign in the qualifying groups.
With a reduction (to 51 for the coming season) in the number of associations entering the competition, City's the loser.
Any other number would have seen the Glasgow squad seeded into the last 32 of the competition which would have been a first for a Scottish club.
City's manager, Peter Caulfield accused UEFA of "fostering inequality… and creating a situation where clubs from the biggest nations in the world are being protected against the rise of clubs from smaller nations".
And he lamented: "That fewer associations have entered the women's champions league for next season, has meant we have missed by one place the opportunity to be seeded.
"In my view UEFA are fostering inequality in this competition".
Mr Caulfield also criticised a change to how UEFA calculated club coefficients last season which he said "also hampered us badly".
He added that this "seems grossly unfair as we received only a quarter of a point for failing to come through the qualifying group last year even though we won two matches: the Georgian club, Norchi Dinamoeli, which finished bottom of the qualifying group, having lost heavily in all three matches, gained the same quarter point".
Mr Caulfield was also at pains to stress: "As a club we have only lost to Bayern Munich in the qualifying groups over the last two seasons, while we have recorded four victories and a draw.
"For whatever reason, UEFA have decided that wins at this level, even against clubs from the biggest nations in the world, mean next to nothing if you do not qualify from the group".
However in more pragmatic mood Mr Caulfield acknowledged: "We are left with no choice but to prepare well for the forthcoming qualifying group, at the start of August, and go and win the group no matter who our opponents are".
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Thursday 24 May 2012
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