Changes made to UEFA club competitions from 2018

Lord TSC

Long rumored, but confirmed this morning.

http://www.uefa.com/uefachampionsleague/news/newsid=2398899.html

Changes

The UEFA Europa League winners will automatically qualify for the UEFA Champions League group stage (currently they can potentially take part in a play-off round).

The top four clubs from the four top-ranked national associations will now qualify automatically for the group stage of the UEFA Champions League.
The full details of the access list for both competitions will be finalised by the end of the year.

A new system for the club coefficients: clubs will be judged on their own records (deletion of the country share for individual club coefficient unless that coefficient is lower than 20% of the association's coefficient).

Historical success in the competition will also be acknowledged in coefficient calculation (points for previous European titles with a weighted system for UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League titles)

Financial distribution to clubs will be increased significantly for both competitions.

A new four-pillar financial distribution system (starting fee, performance in the competition, individual club coefficient and market pool) will see sporting performances better rewarded, while market pool share will decrease.

What doesn't change

Retention of Champions and League route of qualifying in the UEFA Champions League, ensuring that clubs from all associations can enter through their domestic leagues and qualify for both competitions.

The UEFA Champions League will continue to have a 32-team group stage leading to a 16-club knockout phase. Similarly the UEFA Europa League remains at 48 teams.



Great news for some (AC Milan, probably Liverpool, any big team like United who go through rough patches and miss CL football). Dire news for smaller teams.

EDIT: Or am I reading it wrong, and historical merit hasn't given automatic qualification yet? Seems like the first step anyway...

TheDoctor

Don't like the historical element, why should trophies won in the 60s, 70s etc mean you should be rewarded in 2018?

The historical thing and the money for co-efficients is daft.

LuckyLloyd

Huge.

History and tradition is important. It is in UEFA's interest to showcase clubs with a legacy in the competition. Is that fair? No. Is football / life fair? No.

And it's in keeping with policies like FFP which were about pulling up the drawbridges and protecting the current top dogs.

Lord TSC

Deleted User wrote: »

The historical thing and the money for co-efficients is daft.

The latter really is a killer. A smaller team could make it deep into the competition, and possibly be given less than a big "historical" team who didn't make it out of the group stages

GLaDOS

UEFA looking after the big teams as usual.

MrKingsley

Jesus Christ.

So the 'Champions League' will now have 12 automatic non-champions qualify from 4 leagues alone?

At least rename the thing

jaykay74

Lord TSC wrote: »

The latter really is a killer. A smaller team could make it deep into the competition, and possibly be given less than a big "historical" team who didn't make it out of the group stages

I could be wrong here but financially doesn't the prize money in the premier league dwarf the prize money on offer in the CL these days anyway ?

Skylinehead

The historical merit thing didn't happen in the end.

TheDoctor

I think Champions League prize money is going up but yes Premier League money still is higher.

Jelle1880

LuckyLloyd wrote: »

Huge.

History and tradition is important. It is in UEFA's interest to showcase clubs with a legacy in the competition. Is that fair? No. Is football / life fair? No.

And it's in keeping with policies like FFP which were about pulling up the drawbridges and protecting the current top dogs.

The fact AC Milan won a lot of European Cups doesn't change the fact they're **** at the moment and likely won't even make it out the group stages.

The whole 'historic merit' is a lie anyway, designed to shoehorn clubs from the big leagues into the CL even if they don't qualify through their domestic leagues.
It seems as it's not happening right away, but I can see it being introduced soon.

TheDoctor

jaykay74 wrote: »

I could be wrong here but financially doesn't the prize money in the premier league dwarf the prize money on offer in the CL these days anyway ?

I'd guess that Villas £66 million was comfortably more than the Champions League winner got last year.

ERG89

Lord TSC wrote: »

Long rumored, but confirmed this morning.

http://www.uefa.com/uefachampionsleague/news/newsid=2398899.html

Changes

The UEFA Europa League winners will automatically qualify for the UEFA Champions League group stage (currently they can potentially take part in a play-off round).





Great news for some (AC Milan, probably Liverpool, any big team like United who go through rough patches and miss CL football). Dire news for smaller teams.

EDIT: Or am I reading it wrong, and historical merit hasn't given automatic qualification yet? Seems like the first step anyway...

