Champions League Is A Changin’

By: chris | December 3rd, 2007

Group Stages

Michel Platini came in to his post as head cheese of the UEFA with big Champions League promises to the little guys, the ones largely responsible for his election, hoping to dethrone the big fells from Italy, Spain and England by only allowing 3 teams from each country into Europe’s most beloved club competition. This was met with a lot of bickering and threats from Gamma Gamma 14 to leave and form their own SuperDuperLeague, which is code for “€€€€€€€€€€€”. Platini backed down, and has come in with some an alternate route in his attempt to acquiesce the desires of the little man. Between 2009 and 2012 (trial period), instead of 16 teams getting direct qualification into the group stage, now 22 will have a free passage directly to the promis€d land. The 6 news spots coming from:

1. The 3 teams coming in at 3rd place in the 3 leagues with the highest UEFA coefficient (Italy, Spain and England - which isn’t going to change anytime soon).
2. The champion of the countries ranked 10th, 11th and 12th.

This year’s 10-12 teams are Ukraine, Scotland and Turkey, while next year’s rankings have Scotland, Ukraine and Belgium - subject to change for 2009. Currently Scotland and Ukraine have two reps apiece, with Belgium watching from the UEFA Cup.

Topically it looks like “what an idiot, Platini bowed down to the big guys once again”, but that’s not really the case. Yes, this helped out the big fellas, and yes, Platini is an idiot, but this also means those minnows in the qualifying stages won’t have the big guns to worry about (see next section).

All in all, appears to be a solid change for both sides. Other than that, the group stages themselves go untouched.

Qualifying

Basically, two routes:

1. All the champions from the leagues listed 13th - 53rd minus Liechtenstein play for 5 spots. Somehow.

2. The non-champions of leagues ranked 1-15 will duke it out for the other 5 remaining group spots.

While it may limit the number of available spots, teams will more often wind up playing teams of their own caliber. Making the qualifying more competitive, more exciting (please forgive, but I was never looking forward to the rematch between Arsenal and Sparta Praha), and giving the smaller teams a little better chance at making the group stage. Teams advancing from 13-53 in the last 3 years:

06-07: 3 (Rosenborg, Slavia Praha and Olympiacos)
05-06: 5 (AEK, Galatasaray, FC Kobenhavn, Levski Sofia and Olympiacos).
04-05: 5 (Sparta Praha, FC Thun, Rosenborg, FC Artmedia Bratislava, and Rapid Wien)

So it’s a little bit of a help, as the 5 spots are at least guaranteed, but likely will fall in place as it has in recent times.

All seems fine and dandy, but here’s what I wanna know: Why the fuck does Lichtenstein get shafted? Who’s looking out for them?

* - Oh, Lichtenstein doesn’t have a league. Well maybe they should be given an automatic spot for being ranked 37th out of 53 without a fricken league. Grassroots campaign in motion.

Final

The final will now be played on a Saturday, which means you can go out afterwards and get drunk if your team loses. Or get drunk if they win. Or just get drunk. I don’t think too many of the Westerners will complain about the biggest annual game of the world’s biggest sport switching from 2:30 on a Wednesday afternoon to a weekend. All too anticlimactic as it stands, don’t you think?

And this will all start in 2009/10, because apparently everybody has big things planned on Saturdays during the next two Mays.

Check that, UEFA doesn’t want to enable you to get drunk on a weekend as opposed to a weeknight, it’s about the children. No really.

“I think that the decision which has been taken, in particular to spread the first knockout round over four weeks, is good for football, because it gives an added value to these matches,” he added. It is also hoped that playing the UEFA Champions League final on a Saturday will give families, especially children, the chance to see the game.

First Knockout Round

The round of 16 will now be dispersed over a 4 week span as opposed to two weeks. Just a little bit more time in between. Why? Build up the hype. Marketing. “Added value”.

So, your new Champions League. But only on a trial period. And not until 2009. Enjoy.