FIFA to set top league limit to 18 teams

mcdermos

mcdermos

mcdermos

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http://www.football365.com/news/story_186832.shtml

FIFA president Sepp Blatter explained: "We now have the green light for 18 teams. Instead of playing 38 matches in the league, the clubs would only play 34. I can't imagine they would not be pleased."
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No doubt this will cause a degree of discussion

More here

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/5061302.stm

Premier League spokesman Dan Johnson added: "The only people who are going to tell us how to run the Premier League are the league's 20 member clubs' chairmen.They are the only ones who can change the composition of the league and they are just not going to go for this - no way."
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I think it should go ahead and happen, with the F.A cup, Champions League, Uefa Cup and the Mickey Mouse cup, a lot of teams in the Premiership are playing a lot of games and it's not fair on the players. This will give those teams who play in Europe a little more breathing space between games as well.
 
cheets64 said:
It would either make the big teams stronger and it would ruin the already poor lower leagues.
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Not necessarily. Fewer games in the top flight could lead to the following:

-Fewer matches to fill the tv schedules, resulting in more exposure for lower divisions
-Higher calibre of team in the lower divisions (since effectively two prem sides are moving down)
-Possibily an increase in the size of one of the lower divisions (presumably Conference North/South) resulting in more fixtures and revenue for them.

Personally I think the sooner this happens the better, it's been dragging on for ages now. We were supposed to drop to 18 teams years ago.

The only bad thing about this kind of change is that they usually make the 2nd place team from the league below enter the playoffs. Should just be 4 down, 2 up, if you finish 3rd place hard luck, you should have done better during the regular season.
 
Does this mean next season possibly only 1 team will be promoted?
If it does get enforece then it's bad news for the clubs, less money to be made, but should increase the concentration of quality in the premiership and the players should be fresher with 4 less games a season. I think it will make the championship stronger and more interesting.
 
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cheets64 said:
An extra 2 away games for Championship fans > L1 > L2 would be bad news.
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Those divisions already have 24 teams, which is why I assumed that the Conference North/South would be expanding if such a move were to take place.
 
The idea of a standard calendar and a world wide season time table makes sense. However I suspect there is more to it if Blatter has his mitts in this pie Expect the main focus on more usless friendlies in June and August to line the already fat pockets of FIFA
 
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