UEFA are believed to be considering plans to extend the Champions League from 32 to 64 teams and scrapping the Europa League, according to the BBC. President of European Football’s Governing Body Michel Platini said:
“We’re discussing it. We will make a decision in 2014. Nothing is decided yet. There is an ongoing debate to determine what form the European competitions will have between 2015 and 2018. ”
As it stands, four Barclays Premier League teams and two Scottish Premier League sides qualify for the competition, but under the new proposal, these would be increased to seven and five respectively. The Europa League, which replaced the old UEFA Cup in 2009, would be dissolved as a result.
The Europa League has often been mocked and maligned as a substandard competition, considered a nuisance and inconvenience by the English sides currently contesting it; Newcastle manager Alan Pardew recently claimed the competition was “killing his side” because of its grueling schedule and Thursday night kick offs.
Liverpool supporters, used to success in the Champions League, have been taunted by rival fans over recent years with the terrace chant “You’ll be playing on Channel 5 next season”.
However, Tottenham manager Andre Villas-Boas, who’s side also contest the competition, cannot fathom its unpopularity in England. The Portuguese won the tournament with Porto in 2011, a success which convinced Roman Abramovich, owner of current European Champions Chelsea, to appoint the young coach as manager that summer.
“I respect the competition. I certainly think it is viewed as a punishment in England and I cannot understand why. It is a traditional trophy.”
In spite of that, the Europa League does carry much less of a financial incentive for clubs in comparison to the Champions League. Manchester United earned £20million more than last seasons Europa League Winners Atletico Madrid, despite them being eliminated in the Group Stages of the competition.
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2 Comments
Not a fan of this idea. To me, the Champions League should only contain the champions of each country. As it stands, it isn’t the ‘Champions’ league at all, and it will be even less so if they go through with this.
If they reduced the number of teams in the competition so that only the CHAMPIONS of each country could participate, they could then expand the Europa League. By including the teams that are no longer able to participate in the Champions League (2nd-4th in the EPL), this would increase interest in the Europa League as it would include more established clubs from around Europe. As it stands, it’s hard to get excited about a Europa match when your team might be playing someone you’ve never even heard of which is often the case.
Interesting point that only the champions of every league should be allowed to compete. I like the idea, and it does make sense, so it’s a shame that UEFA would never go for it. They’d just lose too much money for that to be an option. Although I can’t help but feel that expanding the Champions League like they apparently might would cheapen it even further.