New Champions League format

AgentZ

AgentZ

AgentZ

Associate
Joined
14 Oct 2010
Posts
139
What are your thoughts on the proposals for the new Champions League structure? I am really disappointed about the Wildcard entry system.

This moves the tournament further away from its roots and much much more towards the closed European super league to the rich clubs have wanted.

I think it's a short hop from there to a WWE type of contest where the actual sport comes second to the spectacle.
 
AgentZ said:
What are your thoughts on the proposals for the new Champions League structure? I am really disappointed about the Wildcard entry system.

This moves the tournament further away from its roots and much much more towards the closed European super league to the rich clubs have wanted.

I think it's a short hop from there to a WWE type of contest where the actual sport comes second to the spectacle.
Click to expand...

The "wildcard" opens it up to all kinds of abuse.

Just keep it as it is. Players play too many games as it is....stop extending competitions. Imagine giving Liverpool the wildcard slot and they finish for eg 7th...just nonsense
 
If you know you are going to get the wildcard, what is the point of playing the remaining games? Makes no difference if you finish 7th or 15th. Crazy idea.
 
Arguably you would focus more on European games in that scenario, rest players in the League because doing well in Europe will help maintain your co-efficient for future seasons.

Personally I'm not too bothered by it; let's not kid ourselves that the "Champions" League has been anything of the sort of many years. UEFA co-efficients have always played a part in terms of giving more spots to certain nations, this is just an extension of that to protect the highest achieving clubs within those nations.
 
A competition of just champions would suck, nobody wants to watch Bayern thrash the Slovenian champions. People want to see the biggest teams in the world, regardless of where they play.
 
Its a bit crap but not unexpected... to be honest though, most entertaining games over the last year have been in the Europa League anyway so I'm interested to see how that and the new Europa Conference play out over the next couple of years.
 
It's worth remember that these 'wildcards' (they're not wildcards, they're just an extra way of qualifying just like winning the Europa League) are additional entries into the CL, not at the expense of teams that qualify through League places.
 
chrcoluk said:
They should be favouring no one, places done on qualification.

You are the first person I have seen to defend this new system.
Click to expand...
I guess it's semantics but I also 'defended' it earlier in the thread. The places ARE done on qualification, it's just that the qualification criteria for wildcards is based on performances in Europe over an extended period rather than just prior season.

I agree with Baz that "wildcard" is a poor label for them to give it as it has connotations of governing bodies making an arbitrary selection of who participates rather than it being based on empirical data.
 
BaZ87 said:
It's worth remember that these 'wildcards' (they're not wildcards, they're just an extra way of qualifying just like winning the Europa League) are additional entries into the CL, not at the expense of teams that qualify through League places.
Click to expand...

But the wildcards are to reward failure, you can be relegated in the league and 'qualify' for the champions league.... ridiculous, plus if you are guaranteed a wildcard entry, if your season in the league is not going so well, just throw your league games and go all out on any cup games you have.

The whole thing is a joke and I say that as a Liverpool fan.
 
HangTime said:
I guess it's semantics but I also 'defended' it earlier in the thread. The places ARE done on qualification, it's just that the qualification criteria for wildcards is based on performances in Europe over an extended period rather than just prior season.

I agree with Baz that "wildcard" is a poor label for them to give it as it has connotations of governing bodies making an arbitrary selection of who participates rather than it being based on empirical data.
Click to expand...

Thats twisting it a bit. I dont consider that qualifying.

A team e.g. thats in europe every season but doesnt get very far will have a higher coefficient than a team thats in it maybe once a decade but makes it further, in fact a team could win the CL in its first entry in europe and would have a lower coefficient than someone like spurs.

Someone like Arsenal or Spurs finishing 6th shouldnt get in ahead of someone like Leicester or Southampton finishing above them.

Unless you a glory support who enjoys watching these glorified super matches its a farce.

The same reason CL rejects shouldnt be entering late stage europa, thats a farce as well.
 
