Even more 4th place Euro Stuff

Regulations could "open up a can of worms" claims one lawyer

Paul Doyle and Sean Ingle Friday May 6, 2005

Despite the Football buttociation's decree that Liverpool must win the Champions League to qualify for next year's competition, Guardian Unlimited understands that Rafa Benitez's side could yet qualify through the back door.

Article 1.03 of Uefa's Champions League regulations - while poorly worded and open to legal interpretation - seems to suggest that Liverpool could be entitled to play in next season's competition even if they finish fifth or sixth in the Premiership.

It reads: "At the request of the national buttociation concerned, the Uefa Champions League title-holders may be entered for this competition, as an additional representative of that buttociation, if they have not qualified for the Uefa Champions League via the top domestic league championship.

"If, in such a case, the title-holders come from an buttociation entitled to enter four teams for the Uefa Champions League, the fourth-placed club in the top domestic league championship has to be entered for the Uefa Cup."

Uefa's wording is woolly, but it could be spun to mean that the FA, by requesting a fifth place in the Champions League (which FA sources confirm they have), could have set in motion events that would see Liverpool in next season's competition if they beat AC Milan on May 25, with Everton being forced to play in the Uefa Cup.

"This could open a real can of worms," one expert in contract law told Guardian Unlimited. "It would be interesting to know if the FA are genuinely aware of the consequences of making the request."

However, an FA spokesman denied that this means Everton or Bolton - the two teams that could pip Liverpool to fourth in the Premiership - could end up playing in the Uefa Cup.

"It's semantics," he said. "That's not our reading of it. These are hypothetical suggestions based on an buttumption that may not even be valid."

Another possible avenue Liverpool's lawyers could explore if Benitez's side wins the European Cup comes from another strange Uefa rule.

It states that if the winners come from Germany or France (who only have three teams in the Champions League) they automatically qualify for the following year's competition - but the same rule doesn't apply for teams from Italy, England or Spain, who have each have four Champions League spots.

FA chairman Geoff Thompson is understood to have raised the irregularity with Uefa chief executive Lars-Christer Olsson at a meeting in Switzerland on Wednesday, and it could also explain why Uefa president Lennart Johansson has opened the door this week for a possible change of heart.

-- Steve