Platini Proposes changes for Champions League Qualifying

By: Bob | March 14th, 2007

UEFA president Michel Platini hasn’t been on the job very long and he is already ruffling some feathers (odd expression, isn’t it?). Platini ran on a platform of Champions League reform and reform he will try. Today he offered a proposal to change the way teams qualify for Europe’s most lucrative competition and you can bet that it isn’t going to make the big clubs especially happy.

Platini’s proposal is that there should be a new final qualifying round where the lowest placed qualifiers from England, Spain, Italy, France, Germany and Portugal would play against each other, effectively reducing the number of teams that qualify from those countries while opening up gates to the Champions League city of gold for clubs from other countries.

Platini said: ‘It’s not about disturbing England, Italy or Spain, but about finding a good balance. My problem is that the two English, Spanish and Italian teams in the final qualifying round do not play against each other, they play against smaller teams.

‘Perhaps the teams from the bigger countries, who have four and three qualifying teams, should play against each other.

‘We want to add some of the other countries to the competition and to do that we have take some of the others away. I’m not sure that the fourth clubs from Spain, Italy and England are more important than the champions of Poland, the Czech Republic and Denmark.’

I’m not sure if they are more important either, but they are better. The current system has shown that. Smaller clubs from other countries have their shot at qualifying and if they are truly worthy of a spot in the Champions League they’ll beat out the big teams from England, Spain and Italy.

With the amount of money that is involved in the competition I can understand why Platini is seeking reform. The rich get richer from it and the poor get left behind. Yet, there is a reason why the competition generates so much revenue. People want to see the big teams with the best players slugging it out.

What do you think? Should the rules change to allow for other countries to qualify or do you like things the way they are?

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Category: Champions League, World Football

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BUILDERARCH

I like the idea as well, i do think the 3rd and 4th teams should qualify, but why not have the possibility of them having to play each other to get into the group stages.
What about the FA cup, Copa del Rey, etc. winners getting a place in the qualifying (if they differ from 1-2)?
Sam

As much as I'd love to see the champions of smaller countries like Azerbaidjan and FYR Macedonia have more popularity, the Champions League name isn't to be taken literally. I think that I'd rather see two fourth-placed teams (Liverpool and Valencia, say) play each other than have the Icelandic champ and the Luxembourgian one. That's what they have the UEFA Cup for. Maybe that needs more media attention.
Nelly

Yes, they should let the champions of more countries through, but they should also have some already famous teams there.
drabik

I personally think that this is a great idea. Why exactly should the 3rd or 4th placed teams be able to even qualify for the 'champions league'. Surely to qualify, you should win your OWN league or maybe come second, as that is a great acheivement too. Maybe this is what europe need for the smaller nations to become that little bit richer and also expand their fan club. Also, I think that the bigger leagues would become more competitive, as it would be more difficult to get in to europe, so the league football would not suffer, but maybe improve. This would also make the UEFA cup a little more competitive, as we would have more 'big' clubs in this competition. The only problem with this is that the 5th and 6th placed teams may get pushed out of the uefa cup. Could then again, place these in to the Intertoto cup, which could be expanded to make it more commercial and interesting. Okay, so it doesnt mean as much as the UEFA or the Champions League, but it IS a European competition none the less.

Thanks for reading, Drabik
Nick

Somewhere in London Arsene Wenger feels a slight pain in his chest...
Sam

Leave it as it is. I fear change.
Brian

Only one team has gone through three rounds of qualifying and made it to the knockout stages, ever. That was of course Liverpool but that's beside the point. Platini's out of his freakin' mind, if anything he's going to make it less competitive. And lucrative for that matter. I don't think the G14 will let him do anything, anyhow.
Andy

Well simply put. The competition is called the CHAMPIONS LEAGUE!!! UEFA introduced this 2nd/3rd/4th team rubbish themselves - not the fault of any club in any country - you win your League you play in the Champions League or revert it back to the the European Cup format. Any team who wins their respective league plays each other over two legs. Simple really!!