UEFA Cup rebranding may revive cashflow

European football clubs were told Monday

the UEFA Cup will be rebranded to revive its fortunes and earn them more money.

The competition has suffered in the shadow of the lucrative Champions League, which gives teams global exposure and huge television revenues.

While Manchester United earned euro 43 million ($A69.65 million) for winning the 2008 Champions League, clubs who played in the UEFA Cup's 40-team group phase and subsequent knockout rounds shared just euro 37 million ($A32.23 million).

"We always had the impression the UEFA Cup was a second-class competition," said Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, announcing the plans as chairman of the new European Club Association. "The money achieved in that competition has to be increased to make it more interesting for participating clubs."

Rummenigge said it could be renamed the UEFA Europa League and marketed more heavily for the 2009-10 season.

The UEFA Cup was last renamed in 1971 when it was a well-regarded competition for clubs who just missed out on the championship in their national leagues.

But its status has suffered in the last decade as the Champions League expanded to accept teams finishing as low as fourth in its league and reward them with payouts of millions of euros.

Many clubs now see entering the UEFA Cup as a poor consolation, after finishing just outside the Champions League qualifying place, winning a domestic cup or losing in a Champions League qualifying round.

"We have to come back to how it was 15-20 years ago when it was more important than it is today," said Rummenigge, whose club Bayern Munich reached the UEFA Cup semifinals last season but earned

just euro 4.5 million ($A7.28 million).

AC Milan finished fifth in Italy's Serie A last season and will play in the next UEFA Cup, just two years after winning the Champions League.

Milan director Umberto Gandini said the loss of money was a problem for the club.

"We know that it is going to be financially difficult for the club because there is a huge between the revenues available.

"But we have never won the UEFA Cup in our history, so it is a once and only occasion hopefully to fight for it," Gandini said.

Changes to the UEFA Cup would have to be approved by the governing body's executive committee which meets in Bordeaux, France, at the end of September.