davieG Posted 24 March 2016 Posted 24 March 2016 UEFA are in talks with clubs to change the format of the Champions League from 2018. One of the proposals under discussion is an expanded knockout round followed by a group stage made up of eight teams in two groups. If the proposal were to be adopted there would be more games between the so-called 'big clubs'. Each team in the group stage would be guaranteed a total of 14 matches home and away. The format would also allow more clubs from Europe's biggest leagues to qualify for the competition. AC Milan, who have won the European Cup seven times, have not played in the Champions League since 2014 and current Premier League champions Chelsea are likely to miss out next season. A new format is being discussed to head-off the threat of a breakaway Super League. Some of Europe's leading clubs, represented by the European Clubs' Association, want a new format to increase revenues and make the competition more exciting. Chelsea won the Champions League in 2012 but will almost certainly fail to qualify this year No changes can be made until the 2018-19 season due to TV and marketing rights to the competition, which are sold in three-year cycles. The 2015-16 season is the first year of a three-year period. The process for selling the next set of rights will start at the end of this year and any new format would need to be agreed by then. A UEFA spokesman said: "UEFA is in constant contact with all stakeholders, including the clubs, on all football matters. "Therefore, any plans to evolve the format of our club competitions would be coordinated and negotiated together with them. "There are currently no concrete proposals on the table since we are at the beginning of a new cycle of our club competitions."
Voll Blau Posted 24 March 2016 Posted 24 March 2016 They should be returning it to all k/o in my opinion. Way more exciting.
J.Lisemore Posted 24 March 2016 Posted 24 March 2016 AC Milan are not in it because they are fvcking shit and have been for ages.... don't care how big they, their football team is awful.
Footballwipe Posted 24 March 2016 Posted 24 March 2016 All knockouts and just Champions. No way, the "Champions League" may be a fallacy in terms of title but (at the risk of being called an elitist) I want to see the best teams in top European competition. I want Barca, Real, Bayern, Dortmund etc etc. (I want to see them on the proviso that they qualify appropriately through their league of course, not auto enrolled in Europe.) European leagues outside of the top four/five aren't strong enough to sustain this. Astana v Barcelona in the first knockout round holds no interest to me. Barcelona v Atletico Madrid in the upcoming QF however does. Strongly. The actual idea being mooted is terrible. I have no issues with a knockout only system but we know that'll never ever happen again. What they have in place now is probably the best format in terms of what's realistically possible, though I'd prefer no pots/seedings. Have the group stage as one giant draw of chance.
Kitchandro Posted 24 March 2016 Posted 24 March 2016 Look at all this trouble we're causing So what are they really saying here? The top 7 from the Premiership will be in the first knockout round just in case clubs like Chelsea & Milan fvck their season up? The reason the Champions League is so shit is that there are to many teams in it. Putting more teams into it will make it even worse.
Voll Blau Posted 24 March 2016 Posted 24 March 2016 They'll be bringing in 'lucky losers' next. The "big clubs'" attitude is pathetic. No doubt UEFA MAFIA cave in though...
davieG Posted 24 March 2016 Author Posted 24 March 2016 Then there's the option to introduce wildcards for the bignition teams that have still missed out like Chelsea would likely do this season under an expanded format.
CosbehFox Posted 24 March 2016 Posted 24 March 2016 European leagues outside of the top four/five aren't strong enough to sustain this. Astana v Barcelona in the first knockout round holds no interest to me. Barcelona v Atletico Madrid in the upcoming QF however does. Strongly. Interesting point because I firmly believe any competition always needs a good underdog story. The CL was at it's most popular in recent years when the likes of Dortmund, Malaga and Atletico Madrid surprised far bigger clubs. FC Basel another good example too if you want a far smaller club. What about when the bigger sides have failed at Celtic Park?
Tuna Posted 24 March 2016 Posted 24 March 2016 **** em, we'll win it next year and shove it up their gigantic asses.
Corky Posted 24 March 2016 Posted 24 March 2016 It's pathetic how people can't sort themselves out without suffering a bit first. We went to League One- why? Because we were shit. We suffered a relegation but managed to recover and come back in quick time. Why should clubs be given a leg up because of what they've done in the past? It's the here and now that matters and if you don't meet the requirements you don't participate.
