The Uefa Cup could be on the verge of
being re-branded.
It could soon be called the Uefa Europa League as football's
bosses seek to give the competition fresh appeal.
European soccer's governing body Uefa is considering the name
change as it seeks to reverse a feeling it has become 'a second
class competition'.
The proposed name change was revealed by Karl-Heinz Rummenigge,
the acting chairman of the new European Clubs Association, whose
organisation was presented with the proposal on Monday.
Rummenigge said: "The hope is that a refreshment of the name and
brand can help achieve better results than we've seen in the Uefa
Cup in the past.
"There has been a general impression that it has become a
second-class competition and that we should get back to how it was
ten or 15 years ago."
Uefa's executive committee is set to vote on the name change
when it meets in Bordeaux in September.
Confirming the vote, a senior Uefa source added the new name was
meant to better reflect the new group stage system being used in
the competition from the 2009-10 season.
This new system is a direct copy of UEFA's more successful
Champions League competition and will see the dropping of the
unpopular five-team groups in which teams play each opponent just
once either home or away in favour of a simpler home and away
system.
In another lesson learned from the lucrative Champions League,
UEFA will also be marketing the competition centrally from
2009.