Don't the Europa League winners qualify to the group stage automatically?
Milan need to qualify for it to mean great news, not as if they added that dumb place on historical merit.

chopperbyrne

This is by far the worst change: "The top four clubs from the four top-ranked national associations will now qualify automatically for the group stage of the UEFA Champions League."

LuckyLloyd

Skylinehead wrote: »

The historical merit thing didn't happen in the end.

Oh right - it's not going to be included?

Awesomeness

chopperbyrne wrote: »

This is by far the worst change: "The top four clubs from the four top-ranked national associations will now qualify automatically for the group stage of the UEFA Champions League."

Yeah this is bull****. Look at what happened to Roma this year.

Hopefully it wont affect LOI teams as their is still the champions route via qualifiers but we will wait to see what changes are made to qualification with the extra automatic places

TheDoctor

Are clubs coefficients, therefore what pot you'll be in, have historical merit as one of the calculations?

citytillidie

ERG89 wrote: »

Don't the Europa League winners qualify to the group stage automatically?
Milan need to qualify for it to mean great news, not as if they added that dumb place on historical merit.

No currently they qualify for the play off round. But if the Champions League winners qualifies via their own league then the Europa League winners would get into the group stage.

mooonpie

ERG89 wrote: »

Don't the Europa League winners qualify to the group stage automatically?

From the UEFA link and OP:

Changes

The UEFA Europa League winners will automatically qualify for the UEFA Champions League group stage (currently they can potentially take part in a play-off round).

Emphasis added by me

EDIT: Actually, Europa League champtions Sevilla finished 7th in La Liga and qualified automatically for group stages ... so I'm not sure how EL champion could end up in play-off round?!

EDIT 2:
The Champions League title holders always enter directly into the group stage.
If the Champions League title holders qualify for the group stage via their domestic league, then the Europa League title holders enter directly into the group stage.
If both Champions League title holders and Europa League title holders qualify for the group stage via their domestic leagues, then the champions of association 13 enter directly into the group stage.

If the Champions League title holders do not qualify for the group stage via their domestic league, then the Europa League title holders enter directly the play-off round, with the route they enter depending on the Champions League title holders:

• League Route: If the Champions League title holders have qualified for any round of the League Route, or have not qualified for the tournament via their domestic league and are from the associations 1–12 in the access list.
• Champions Route: If the Champions League title holders have qualified for any round of the Champions Route, or have not qualified for the tournament via their domestic league and are from the associations 13–54 in the access list.

SantryRed

This was actually a compromise by UEFA. Can you imagine just what the initial demands of the clubs were? Football is dying.

Skylinehead

LuckyLloyd wrote: »

Oh right - it's not going to be included?

Looking at it, there seems to be a few points added for European titles when calculating coefficients, so there's that. But what they were proposing earlier, something like Liverpool or Milan getting CL places despite finishing 7th, that didn't go through.

kksaints

Dont like these changes especially as it could make it harder for the teams from smaller countries to qualify for the group stages but its at least better than big teams being guaranteed group stage spots.

HalloweenJack

That would've been rididculous, no surprise though.

eagle eye

I've got a lot less interested in the Champion's league over the last while. I think I'll watch Leicester to see how they get on this year but I'm fed up watching it because the bigger clubs are just too powerful these days and it's no fun watching them swanning about winning at their ease most of the time.

The QF's is where I start watching from normally unless I'm bored on a Tuesday or Wednesday night.

The Premier league is what interests me most and then La Liga, Bundesliga and to lesser extent Ligue 1 and Serie A. I'd actually watch MLS and the A-league ahead of the group stages of the Champion's league. The Copa Libertadores is a better competition too imo.

mooonpie

What I can't see at the moment is where the 5 extra places are going to come from?

Current system, 32 teams in Group Stage consists of:

• 1: Champions League title holder / Europa League title holder / Champion from 13th ranked league (2016/17: Europa League title holder)
• 12: Champions from top 12 leagues (2016/17: Spain, England, Germany, Italy, Portugal, France, Russia, Ukraine, Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland, Turkey)
• 6: 2nd Place from top 6 leagues (2016/17: Spain, England, Germany, Italy, Portugal, France)
• 3: 3rd Place from top 3 leagues (2016/17: Spain, England, Germany)
• 5: Winners from play-off round (Champions Route)
• 5: Winners from play-off round (League Route)

So the top 4 leagues go from 11 guaranteed places to 16 guaranteed places in the Group Stage ... Where do the 5 places come from?

