Champions League: reforms criticised two weeks before the election of the new UEFA president

Some criticisms have been aimed at the new Champions League format, to take effect from 2018, regarding the fact that the champions of countries ranked 11^th and 12^th in the UEFA association coefficient rankings (currently the Czech Republic and Switzerland, as of 16/08/2016) will no longer qualify directly to the group stage of the Champions League due to half of the group stage places (16 out of 32) being reserved directly for the top four countries (currently Spain, Germany, England, and Italy) and the lack of open consultation and prior impact studies to accompany the changes, according to a summary note obtained by News Tank Football on 29/08/2016.

"Following an extensive consultative process involving all European football stakeholders, UEFA proposed amendments which have been approved by the UEFA Executive Committee, upon recommendations of the UEFA Club Competitions Committee and the ECA", stated UEFA in presenting the innovations for the 2018-2021 cycle of the Champions League, in Monaco on 26/08/2016, adding, "this is an evolution not a revolution."

"How was this reform…