In Defence of the UEFA Cup

By: Daryl | October 23rd, 2008

OK, so it’s not the UEFA Champions League. And there are at least 10 things we’d do to improve it. But this season’s UEFA Cup is actually looking pretty good. The group stage starts today, and there are some big teams involved.

Scoff all you want, but if you don’t look forward to games like Aston Villa vs Ajax (two former European Cup winners), Schalke vs PSG and Galatasaray vs Olympiacos (aka Greece vs Turkey) then you’re not really a football fan.

In fact, you could argue (and I’m going to…) that the UEFA Cup is really the tournament for proper football fans, while the Champions League is just for celebrity gazing part-timers.

No doubt the Champions League has the biggest clubs and the brightest stars. If you want to see Leo Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo doing their thing for Barcelona and Man Utd, then the Champions League is the place to go.

But because of those big clubs, it’s become a little predictable. The usual suspects. We had three of the same four semi-finalists in 2006/7 and 2007/8. The rich get richer and the average get, well, averager. Which is partly why there’s now the unbreakable Big Four in England.

The UEFA Cup is a lot more… random. As cup football should be. There are plenty big names in there this season, like AC Milan for example. But just because they’re a big name doesn’t mean they’ll dominate. Bayern Munich were the big name in the UEFA Cup last season, but they didn’t win it. They didn’t even make the final.

Instead it was Zenit St. Petersburg that won the oversized metal flower vase, and introduced us to the talents of Andrei Arshavin, Konstantin Zyryanov, Igor Denisov et al. Which is sort of my point. The UEFA Cup is a chance to meet new and exciting players, while the Champions League is a celebration of the same old names.

Here are today’s UEFA Cup games:

Schalke vs PSG
Twente vs Racing
Galatasaray vs Olympiacos
Hertha vs Benfica
Sevilla vs Stuttgart
Partizan vs Sampdoria
Udinese vs Tottenham
Dinamo Zagreb vs NEC
Heerenveen vs Milan
Braga vs Portsmouth
Žilina vs Hamburg
Aston Villa vs Ajax
København vs St Etienne
Rosenborg vsClub Brugge
CSKA Moskva vsDeportivo
Nancy vs Feyenoord

For odds on Aston Villa vs Ajax visit Bet Offside. For a flutter on the UEFA Cup visit Paddy Power.

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Category: UEFA Cup

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Chubby

Interesting post. UEFA Cup is less flashy, and most of us somehow will end up watching Champions League anyway (maybe because we do fancy one of those celebrity packed teams), and even though Rangers were fighting hard to undermine the goodness of the UEFA cup last year, we still had Zenit, Fiorentina, Getafe, Bayern who provided unforgettable moments (for good or bad) not only for their respective fans, but also for us, neutral audience.
Teak

I agree also with your analysis. I like the UEFA Cup for the fact that you see matchups outside the normal ones and clubs from smaller countries. I am totally bored with seeing ManU, Chelsea, Arsenal, etc. all of the time. That the Champs League final last year was ManU versus Chelsea was a killer IMHO to the spirit of the Champs league in the first place. How can two Premier Division clubs be in the *Champions* league the same year??

You want ManU versus Chelsea?? Put the two together into their own league and let them slug it out 38 times each year.

Teak
Steven Downs

well said. Its too bad Bayer is not in it this year. Some very good teams wanting the trophy this time around...
Nate

I couldn't agree with you more either. It's much more honest and real football.
Nolan

I have been saying for a few years now that the late rounds of the UEFA Cup are more exciting than the Champion's League. There are a lot more surprises.
j

I couldn't agree with you more and thought it great how you called "Champions League is just for celebrity gazing part-timers"