Morning all.
The below is from the BBC in relation to the changes to the Champions League.
The number of teams in the Champions League group stage will rise from 32 to 36 from 2024-25 under changes approved by Uefa. Under the new format, each team will play eight games over 10 match weeks. But a plan to give two Champions League places to individual clubs solely on the basis of their past European performance has been abandoned.
Uefa president Aleksander Ceferin said “the dream to participate will remain for all clubs”.
Instead, two of the four extra places will be awarded on the performance of a country’s clubs in Europe over the previous season. As it stands, the Premier League and Dutch Eredivisie would receive an extra place for next season if the rules to be introduced in 2024-25 were in force at present. (Arsenal would be one of the clubs already qualified if the rules were in place now)
Uefa said another place would go to the third-placed league team in the country standing fifth in their rankings – at present, that team joins in the third qualifying round.
The European governing body said a fourth place would go to one country’s domestic champions by increasing from four to five the number of teams who qualify via the ‘Champions Path’. That is Uefa’s name for the qualification process for domestic champions who do not automatically go into the group stage.
Uefa, though, rejected a proposal to allow clubs into the competition solely on the basis of past performance – something critics argued would have favoured ‘bigger’ names and provided them with a safety net if they performed poorly in a season.
It has also modified an initial plan to increase the number of games in the group phase per team from six to 10 – instead raising the number of matches to eight.
Uefa has clearly shown today that we are fully committed to respecting the fundamental values of sport and to defending the key principle of open competitions, with qualification based on sporting merit, fully in line with the values and solidarity-based European sports model,” said Ceferin. We are convinced that the format chosen strikes the right balance and that it will improve the competitive balance and generate solid revenues that can be distributed to clubs, leagues and into grassroots football across our continent while increasing the appeal and popularity of our club competitions.
Ceferin said the new format had been approved unanimously by Uefa’s executive committee, with the agreement of Europe’s league bodies and national associations.
He added:
Qualification will thus remain purely based on sporting performance and the dream to participate will remain for all clubs.”
So how will the new format work?
The current format sees teams divided up into eight groups of four, with teams playing each other home and away over six games.
The top two in each group progress to the last 16 when it becomes a knockout tournament, with ties played home and away over two legs, before the final at a neutral venue over one match.
The new format will see the initial phase contain one single league table, which includes all teams. Each club will play eight league stage games against different opponents, with four home ties and four away. The top eight will go through to the knockout stage, while those from ninth to 24th will compete in a two-legged play-off to progress.
Uefa added that “similar format changes will also be applied to the Europa League (eight matches in the league stage) and Europa Conference League (six matches in the league stage) and both will also include 36 teams in the league phase”.
The European Club Association (ECA), which represents more than 240 clubs, said it endorses the reforms made by Uefa.
It said the changes “mean that the new-look competitions will have the best start in life, resulting from exhaustive consultations between Uefa and ECA over a number of years that ensure the legitimate interests of all relevant stakeholders are respected – driven by collective rather than self-interest”.
It added: “The new format also gives the opportunity for future growth of European football in a sustainable, responsible and inclusive way.”
Good for football?
Snouts in the trough.
Might mean Arsenal make CL each season. 😆
Good Morning Rico and all
I dont agree with the new format at all. too much complicated and eventually favours will set in with certain clubs over the opponents of the first round in the league table. There are already certain clubs which are more equal than others in a supposedly equal competition.
UEFA should bite the bullet and just shut up and introduce 3 groups of 12 teams (total of 36 teams) and each club plays against each other home and away. That way teams will be guaranteed 22 games over the course of the whole season. Then the top three teams in each division will get to play between them for eventual winners. I would go for a one off tournament between the three teams where each team plays one half against one team and the other half against the other while the other two teams play each other in the other half. The teams will receive money from UEFA according to the place they finish.
1st half Team A against Team B
2nd half Team B against Team C
3rd half Team A against team C
With regards the local cups I dont think such a European competition will interfere. In the case of England, the Carabeo cup should be converted to U21 players only in the case of clubs in European cups.
Morning Rico and all
If I understand it correctly, we will need a bigger squad and more depth if we are to compete with out burning our players out.
Morning Devil, Geoff.
Doesn’t the new format give more clubs an opportunity to compete in Europe? Why should the same clubs take the money each year, 3 of whom win nothing in the PL.
Morning Rico. Why not a European Super League where only those clubs who have been cheating FFP play in a series of tedious games where the results are pre-arranged. It could take place in the desert at midday and Sepp Blatter could be resurrected and rehydrated to run the whole thing.
Better still, forget the games and just give the trophy every season to an increasingly paranoid Guardiola on the condition that he gives an hour’s speech about the importance of a level playing field and how Man City have never bought a trophy and that it’s all down to him being the greatest manager that has ever drawn breath. We could all sit, glued to the screen while drinking Guardicola, dressed in Pep Blue shirts.
I think that’s a winner.
Uefa have been trying to squeeze as many games into their format as possible for a long time.
The first incarnation was the 2 group rounds of CL games. 1 group followed by a 2nd group. It got beyond dull and fans lost interest. That was 12 games before any knock out round.