Awesomeness

mooonpie wrote: »

What I can't see at the moment is where the 5 extra places are going to come from?

Current system, 32 teams in Group Stage consists of:

• 1: Champions League title holder / Europa League title holder / Champion from 13th ranked league (2016/17: Europa League title holder)
• 12: Champions from top 12 leagues (2016/17: Spain, England, Germany, Italy, Portugal, France, Russia, Ukraine, Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland, Turkey)
• 6: 2nd Place from top 6 leagues (2016/17: Spain, England, Germany, Italy, Portugal, France)
• 3: 3rd Place from top 3 leagues (2016/17: Spain, England, Germany)
• 5: Winners from play-off round (Champions Route)
• 5: Winners from play-off round (League Route)

So the top 4 leagues go from 11 guaranteed places to 16 guaranteed places in the Group Stage ... Where do the 5 places come from?

I would guess the likes of Switzerland might lose their automatic stop and have to qualify

deaddonkey15

mooonpie wrote: »

What I can't see at the moment is where the 5 extra places are going to come from?

Current system, 32 teams in Group Stage consists of:

• 1: Champions League title holder / Europa League title holder / Champion from 13th ranked league (2016/17: Europa League title holder)
• 12: Champions from top 12 leagues (2016/17: Spain, England, Germany, Italy, Portugal, France, Russia, Ukraine, Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland, Turkey)
• 6: 2nd Place from top 6 leagues (2016/17: Spain, England, Germany, Italy, Portugal, France)
• 3: 3rd Place from top 3 leagues (2016/17: Spain, England, Germany)
• 5: Winners from play-off round (Champions Route)
• 5: Winners from play-off round (League Route)

So the top 4 leagues go from 11 guaranteed places to 16 guaranteed places in the Group Stage ... Where do the 5 places come from?

Three 4th place teams from the top 3 leagues who would previously had to have qualified go straight in. So at the moment that would be top 4 from England Spain and Germany. The 3rd placed team from the 4th ranked league (Italy at the moment) which previously had to qualify will now go straight in as will the 4th placed team in that league which previously couldn't get in at all. So that's 1 extra team from England Spain and Germany guaranteed and 2 from Italy. 5.

GLaDOS

mooonpie wrote: »

What I can't see at the moment is where the 5 extra places are going to come from?

Current system, 32 teams in Group Stage consists of:

• 1: Champions League title holder / Europa League title holder / Champion from 13th ranked league (2016/17: Europa League title holder)
• 12: Champions from top 12 leagues (2016/17: Spain, England, Germany, Italy, Portugal, France, Russia, Ukraine, Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland, Turkey)
• 6: 2nd Place from top 6 leagues (2016/17: Spain, England, Germany, Italy, Portugal, France)
• 3: 3rd Place from top 3 leagues (2016/17: Spain, England, Germany)
• 5: Winners from play-off round (Champions Route)
• 5: Winners from play-off round (League Route)

So the top 4 leagues go from 11 guaranteed places to 16 guaranteed places in the Group Stage ... Where do the 5 places come from?

Probably take the automatic spot for Champions from the likes of Switzerland, Turkey, Belgium etc.

Kingp35

SantryRed wrote: »

This was actually a compromise by UEFA. Can you imagine just what the initial demands of the clubs were? Football is dying.

Football has been dying for a while now. I have lost a huge amount of interest over the last 5 years or so due to the influx of diving, cheating, play acting etc. that just seems to be part of the game now. Couple this with FFP and todays announcement and it's killing the sport.

Minderbinder

I believe the threat of a super league was something concocted by UEFA and the bigger clubs simply to justify this kind of change for UEFA. If they didn't make it appear like they were backed into a corner there would be no justifying this kind of favouritism. A super league would be a huge financial risk which I doubt any of clubs involved would be willing to take. Smaller nations should just give the bigger leagues what they "want" and withdraw from this competition to form a breakaway European cup.

Paz-CCFC

You can't have minnows like Legia, BATE and Dundalk threatening to taint the big brands of the likes of Real Madrid, Barcelona etc. How dare they have the audacity to attempt to challenge the elite.

deaddonkey15

I don't see the issue with this change at all. The champions league is already made up of a lot of rubbish filler teams. Having more sides from the top leagues will make for a better competition. As for the likes of Dundalk, they should probably establish themselves as a decent Europa League side before feeling hard done by by these changes. As nice as it would have been to see them make the champions league, they probably would have gotten hammered in every group game. Apart from the financial benefits to Dundalk, their appearance in the champions league wouldn't have done anyone any good.

