La Liga is leading a Europe-wide backlash against UEFA's new plans for a third continental club competition, warning that the proposal threatens "the foundation of European football," according to Lawrence Ostlere of the London INDEPENDENT. Earlier this month, UEFA revealed its plan for another tournament to run alongside the existing Champions League and Europa League formats, tentatively named Europa League 2 or UEL2, which would begin in '21. But the heads of domestic leagues in the Netherlands, Denmark, Switzerland and Poland have all backed La Liga in "calling for more discussions to take place before embarking on the project," claiming that "critical issues" between the relationship between domestic and continental leagues "are being ignored." La Liga President Javier Tebas said, "While the European Leagues have accepted the introduction of a third club competition, UEFA cannot make these decisions in isolation from the leagues that they affect. Europa League 2 will place greater demands on smaller clubs, who are the basis of healthy competition and the growth of European football, and risks creating a further divide within leagues of those who have lucrative European football and those who don’t" (INDEPENDENT, 12/14).