Wymsey Posted 24 March 2016 Posted 24 March 2016 This proposal may have not been on the cards if Man City, Chelsea and Man Utd were not under-performing and Leicester doing excellent via spending less money and having players that fight for the team.
darko2k7 Posted 24 March 2016 Posted 24 March 2016 This below is from the same story in in the guardian http://www.theguardian.com/football/2016/mar/23/uefa-champions-league-revamp . The section in bold at the bottom in rages me and is a attitude that would see football gone forever as we love it The possible move to a larger group format could be seen as a first step towards a European Super League. At the start of the month senior executives from Chelsea, Manchester United, Manchester City, Arsenal and Liverpool, the Premier League’s “big five” met in London to discuss the Champions League with the American sports executive Charlie Stillitano, chairman of Relevent Sports, which organises of the close season International Champions Cup. The clubs were forced to deny there are plans for a breakaway European Super League. But two days later Stillitano suggested a change to the Champions League might be for it to become a closed shop. “What would Manchester United argue: did we create soccer or did Leicester create [it]?” said Stillitano. “Let’s call it the money pot created by soccer and the fandom around the world. Who has had more of an integral role, Manchester United or Leicester? It’s a wonderful, wonderful story – but you could see it from Manchester United’s point of view, too. It’s the age-old argument: US sports franchises [which do not have relegation] versus what they have in Europe.”
Wymsey Posted 24 March 2016 Posted 24 March 2016 Wouldn't mind a 'breakaway big-team' league, so all these under-performing big clubs can bugger off and make them feel big again and feel better about themselves. Quite childish and pathetic really.
Darkon84 Posted 24 March 2016 Posted 24 March 2016 All champions (or top 2 to flesh it out), all knockout please!
Dan Posted 24 March 2016 Posted 24 March 2016 Utter dross as expected. Another format to put quantity over quality. This sport will eat itself.
The Murkle Man Posted 24 March 2016 Posted 24 March 2016 It's pathetic how people can't sort themselves out without suffering a bit first. We went to League One- why? Because we were shit. We suffered a relegation but managed to recover and come back in quick time. Why should clubs be given a leg up because of what they've done in the past? It's the here and now that matters and if you don't meet the requirements you don't participate. Spot on! It infuriates me that the so called "big teams" should get an easy walk into the competition because of money spent or past history... The competition should showcase the current best teams in europe going head to head for the crown. If its guaranteed that Chelsea, Milan etc are going to get into the competition regrdless of league posistion then what is the point in the "smaller" teams even trying... It's upsetting that a sport based around winning things has been turned into a global brand where money rules everything.
Trav Le Bleu Posted 24 March 2016 Posted 24 March 2016 No way, the "Champions League" may be a fallacy in terms of title but (at the risk of being called an elitist) I want to see the best teams in top European competition. I want Barca, Real, Bayern, Dortmund, Leicester City, etc etc. (I want to see them on the proviso that they qualify appropriately through their league of course, not auto enrolled in Europe.) European leagues outside of the top four/five aren't strong enough to sustain this. Astana v Barcelona in the first knockout round holds no interest to me. Barcelona v Atletico Madrid in the upcoming QF however does. Strongly. The actual idea being mooted is terrible. I have no issues with a knockout only system but we know that'll never ever happen again. What they have in place now is probably the best format in terms of what's realistically possible, though I'd prefer no pots/seedings. Have the group stage as one giant draw of chance. I've corrected your obvious mistake. Don't do it again.
Dan Posted 24 March 2016 Posted 24 March 2016 A small part of me backs this super league that they so clearly want. If it means getting the Stillitano's and the like out of football and into their little bubble so we can play more of a sport than this shambles they're turning football into then I'm all for it.
Fox92 Posted 24 March 2016 Posted 24 March 2016 It should just go back to how the European Cup was. Each league winners, knockouts. Simple.
Captain... Posted 24 March 2016 Posted 24 March 2016 They need to scrap the farce that is the Europa League, well done you have won a secondary European competition, which you qualified for by not being good enough to qualify for the premium European competition or getting knocked out of it early on. Your reward is to qualify for the premium European competition, which you have probably already qualified for anyway and will probably get knocked out of again early and drop into the Europa league. Scrap the Europa league, create one knockout competition, or a seeded group stage, so the big boys get a bye for the first group stage, giving the minnows a chance to experience Europe, then the main group stage, then a knockout. I have no problem with change, even just for changes sake, but change just to maintain the status quo is a bit daft.
foxes_rule1978 Posted 24 March 2016 Posted 24 March 2016 The 'big clubs' can't make it through the normal format because they aren't good enough, so are throwing their toys out the Pram, rather than sorting out the real issue which is they are a bit rubbish really
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