This sounds like a creep back to that. 10 games rather than 12, but followed by 4 knock out rounds. It sounds like a European League in all but name.
Next will be 6 teams from the top leagues going into the Euro League. It will benefit the teams with more money and resources.
It’s all about the money.
Morning Adam. Excellent idea, then the rest can play football in the real world.
Pete, isn’t football more about money across the board now? Who pays wins more often than not and it’s rotten. Just why my enthusiasm for the game has gone.
Here’s an idea:
How about a competition where only the League champions of each country participate, we could call it the, et, European Cup!
The cup winners of each country could also go into a competition which we could call, hmmm, how about the Cup Winners Cup?
Finally those teams finishing 2nd, 3rd and 4th could go into a big jamboree cup, we could call it something like, let me think, hmm, what about the Inter Cities Fairs Cup, has a ring to it doesn’t it.
And why not have them all playing on a Tuesday or Wednesday to cut down on the confusion.
You know, I reckon it could work…
Good morning Rico and all.
Just change the name to The Money League. At least that would be a fair representation of what it’s all about.
Careful Cicero, you never know, The Ministry of Truth could watching and listening?
Hmm, that George Orwell bloke knew what was coming, Kev.😕
I am still not clear on the format does it mean that you can draw easy teams at home and get three of the oil barons away . Is there to be seeding or is it totally random ?
With the expansion of the Money League ( CL) there will be more pressure on the FA and EFL to make all cup ties one off matches with extra time and penalties to ensure there are no replays. Lower league clubs will lose out on gate money from replays and their fans will lose out on seeing the top players.
UEFA only care about the top leagues and protecting their income stream.
Careful Kev, too much logic there…
Morning Cicero, I didn’t look that far ahead. That’d be rotten for lower league clubs.
why not hold these matches every 2 years, and clubs qualify based on points gained over 2 seasons. For example 1st place = 20 points 2nd = 19point 3rd = 18 points down to last place = 1 point and if 2 teams on the same amount of points after 2 seasons then it goes to goal difference.
Because it’s a yearly tournament..
If they can change the way to qualify / win it, they can change to every 2 years
Hi Rico
We’ve been on this slippery slope since St David of Dein set in motion the Premier League in 1992, Then Uefa caught on and allowed 2nd place teams into the European Cup in 1997. We’re currently at 4 teams from the top leagues. Will be 5, then 6, then 7…
There will be a point where the enthusiasm for the Champions League will dim. At that point there will be another push for a European Super League.
#rico on 11th May 2022 at 11:34 am
Pete, isn’t football more about money across the board now? Who pays wins more often than not and it’s rotten. Just why my enthusiasm for the game has gone.#
If Chelsea loose tonight, How much more important will the Arsenal VS Tottenham match be. we would be playing for 3rd on the ladder.
If that happens I might have to get my humble pie out of the freezer
Stranger than fiction Cicero
Hi Pete, I suppose I see it as other clubs getting a chance to earn more money because at the moment, the rich are getting richer. A bit like in life really.
Players, agents, apparel companies, executives, media folks, grounds workers, stat guys, physios, unethical referees
etc., etc., all must get their money. There is a need for new revenue streams. At this rate by 2050 all teams will qualify.
Julian Alverez is the second striker joining Man City in the coming summer, signed from River Plate last January and loaned back to the Argies for the rest of the season he’ll be joining Haaland at Wastelands for no doubt another FFP busting fee. Alright for some isn’t it?
Do ya’ll remember when Man City won the lottery after Abu Dhabi took them over, who was their first target?
Who was the club ripe for them to cherry pick, the club they could best destabilise while improving themselves, the club whose place in the top four they saw as most vulnerable?
It was of course the financially embarrassed Arsenal of North London Forever fame, they took our full backs Clichy and Sagna, they took Emmanuel Adebayor for £25m, they took Kolo Toure for £14m and we chuckled but he stayed with them for four years before joining Liverpool, yeah what a laugh as we watched Mustafi.
They took Samir Nasri for £25m, he won a couple of EPL titles, they even took Stuart Taylor, David Seaman, Mikel Arteta of course and brought in Patrick Vieira to run their US City franchise, yep they certainly benefitted from what Arsenal were haemorrhaging.
Stan was on board at the time so he’s still got a lot of making up to do.
Which brings me to Eddie Nketiah because Newcastle if they want can be the next Man City and they can start by blowing any offer Arsenal make out of the water for the good friend of Joe Willock – I bet he’s been on the blower to Eddie?
In the short term it won’t make any difference but I bet that Arsenal are the team that the Saudis will target to replace in the top four just as the Emirates did some 16 years ago and look where they are now and where we are, still trying to recover.
Yeah, Stan has a lot of making up to do and he’d better start this summer before Newcastle sort themselves out….
Mark Hughes wasn’t it Kev?
I agree re Newcastle, I think this summer they’ll be after any player they can get their hands on. I wonder how long Eddie Howe will last though. Hughes didn’t last long at City…
New post up now