Clubs that finish in the top four of the Premier League may have to play at least one qualifying round to reach the group stage of the Champions League in future, according to a plan that is gathering support across Europe.



In a document, which The Athletic has seen, Danish champions FC Copenhagen have proposed an idea that would let the top four leagues (Spain, England, Germany and Italy) keep their four Champions League slots but not necessarily their free passes into the group phase.



The plan, which is understood to have support from regular Champions League qualifying-round participants Ajax and Celtic, would see every club that has qualified for the competition ranked from one to 79 in an “entry list” based on their results in Europe over the 10 previous seasons.



The 22 lowest-ranked teams would enter the first round of qualifying, the next 13 would join in round two, 12 more in round three, 12 in the play-off round, with the top 20...