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GENEVA -- The richest clubs and biggest leagues in Europe are set to tighten their grip on the Champions Leagues future format and prize money this week.A deal being prepared by UEFA should end threats by some elite clubs to break away and form a closed European Super League before 2021.However, it could ensure that more guaranteed places in the 32-team group stage and bigger shares of billion-dollar prize money each season will go to teams like Real Madrid, Barcelona and Juventus from the four highest-ranked national leagues.In the hours before the group-stage draw on Thursday, a series of meetings with clubs and UEFA executive committee members in Monaco is expected to agree changes to entry slots for the 2018-2021 seasons.UEFA and the influential European Club Association declined to comment on reports that the top leagues -- in Spain, Germany, England and Italy -- will each get four direct entries into the groups.In a statement to The Associated Press, UEFA said only that it expects to announce the evolution of the Champions League at a news conference on Friday.Italian clubs are looking to be the big winner. Serie A would offer four direct entries to the group stage, compared to two in the current three-season commercial cycle which expires in 2018.Spain, England and Germany would also benefit by ending the risk of its fourth-placed club losing in the playoff round each August. Advancing through the playoffs is worth tens of millions of euros (dollars) as UEFA will share 1.3 billion euros ($1.47 billion) among the 32 group-stage clubs this season.Italy has a dire recent record in playoffs. Serie A sends its third-placed team to the final qualifying stage and only AC Milan in 2014 has advanced in the past six seasons.Changing the Champions League format is possible only every three years. It must be agreed before UEFAs retained marketing agency can sell Champions League and Europa League rights to broadcasters and sponsors for the next cycle.The debate this year has been intense with clubs seeming to take advantage of a UEFA leadership gap since outgoing president Michel Platini was suspended by FIFA last year.It should be resolved ahead of a Champions League draw missing recent winners Manchester United, Chelsea, AC Milan and Inter Milan. They all failed to qualify, but would expect to join an American-style closed European league where the likes of surprise English champion Leicester would not automatically appeal to most broadcasters.Options favorable to the most influential clubs included more entries for the top leagues, bigger shares of the prize fund, protected places for storied clubs with a global fan base, and playing matches on Saturdays rather than midweek to appeal to Asian and American audiences. Outside Europe, viewers are judged to want more games between high-profile teams.The deal now reportedly on UEFAs table gives clubs some concessions, while keeping Platinis vision for the worlds most prestigious club competition.Platini, who played in the 1980s-era European Cup when only national champions were in a pure knockout bracket, had worked to protect entries for more teams from middle-ranking countries.This season, Bruges, Basel and Besiktas -- title winners in Belgium, Switzerland and Turkey -- are among 22 teams with direct group-stage entry. It is unclear how those places could be squeezed if the big-four leagues get 16 guaranteed slots instead of 11 at present.Basel president Bernhard Heusler declined to comment to The AP ahead of attending Thursdays meeting of the UEFA club competitions committee.UEFA acknowledged the next format is being agreed sooner than expected. A deadline of Decembers meeting of the UEFA executive committee was set after tense meetings in Milan on May 28, ahead of the Champions League final.The new timetable should see the tournaments immediate future settled before the UEFA presidential vote on Sept. 14 to replace Platini.The election front-runner, Aleksander Ceferin of Slovenia, has won public support from countries like Denmark and Sweden, whose title-holders regularly qualify for Champions League groups but are not seen as commercially attractive.Some club leaders, including Juventus president Andrea Agnelli, say the Champions League is undervalued despite UEFA raising 2.24 billion euros ($2.5 billion) in annual commercial revenue for the Champions League and Europa League combined in the 2015-2018 cycle.That gives a 12 million euro ($13.6 million) basic fee to each team in the Champions League groups. The top earner can get around 100 million euros ($113 million) from UEFA when results bonuses and TV rights shares are added.Still, that is barely more than the English Premier League pays its last-place team from TV money, and the top European clubs want a bigger share of Champions League money from the next deal.That deal could be struck, fittingly, on Thursday in a five-star hotel in Monte Carlo.Nmd r1 Uk Sale . Hamelin, who triumphed in the 500 on Saturday, edged out Victor An of Russia by 0.021 seconds to maintain his lead in the World Cup standings. Russias Vladimir Grigorev was third. In the relay, Canada took control six laps from the finish line to beat Russia and the Netherlands. Adidas NMD R2 Outlet . Two pressure cooker bombs exploded near the finish line of the April 15 race in an area packed with fans cheering the passing runners. Three people were killed and more than 260 injured, including at least 16 who lost limbs. http://www.nmdukonlinestore.com/ . You can watch the game live on TSN at 7:30pm et/4:30pm pt. The Flyers had won seven of eight before dropping their last two outings on consecutive days over the weekend. Philadelphia was handed a 6-3 loss by the visiting Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday afternoon before dropping a 4-1 decision to the Rangers the following night in New York City. Cheap Adidas Nmd Chukka Uk .Y. -- Paul Byron and Matt Stajan scored as the Calgary Flames started a five-game road trip with a 2-1 overtime win over the Buffalo Sabres on Saturday afternoon. Cheap Fake Nmd . Radwanska, making her debut in the Seoul tournament, hit eight aces in a match that lasted 1 hour, 4 minutes at Olympic Park tennis stadium. "It was definitely a very good match -- I was playing really good tennis," Radwanska said.Rugby is returning to the Olympics for the first time in 92 years, bringing the ruck, the maul and the hooker back into the lexicon of the Summer Games.The format has changed, considerably, since the United States won the last rugby union Olympic gold medal in 1924, with the abbreviated seven-player version favored for Rio over the traditional 15-a-side game, and Fiji favored for a breakthrough triumph. The aim remains the same: score more tries -- grounding the ball in the opponents in-goal area -- and youre a good chance of winning.Its fast and physical, with more emphasis on speed and passing the ball (always backward) than heavy contact, and it is typically played in two seven-minute halves.Heres some things to watch in Rio, where the womens tournament runs Aug. 6-8 and the mens from Aug. 9-11 at the Deodoro Stadium:---FLYING FIJIANSFiji has never won an Olympic medal, but it has never had a chance to play its national sport at the Summer Games. The world series champions are favorites in the mens competition, and expectations are high in the Pacific.Englishman Ben Ryan took a squad containing an abundance of players with size, speed and natural flair for rugby sevens, and added extra discipline to every facet of the preparation from diet to drills. The result is a still entertaining, but more consistent Fiji team.Its the national sport, so our best athletes play rugby, Ryan says. We have been successful at it and thats also created this aura around the team, the way we play, totally different to every other side in the world. Its a risky, entertaining, exciting, slightly laid back -- sometimes -- way of playing the game. And we are doing it to a very high level.---GO BROSonny Bill Williams is a high-profile game hopper likely to feature for New Zealand in Rio, another notch in a career that has involved switching back and forth from rugby league to rugby union to win some of the biggest prizes in those sports. Already a World Cup winner with the famous All Blacks, Williams wants to add Olympic gold. He probably wont have to look far for family support, with his sister Niall figuring in selection calculations for the title-chasing New Zealaand womens team.dddddddddddd---POINT PROVEDThe sevens format has surged in popularity since its inclusion on the Olympic program, and the rewards are being spread more widely than ever. Countries such as Kenya and the United States have won titles on the world series circuit, and are ranked 6th and 7th behind southern hemisphere powers Fiji, South Africa, New Zealand, Australia and Argentina. American Madison Hughes led the world series with 331 points in the 2015-16 season. American speedster Perry Baker was second behind South Africas Seabelo Senatla for most tries scored and most line breaks.---WOMENS DRAWAustralia won the womens world series, reaching the final in four of the five tournaments to outpoint second place New Zealand, the dominant team in 2014-15. Canada and England were equal on points in third place.The womens squads in Rio will feature players lured from sports such as basketball, volleyball and track and field. As it catches on, therell be more professionals, and increased competition.New Zealand had been the benchmark ... ever since I had started playing rugby. Everything we trained for and played for can subconsciously be aimed around beating them, Australias Alicia Quirk said. But this series turned out to be the most competitive season yet -- the gap between teams has definitely closed.---SPANISH ACQUISITIONSpain was the last of 12 teams to qualify in each of the mens and womens tournaments. The Spanish men had a stunning upset win over world series regulars Samoa in the last-ditch repechage, a victory which playmaker Patricia Garcia said inspired her womens team to its victory over Russia in Dublin the following week.--USEFUL TERMSRuck, maul, scrum -- all physical contests for the ball. Hooker, prop, wing -- all playing positions.--FORMATEach competition will feature 12 teams divided into three pools, with the top eight advancing to the quarterfinals. U.S. teams got tough draws: the men were grouped with Fiji, Argentina and Brazil, and the women were grouped with Australia, Fiji and Colombia. ' ' '