Uefa in cool response to North Atlantic Cup project

Uefa insists full agreement between all competing national associations must be given before any progress can be made in establishing a North Atlantic League Cup.

The Scottish Premier League chairman Lex Gold has revealed that the Scots are in negotiations with the Netherlands, Belgium and Denmark over staging the competition, which would take place during the SPL winter break. The Belgian side Standard Liège are reportedly the driving force behind the tournament, which would pit the top four SPL clubs against the top four in each of the other countries in a 16-team event.

However, the games's European governing body has warned all the associations that some of the hurdles which dogged the Old Firm's hopes of playing in England would still have to be negotiated before a green light was given for the idea. A Uefa spokesman said: "The most important thing is that the national associations must reach an understanding. But international competitions must be played under the auspices of Uefa.

"We would then have to see the format – though at the moment our priority is analysing the future of the Uefa Cup after the re-structuring of the Champions League. "Like the discussion over Scottish clubs joining the English Premiership, there are so many things which need to be sorted out."

The Scottish Football Association insists it will give the proposal full attention once it receives the blueprint. However, Celtic's chief executive Ian McLeod has already expressed his willingness to develop the tournament.

McLeod said: "The idea is that it you had one of the teams from the four countries who were in the top-four slot in December, and if they were still participating in Europe after Christmas, then that place would go to the fifth club in that individual country, ensuring some flexibility."