Serie A may lose CL place

(GSM) – Milan vice-president Adriano Galliani has admitted that he expects Serie A to be stripped of a UEFA Champions League place by 2012.

While, the Italian top flight is yet to feel the full repercussions of the infamous Calciopoli match-fixing scandal of 2006, one of them could be the loss of a Champions League place as the German Bundesliga look set to replace Serie A in the European standings.

That will mean just three teams, instead of the current four, will be able to enter the Champions League in the future.

“One of the effects of the Calciopoli is to have reverberations on the Uefa index for Italy and from now on it’s practically certain that Germany will overtake us,” said Galliani.

“We have less than a 0.5-point average on Germany (at the beginning of the season) and it’s now certain that from 2012 we’re going to lose a Champions League team and even maybe in 2011.”

The Uefa index, which is calculated on the performance of clubs in European competition during the past five seasons, determines the number of teams each nation can enter into continental tournaments.

The top three, currently England, Spain and Italy, are allowed to have four teams in the Champions League, with Germany and France entering three and Holland two.

Italy are set to slip down those standings after paying the price for the punishments dished out to those clubs at the centre of match-fixing scandal.

Juventus were among those to be sanctioned, dropping into Serie B, and the teams who benefitted from the misdemeanours of others lacked the capability and ambition of the fallen giants.

“With all the respect that I have for Chievo it is obvious that they couldn’t have the same objectives as Juve,” added Galliani.

Milan, Lazio, Fiorentina and Reggina were also punished for their part in the Calciopoli scandal.