We suppose the last act of the Blatter/Johansson battle was carried out this past winter, when Blatter protege’ Michel Platini, the former great France footballer, won the UEFA Presidency in a bruising battle with the aging Johnsson. Sounding like something of a Blatter reincarnate, Platini vowed many changes, most aimed at helping the “little guys” of the European football food chain at the expense of the big boys. There were votes to be had in the UEFA Congress from the small countries, too, who saw Platini as something of a Robin Hood, ready to steal from the rich to give to the poor, and using the Champions League as the pot from which to redistribute the wealth. We’ll give Platini some credit, because he is boldly going ahead with some of his ideas, big Euro football powers be darned. Among many changes Platini proposes is that more Champions League spots be opened to the smaller nations, and that runners-up from the big leagues such as the English Premiership, Italy Serie A, Spain’s Liga, and Germany’s Bunsdesliga have a playoff among themselves to whittle down the Champs League field before the lucrative group play begins.

Now, we admit that the Champions League had evolved into something it wasn’t originally intended to be when debuting as the European Cup in the 1950s, open only to domestic champions from the previous season. Even after the name of the competition was changed to “Champions League” in the early ‘90s, the format stayed basically the same, at least until the late ‘90s, when domestic runners-up, then 3rd and 4th place teams from the big nations, became involved. We’re not sure that was progress, but it was the way the Champs League evolved, and the massive TV ratings it generated indicated that Johansson had known what he was doing when expanding the competition. Few seemed to complain.

A showdown is brewing, however, because Platini is apparently going to follow through on his campaign promise and challenge the big teams and big leagues about access to those extra places in the Champions League. And don’t expect Manchester United, Real Madrid, and other members of the “G-14" group of teams to simply roll over. If Platini wants to push this idea to the limit, he is going to get involved in the sort of high-stakes poker game in which he could not only lose, but see his credibility diminished. We get the feeling that the big clubs can call in a few more chips from the major TV companies and advertisers than Platini at this stage.

International soccer governing bodies and teams have always lived within a sort of awkward alliance, anyway. But human nature being what it is, the power brokers on both sides like to make sure they are the ones who are in overall control, and occasionally, skirmishes like the upcoming battle for Champs League berths in Europe will occur.

In the past, cooler heads have always prevailed, and the sides have worked out an amicable agreement. But Platini and Blatter fool no one, because they know what a huge pot of money the Euro club teams control, and they just want to make sure they get their share (as is the case with Blatter’s ill-advised and terribly unpopular “World Club Championship,” another name for an obscene power grab by FIFA at some of the club team’s riches). Making the major clubs toe the line is a dangerous exercise, however, because the fact is the sport can run without FIFA or UEFA, and if the G-14 teams in Europe ever want to break away and tell Platini and Blatter to shove it, they can do so.

After all, they are the ones with the product...not Platini, Blatter or any soccer bureaucrats in Switzerland.