England should scrap League Cup to free up calendar, UEFA president says

England should scrap its League Cup in order to avoid fixture congestion, UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin said on Friday.

English clubs compete for both the FA Cup and the League Cup every season but the scheduling and format of the latter has come in for criticism.

The two-legged semi-finals have added to a congested calendar.

Liverpool were forced to play their under-23 team in this season’s quarter-finals as the senior team had to fly to Qatar for the Club World Cup.

It had led to the Anfield side’s manager, Juergen Klopp, appealing to the football authorities to rethink the scheduling of their big events.

“The League Cup is off in France already. Only England remains. I think that everybody knows that it would be better for everyone if that were not played any more,” Ceferin said.

The French professional football league have decided in September that the League Cup would not be held from next season.

This was after they failed to secure a broadcaster for the 2020/2024 period while Germany, Spain and Italy have only one cup competition.

“But the problem is that, through that cup, you finance a lot of clubs that are quite disadvantaged,” Ceferin added.

“So, I understand the problem. The English are also quite traditionalist. You like things that have been there for ages.”

Manchester City won the League Cup for the third consecutive season last weekend after beating Aston Villa 2-1 at Wembley.