Stumble Bum said:
But the wildcards are to reward failure, you can be relegated in the league and 'qualify' for the champions league.... ridiculous, plus if you are guaranteed a wildcard entry, if your season in the league is not going so well, just throw your league games and go all out on any cup games you have.

The whole thing is a joke and I say that as a Liverpool fan.
Click to expand...

Yep all my pool and manchester united supporting friends agree with you as well.
 
chrcoluk said:
a team could win the CL in its first entry in europe and would have a lower coefficient than someone like spurs.
Click to expand...
If they won the CL then they would qualify next season anyway. If they did naff the next season, and failed to qualify via the domestic route, then if they have a low co-efficient so be it, they were a one-season wonder.

It's just a different mindset about qualification, rewarding long-term success in addition to short-term success.
 
Stumble Bum said:
But the wildcards are to reward failure, you can be relegated in the league and 'qualify' for the champions league.... ridiculous, plus if you are guaranteed a wildcard entry, if your season in the league is not going so well, just throw your league games and go all out on any cup games you have.

The whole thing is a joke and I say that as a Liverpool fan.
Click to expand...
They're not wildcards. It's just a new, additional way of qualifying for the CL. A team can get relegated and still qualify for the CL now, if they won either the CL or EL so that's not new either. As HangTime says, the qualifying criteria for these additional two places will still be based on performance but instead of it being the performance in a single season it will be performance of 5-10 seasons.

I could understand people being annoyed at this if it was preventing anybody else from qualifying on the previous season's League performance but it's not. These are two of four additional entries to the CL, not at the expense of anybody else that has qualified via their League places.
chrcoluk said:
Someone like Arsenal or Spurs finishing 6th shouldnt get in ahead of someone like Leicester or Southampton finishing above them.
Click to expand...
I assume Southampton or Leicester have finished 5th in this example? If so, why should they get a place in the CL and not the Azerbaijan Champions?

There will be no more guaranteed entries from the PL, La Liga etc - they already have 4 spots. These entries are not going to any particular League - it will change season on season depending on who are the highest ranked sides outside of their domestic qualifying spots. It could be Arsenal, it could be Ajax, it could be Zenit.
 
BaZ87 said:
They're not wildcards. It's just a new, additional way of qualifying for the CL. A team can get relegated and still qualify for the CL now, if they won either the CL or EL so that's not new either. As HangTime says, the qualifying criteria for these additional two places will still be based on performance but instead of it being the performance in a single season it will be performance of 5-10 seasons.

I could understand people being annoyed at this if it was preventing anybody else from qualifying on the previous season's League performance but it's not. These are two of four additional entries to the CL, not at the expense of anybody else that has qualified via their League places.

I assume Southampton or Leicester have finished 5th in this example? If so, why should they get a place in the CL and not the Azerbaijan Champions?

There will be no more guaranteed entries from the PL, La Liga etc - they already have 4 spots. These entries are not going to any particular League - it will change season on season depending on who are the highest ranked sides outside of their domestic qualifying spots. It could be Arsenal, it could be Ajax, it could be Zenit.
Click to expand...

Correct in that case neither team should get a place, I actually think these extra CL places should be going to champions of smaller leagues, but I used that example to show how silly it is.

StumbleBum said it all really, he explained in a nutshell how it will get abused.

Also sorry to say they are wildcards.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/56573883

In its place, the number of qualifiers will be expanded from 32 to 36, with space for two 'wild card' entries.

The wild cards will be reserved for clubs with the highest Uefa co-efficient - points used to rank clubs based on past European success - who have not qualified for the competition through their league position.
Click to expand...

Also see here.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/56350964

In a scenario discussed today, of the three English clubs currently qualifying for European competition, West Ham or Everton would miss out on the additional Champions League place to Tottenham, due to their superior historical co-efficient, even though they are below them in the Premier League table.

"Sporting merit should be the guiding principle and we should not qualify teams on co-efficient," said European Leagues president Lars-Christer Olsen.
Click to expand...
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom