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Daily Record
Daily Record
Sport
Steven Mair

Celtic and Rangers Scotland exit pointer as Belgian Jupiler Pro League votes for historic merger with Holland

The entire Belgian top flight has voted to join forces with the Netherlands in a historic European merger that could pave the way for Scottish clubs leaving their domestic league.

All 25 members of the country's Pro League voted unanimously to create a new 'BeNe League' that would combine the country's top sides such as Anderlecht, Club Brugge and Rangers ’ Europa League opponents Royal Antwerp with the likes of Ajax and Feyenoord in a new setup.

It's likely to start with 10 Dutch sides and eight from Belgium, although there is yet to be a vote on the other side of the border.

And clubs back in Scotland will be watching on with a number of avenues for some clubs to leave the domestic game still open.

Firstly there's the long-standing notion Celtic and Rangers could break away to join the English Premier League - or at least work their way up from a lower point on the pyramid.

It's been quiet on that front in terms of concrete proposals for some while but Parkhead principal shareholder Dermot Desmond stated in September that demands for 'British League' will inevitably be heard at some stage, because the Glasgow clubs' sizes are too big to turn down.

There is also the idea that has been referred to as an 'Atlantic League' to combine teams from Scotland, the Republic of Ireland, Sweden, Denmark and Norway in an inter-country competition.

Irish investor Andrew Doyle has fronted the plans and the plans have been heavily backed by bank JP Morgan - with scope to include Celtic, Rangers Hibs, Hearts and Aberdeen in the format.

Dermot Desmond said it's inevitable English clubs will want a British league (SNS Group)

It's thought, meanwhile, that the BeNe League could generate up to £350million in TV revenue in what is seen as an attempt to get the country's famous clubs on an even keel with sides from Europe's top five nations.

And if it gets the go ahead from teams in the Eredivisie it could act as the litmus test for whether bigger Scottish Premiership clubs would be better served by going down the same road and breaking away for regional competition - while European football's governing body has also already provided their stance.

UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin said in January: "More and more countries are interested in the possibility of a regional league because that would increase the value of clubs, as well as income from sponsors and the sale of TV rights.

"UEFA, in principle, has nothing against regional leagues. The main problem is how to go from those leagues to European competitions. UEFA would have to solve that problem.

"In addition, we do not want to create some regional leagues that would destroy national championships. So, regional leagues are a serious undertaking and nothing concrete has been decided yet, but it is being considered."

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