#INSERT type:image caption:UEFA is considering the creation of a third European club competition. END#
ST. JULIAN'S, Malta -- European football leaders have discussed the possibility of creating a third club competition, but have no definitive plans to add one before the end of the current cycle in 2018.
At a meeting of the 54 UEFA members on Wednesday, they explored the merits of a new competition for teams that fail to advance from the qualifying rounds for the second-tier Europa League.
"UEFA constantly reviews the format of its competitions and invites stakeholders, including member associations, to share their ideas in a consultative process," a spokesman said. "There are no concrete proposals on the table at this stage as we are just beginning a new three-year cycle [2015-18] for club competitions."
As such, any changes to the club competition structure in Europe would not be introduced until at least 2018, when the current round of TV rights deals expire.
"It will give more opportunity to the clubs who never get in the final stages to participate in Europe," Volodymyr Geninson, executive director at the Football Federation of Ukraine, told the Associated Press.
Such a competition would appear more attractive to smaller clubs rather than English Premier League clubs like West Ham and Southampton, who failed to reach the Europa League group stage this season.
It would chime with UEFA president Michel Platini's strategy of giving smaller nations greater access to competitions, whether by expanding the European Championship to 24 teams or spreading hosting of Euro 2020 across the continent.
"We are really supportive of this," said Geninson, who was part of the "Top Executive Program" meeting in the Maltese coastal resort of St. Julian's.
"For them, it will give opportunities not to finish the [European competitions] in August. It will give them opportunity to play in September and October."
The competition could be completed by the end of the calendar year, rather than going through to the conclusion of the European season like the Champions League and Europa League.
The Europa League started in 2009 as a replacement for the UEFA Cup. A third competition, the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup, merged with the UEFA Cup in 1999.