Lately there has been more and more talk of a regional league in the former Yugoslavia, while the Serbian Football Federation President Slaviša Kokeza confirmed the talks are serious
UEFA representatives have spoken with leaders of regional federations at a meeting in Moscow and presented them with concrete solutions. For starters a Balkan Cup would be played, due to start in the 2018/2019 season, with teams from Croatia, Serbia, Bosnia&Herzegovina, Macedonia, Montenegro and Slovenia participating, Index.hr wrote on July 22, 2016.
They plan to woo teams with rich rewards, besides ticket sales.
“The rewards are not small, they would significantly contribute to the budgets of all clubs. The winning team would gain 2.5 million Euro, while the first eight or ten teams would gain at least 700 or 800 thousand Euro. This is a lot of money for regional clubs,” said Kokeza for Arena, Serbian media have reported.
Many fear a regional league or cup would hurt national championships, but Kokeza claims no such problems would arise.
“It is important to say the Balkan Cup would not endanger domestic competitions. It would be played from February to May,” Kokeza stated, a period when teams from the region usually drop out of European competitions.
Earlier Blic announced the regional league would have up to 14 teams, with Croatia and Serbia having the most representatives – three or four.
