European Cup reform

[RunRickyRun]

If they don't reward the FA cup with a spot (which I can see happening as Scudamore will gets his way) it will be a huge blow for the competition, effectively relegating it to the 8th best prize in the domestic calender.

Hate the idea myself.

[Troglodyte]

Predicted it a few years back, here on VT.

UEFA has reached the point where the only way they can grow their TV revenue is by eating into the PL's. And this is what the plan is designed to do. By making it top 7, they effectively allow the top clubs in the big countries to treat the league as a reserve competition, only bringing the stars out for certain critical games or if a decent title challenge is shaping up.

With that in mind, what I envision:

* Clubs qualifying will be split into a top 32 (Champions League First Division, perhaps? contesting groups A-H) and a lower 32 (Champions League Second Division? in groups I-P) based on UEFA ranking with slight adjustments due to domestic finish. 40 of 64 advance to the knockout stages as follows:

1st knockout round: winners of second division groups vs. second of second division groups (eight eliminated)

2nd knockout round: remaining clubs placed into pools of eight by coefficient; top pool drawn against bottom pool, second pool against third pool

and so forth...

* The Europa League group stages live on as the second division, but still with a chance of running the gauntlet to be crowned Champions of Europe; additionally performing well in the second division and doing well enough domestically to qualify the next year may get you promoted into the first division. These changes then make it important to treat the second division with respect.

* Second division clubs receive a half share of the media pool money.

I was trying to think up something like this myself, but gave up. However, it certainly wouldn't surprise me at all to see this sort of idea implemented in the not-too-distant future.

[coda]

UEFA has reached the point where the only way they can grow their TV revenue is by eating into the PL's.

This is it. They've hardly concealed their envy for the Premier League's vast revenue. Platini must have choked on his mange tout when the 70% increase was announced.

[mikeyp102]

Phase 1 of developing a European Super League.

That was my initial reaction as well

[maqroll]

I'd support the idea of scrapping the UEFA Cup altogether and putting all the clubs that would have qualified for it into qualifying rounds for entry to the Champions League. It would be a bit more like the FA Cup, with the chance for small clubs to knock out a few of the big boys.

[leviramsey]

I would think that UEFA would reinstitute the UEFA Cup as the successor to the Cup Winners Cup. Have the clubs which did not make the CL but went the furthest in the domestic cups enter a straight knockout competition.

[leviramsey]

Expanding on the new UEFA Cup:

Have 64 entrants. 53 countries in UEFA stage cups (only 52 stage leagues; Liechtenstein's clubs play in the Swiss leagues), so have the top 11 countries enter two, either through a secondary cup competition (e.g. the league cups in England and France) or just through taking the top two non-CL clubs in the cup. Six rounds, no seeding, no byes. Two-legged ties.

As there is some variety in cup formats, there would be some variation in determining which clubs qualify. For the FA Cup, I'd suggest:

* clubs which exited in a round by replay are to be ranked above clubs which lost in that round without a replay

* goal difference in the round is the next tiebreaker

* any remaining ties broken by how far the club which beat you went in the cup

[Stevo985]

Really, it should be going the other way.

Cut the competition down.

The reason the Europa League is crap is because there are very few big teams ever in it, and when they are in it, they don't see it as important so they treat it like the league cup and play reserves.

If the Champions League was still only 1 or 2 teams from each country then you'd have loads of really big clubs in the Europa League and it would actually mean something. More people would watch it, TV revenue would go up, prize money would go up etc etc

Instead, the constant expansion of the Champions League just kills the Europa. And in fact letting so many team sinto the Champions League reduces the prestige of that competiton as well. It used to be hard to win because you had to win your top league AND have a team good enough to win the Eropean cup the season after. Now you can scrape into 4th place and park the bus to the trophy.

But, as other have said, this will all be a result of careful planning to find out which option gives them the most money. If my outline above made them more money, I've no doubt they'd go for it.

I think it's a horrible idea. And will just go further to dilute the quality in the champions league and make it less of a spectacle.

But I'm sure UEFA wouldn't mind if the footballers were replaced with potted plants as long as it brought them more money. The quality of the spectacle, sport, competition etc ect doesn't matter anymore.

[bickster]

Not read too much about this but there are some positives.

The Fa Cup and the League Cup will be taken more seriously if they have CL qualification as the ultimate prize.

It might spread some more money about in the league as cup winners will get the extra cash and another place in the league too, it might help make the league a tad more competitive.

But me personally I'd prefer it if they reverted back to the three original competitions