Published on 12:00 AM, December 27, 2012

Liege threaten to join Ligue 1

Standard Liege will breakaway from the Belgian league and join France's Ligue 1 if a new Belgian-Dutch league is not created, club owner Roland Duchatelet warned on Wednesday.
"Without the establishment of a 'Beneliga' Belgian football will die a beautiful death. If this project does not see the light of day Standard will ask to join France's Ligue 1," Duchatelet told Sudpresse newspapers.
"It's officially feasible, if the French agree to it," the businessman added.
The Standard Liege owner's priority however is a brand new championship "comprising eight Belgian clubs and 12 Dutch sides" to compete with the major European leagues' television rights, he said.
"To deny this Beneliga would be the wrong move - Anderlecht, Bruges, Ajax and PSV Eindhoven support it," Duchatelet added.
The notion has been raised before by various clubs over the past few years but no formal discussions about the project have as yet taken place.