Uefa president Michel Platini has postponed by a month a decision on sweeping changes to the Champions League after opposition from leagues and clubs.

Platini today unveiled his plans to reserve four places in the group phase of Europe's top club competition for domestic cup winners from 2009.

A final decision was due by Uefa's executive committee on September 27th but clubs' and leagues' representatives asked for more time to present other proposals.

Under Platini's plan, England, Spain and Italy would have three teams qualifying automatically for the Champions League group stage via their domestic league and their cup winners entering a parallel qualifying competition.

Currently each have the top two teams going straight into the group stage and the next two going through a qualifying round.

Platini's proposals would also see six spaces in the Champions League reserved for the champions of the 40 lowest leagues among UEFA's 53 member countries, who would play off in three qualifying rounds.

It would also see the champions of the top 12 associations qualify automatically for the group stage.

Platini presented his proposals in Monaco today to the new Professional Football Strategy Council, made up of representatives of Uefa, the clubs, the leagues and players' unions.

He said afterwards: "We are not changing the format of the Champions League, there is no question of that.

"There are lots of advantages in the current system but under the new system six more countries will be represented in the Champions League and we will go from nine champions to 16.

"Those who win should play rather than those who are richer or have better media rights.  It will also mean a very significant enhancement of the domestic cups."

Platini admitted there had been some opposition to his plans but insisted he will stick to his guns.

He added: "We presented this to the strategy council and some members did not view the entrance of the cup winners very favourably.

"The leagues have asked for some time out and have asked whether it will be possible to delay by a month the decision of the executive committee.

"We have agreed to postpone the decision by a month and the leagues and the clubs will make their proposal. I will stick with mine and the executive committee will be able to make the best decision when it meets in November."

Platini also outlined several other changes he would like to see made to the final of the Champions League from 2009.

He said: "I would like to see 75 per cent of the stadium being reserved for fans.

"After the final in Athens I would like to see the Champions League final played at a weekend. I was very, very disappointed that there were no children in the stadium - on a Wednesday night families do not have the time and if it was on a Saturday then children and families could come.

"I also want the final in future to be in a big, modern stadium with a capacity of about 75,000 people. There is always vast demand for tickets, and people come without tickets and that creates a security problem."

Uefa are also planning to revamp the Uefa Cup so that it mirrors the format of the Champions League more closely. Under the proposals, the Intertoto Cup would be scrapped.

The new Uefa Cup format would see a group stage involving 48 teams divided into 12 groups. The winners and runners-up would go into a knockout round of 32 along with the teams finishing third in the Champions League group stage.  PA