The following is copied directly from the ‘About UEFA’ page of the official UEFA website. I’m just going to park it here for a while. I have highlighted some segments in bold font, and we’ll return to them in a while:

‘UEFA – the Union of European Football Associations …..is the umbrella organisation for 55 national football associations across Europe. Its objectives are, among other things, to deal with all questions relating to European football, to promote football in a spirit of unity, solidarity, peace, understanding and fair play, without any discrimination on the part of politics, race, religion, gender or any other reason, to safeguard the values of European football, promote and protect ethical standards and good governance in European football, maintain relations with all stakeholders involved in European football, and support and safeguard its member associations for the overall well-being of the European game.’

OK – so here’s where I’m going with this: we here in Scotland have grown accustomed to a feeling of injustice when it comes to our clubs – well, Celtic in recent years – having to walk the early season tightrope of  previously three, and now four, two-legged qualifiers just to reach the Champions League Group Stages.
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