THE PREMIER League is considering introducing a play-off system to determine the fourth club to qualify for the following season’s European Champions League.

Currently the club which finishes fourth goes through but the new proposal would mean a play-off between the clubs finishing fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh. The intention is to inject more competition into a league in which qualification has for years remained in the hands of the same four clubs.

Premier League sources have confirmed that the play-off proposal was presented at the most recent meeting of all clubs, on February 4th, and the league’s chief executive, Richard Scudamore, was authorised to return with further details in April.

It is understood that the idea was enthusiastically supported by all clubs – except the so-called big four of Chelsea, Manchester United, Arsenal and Liverpool.

Scudamore, and the league’s secretary, Mike Foster, will examine the practicalities of how a play-off system could work: whether it should take the form of a home-and-away knockout system or incorporate seeding. They will also look into when matches could be fitted into a crowded fixture calendar before making recommendations.

The idea was presented as part of the Premier League’s strategic review of its format and operations and springs from two particular motivations. The first is to crack the problem of England’s top league becoming less open and competitive.

The other motivation for the play-offs is a waning of the proposal for an international round of matches, dubbed “Game 39”, which was criticised for lacking coherence and being territorially expansionist.

The play-offs would mean extra matches, which would be sold to pay-television and so generate more money for all clubs.