Proposal to Restructure Champions League Leaves Out Most of Europe

[ian1964 10,416]

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/09/sports/champions-league-europe-restructuring.html

 

[buster. 4,808]

Neoliberalism at work in football.

 

Push more and more money and subsequent power upwards and don't have a second thought at looking to leave the rest behind in relative squalor. 

 

The problem for those planning this is that the rest still hold some decent cards, if they were prepared to use them.

 

 

 

Edited May 10, 2019 by buster.

[Gonzo79 13,644]

Can't wait to see more kids in Barcelona tops. 

 

 

[Bill 13,717]

Bear in mind that we all show our approval of UEFA every time we watch their competitions on TV.

[ian1964 10,416]

Ajax’s Success undermines their case for Special Champions League treatment. While Embarrassing Celtic who never even Qualified for the Group Stages.

Contrast Ajax UEFA Games with Celtic

Ajax began their 2018-19 Uefa Champions League on 25, July 2018, in the 2nd Qualifying Round beating Sturm Graz 2-0 in the Johan Cruff ArenA, Amsterdam. It took 6 qualifying games to get into the Champions League group. Unfortunately they lost their semi-final to away goals against Tottenham Hotspur last night, 8, May 2019. What an effort for a team going through almost to the final from the qualifiers. This was thought impossible against bigger wealthier clubs. Note: Ajax finished 2nd in the Eredivisie to PSV Eindhoven.

Celtic started 2018-19 Champions League 10, July 2018, in the 1st Qualifying Round away to Alashkert with Celtic winning 3-0 but unfortunately they did not survive the 3rd Qualifying Round against AEK Athens losing 2-1 in Athens. Then dropped into the Europa League.

Ajax and Celtic Trying to Gain Advantage via ECA as Previous European Cup Winners

Erwin Van der Sar, has with Peter Lawwell been pushing the ECA [European Club Association] to pressure UEFA to alter the Champions League format again to give Ajax and Celtic easier entry to the Group Stages. Herald links here and here.

Ajax & Celtic are trying to get an easier entry to ECL group stages for past winners of European Cup, a different tournament altogether. However Ajax has proven this season that a team from outside the four big leagues that get four direct entries straight into the Champions League group stage can make it through the numerous group qualifiers to the semis.

ECA Trying to Undermine European Leagues Organisation

From Rob Harris, AP on 25, April 2019:

European Club Association chairman Andrea Agnelli, who runs Juventus, is seeking to seize control of an overhaul to the continent’s competitions from 2024 by telling members to boycott a meeting convened by leagues next month and only attend its own summit in June.

In a letter to the ECA’s 232 member clubs on Thursday, Agnelli criticized the European Leagues organization for trying to preserve the “status quo,” and instead set out a vision that would see the biggest changes to the Champions League since non-domestic champions were allowed entry in 1997.

European Leagues President Lars-Christer Olsson responded in a letter to leagues and clubs, saying they are “grown up enough to make their own judgments without getting ‘orders’ from the ECA president.” Olsson said an attempt by the ECA to steer the future shape of competitions could lead to an “abuse of (a) dominant position” that should be investigated by competition authorities.

European Leagues group represents the smaller clubs that are getting shafted by the ECA.

As Mr Harris says:

Even with four teams from each of England, Italy and Spain given a direct route into the Champions League group stage, Andrea Agnelli wants reforms that will entrench the status of the biggest clubs in the competition.

We posted before on how Celtic/Lawwell has been doing previous ECA chairman, Karl-Heinze Rummenigge’s bidding in hope he gets the crumbs/payback for voting for the gorging of the larger clubs at the UEFA trough.

It is bad enough that the bigger clubs, through the last ECA forced UEFA changes resulting in the big four leagues get free entry for their top 4 teams without having to qualify. Agnelli/Rummenigge were envious of the English Premier League TV rights money and wanted a greater chunk of the UEFA revenues. They got their way through threatening UEFA that they would push for a Superleague and destroy UEFA’s monopoly.

Reduction in Competition in Champions League and Domestic Leagues

The inequality of the ECA deal with UEFA has meant that the gap is growing between the bigger clubs and the smaller leagues clubs with the latter becoming mostly cannon fodder in the Champions League. Recent seasons has seen mostly high scoring poor one-sided games until the knockout stages and this season not until the semi-finals.

The reward for the smaller leagues clubs getting hammered are increased TV revenue so competition is distorted in their domestic leagues. The inequalities are growing there too.

The ECA/UEFA do not appear to care about the overall reduction in competition but the EU might.

The latest CIES Governance and Financial Landscape of Top European Football Clubs report shows that UEFA revenue growth is much higher than any leagues including the EPL:

So more revenue is going to the big clubs and their group qualifying smaller cannon fodder. The situation will get worse and worse.

Ajax’s Success Undermines Case for Special Treatment while Embarrassing Lawwell

Ajax success this season undermines both theirs and Celtic’s case for special treatment. Also it makes Celtic’s performance, a comparable club to Ajax, who have easier runs at the UEFA champions league group stages while Rangers returned from the lower divisions, look poor when Celtic never even qualified for the group stages this season. Whatever happens Mr Lawwell will still get his bonus.

He must be praying his acquiescence with Agnelli/Rummenigge’s deal with the devil and Ajax’s lobbying will payoff and deliver him a special Sporting Integrity entry deal because four rounds of qualifiers was just too hard this season.

Real Sporting Integrity By the KNVB

To help Ajax in their semi-final games, the KNBV, SFA equivalent, agreed to the postponement all the weekend’s league fixtures to be made to allow Ajax two days’ full rest between the games.

A KNVB spokesman said:

“Ajax have to play two games in three days and this is impossible because the league’s regulations say a club must have two full days off in between games.”

“It was not put to a vote in the end because maybe 17 of the 18 clubs would have decided to break the rules. The KNVB is responsible for this decision.”

Maybe that’s why Ajax got so far, a football team with the support of their football authority rather than running scared and passing the buck to rival teams to undermine a team’s success. Pigs will fly in Scotland before that happens.

©footballtaxhavens.wordpress.com 2019 

https://footballtaxhavens.wordpress.com/2019/05/09/ajaxs-success-undermines-their-case-for-special-champions-league-treatment-while-embarrassing-celtic-who-never-even-qualified-for-the-group-stages/amp/?__twitter_impression=true

[Gribz 743]

UEFA arent looking at footballing reasons. The knock out stages in the last few seasons and especially this season have shown they already have a top product and tampering with it could have backward consequences. They already killed the Cup Winners Cup and Uefa Cup which were previously prestigious. If the Europa Cup winner didnt get into the CL it wouldnt be worth its salt at all.

 

I would keep things as they are but if any tournament has to be tweaked its the Europa as it practically starts as soon as the season ends. A third competition could return to split the teams or even regionalise the Europa. I also still think moving the Europa Cup to a Tuesday would increase interest and put the CL onto Wed and Thurs. The majority of CL teams play their domestic league games on Sundays anyway for TV.