RALPH Hasenhuttl reacted to bizarre proposed ‘legacy’ rules that could permit FA Cup winners Champions League qualification, but only if they rank highly on UEFA’s coefficient scale.
The Austrian boss said “I agree that a win in the FA Cup should lead you to the Champions League”, but questioned why that would only be exclusive to ‘big teams’.
UEFA are currently working on plans to reform the Champions League with up a move from 32 to 36 teams competing, with two of those places going to a team with historical significance.
In three of the last four seasons, those places would have gone to the two members of the Premier League’s so-called ‘big six’ that failed to qualify for the competition through their league ranking.
According to the Telegraph, the proposals have now been refined slightly with the ‘legacy’ team needing to have either finished one place outside the Champions League spots or won their domestic cup.
Changes such as this follow the Super League incident, which was shot down by remarkably negative reaction after its shock announcement in April 2021.
Hasenhuttl was asked for his opinion on the reported legacy spots for Champions League qualification, and laughed responding: “What does that mean?
“When you win now against Man City, who play now against Liverpool and in the final maybe have Chelsea, you win versus all these three teams and win the FA Cup because of having no history in European competitions you are not allowed to play in the Champions League?”
If the reported rules were in place this season, all three of Manchester City, Liverpool or Chelsea would qualify through this rule if they won the FA Cup and did not finish in the top four.
Crystal Palace, the fourth FA Cup semi-finalist, would not, even if they won the domestic cup, because of their coefficient ranking.
Hasenhuttl continued: “There is maybe no tougher Cup to win than the FA Cup, because if you look at the semi-final, you have Man City, Liverpool and Chelsea, it sounds like a Champions League semi-final.”
He added: “I can agree that a win in the FA Cup should lead you to the Champions League because if you win this, you can be sure that you need to win a minimum against one or two of the best teams in the world.
“Otherwise you don’t win it. This is what it is every year, because there are too many good teams in England.
“So, when you win it, I agree, you can definitely be part of the Champions League because then you deserve to be there.
“But it will not happen very often that a team without a big name will win the FA Cup in the future.”
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