GLaDOS

deaddonkey15 wrote: »

I don't see the issue with this change at all. The champions league is already made up of a lot of rubbish filler teams. Having more sides from the top leagues will make for a better competition. As for the likes of Dundalk, they should probably establish themselves as a decent Europa League side before feeling hard done by by these changes. As nice as it would have been to see them make the champions league, they probably would have gotten hammered in every group game. Apart from the financial benefits to Dundalk, their appearance in the champions league wouldn't have done anyone any good.

These changes will help ensure the "rubbish filler teams" will stay exactly that.

Badabing

I'm glad there keeping the 'league route' and champions route. For next season anyway Celtic will still have to get tru 3 qualifying rounds to get into the group stage. It'll be interesting to see how much the prize money will go up by.

Francie Barrett

Badabing wrote: »

I'm glad there keeping the 'league route' and champions route.

Yea, as long as you're not German, Italian, English, or Spanish.

Francie Barrett

Awesomeness wrote: »

Hopefully it wont affect LOI teams as their is still the champions route via qualifiers but we will wait to see what changes are made to qualification with the extra automatic places

I don't see how you can come to that conclusion. These changes are terrible for the LOI and every other nation outside of Eng/Spa/Ger/Ita.

If 16 of the 32 places are already allotted to 4 nations, that leaves between 14-16 places for the other 51 member nations in UEFA. You now have a even more countries chasing fewer spots. It makes it almost impossible for an Irish team to ever qualify.

Let me illustrate. The current situation has Portugal and France each being assigned 2 automatic group spots. Russia, Ukraine, Holland, Belgium, Turkey and Switzerland all have one automatic spot. That is 10 automatic spots for next 8 ranked nations. Either you have the rest of Europe chase as little as 4 places, or else you start removing automatic qualification from the likes of the Russian and Ukrainian champions. Either is bad for Ireland, as we'd be likely to be required to beat higher ranked nations than we currently face in order to qualify.

For all the stick that Platini gets, I doubt he would have ever allowed this to happen.

Awesomeness

Francie Barrett wrote: »

I don't see how you can come to that conclusion. These changes are terrible for the LOI and every other nation outside of Eng/Spa/Ger/Ita.

If 16 of the 32 places are already allotted to 4 nations, that leaves between 14-16 places for the other 51 member nations in UEFA. You now have a even more countries chasing fewer spots. It makes it almost impossible for an Irish team to ever qualify.

Let me illustrate. The current situation has Portugal and France each being assigned 2 automatic group spots. Russia, Ukraine, Holland, Belgium, Turkey and Switzerland all have one automatic spot. That is 10 automatic spots for next 8 ranked nations. Either you have the rest of Europe chase as little as 4 places, or else you start removing automatic qualification from the likes of the Russian and Ukrainian champions. Either is bad for Ireland, as we'd be likely to be required to beat higher ranked nations than we currently face in order to qualify.

For all the stick that Platini gets, I doubt he would have ever allowed this to happen.

Sorry your right. I would guess some league champions would lose their spot and make qualifying harder.

I somehow had it in my mind that they would be replacing teams that were not champions for examples france's second spot so this would leave them in the league route of qualifying and not the champions route thus not affecting LOI teams as they would be in the champions route.

I guess it all comes down to where they strip the automatic places from

mooonpie

deaddonkey15 wrote: »

mooonpie wrote: »

What I can't see at the moment is where the 5 extra places are going to come from?

Current system, 32 teams in Group Stage consists of:

• 1: Champions League title holder / Europa League title holder / Champion from 13th ranked league (2016/17: Europa League title holder)
• 12: Champions from top 12 leagues (2016/17: Spain, England, Germany, Italy, Portugal, France, Russia, Ukraine, Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland, Turkey)
• 6: 2nd Place from top 6 leagues (2016/17: Spain, England, Germany, Italy, Portugal, France)
• 3: 3rd Place from top 3 leagues (2016/17: Spain, England, Germany)
• 5: Winners from play-off round (Champions Route)
• 5: Winners from play-off round (League Route)

So the top 4 leagues go from 11 guaranteed places to 16 guaranteed places in the Group Stage ... Where do the 5 places come from?

Three 4th place teams from the top 3 leagues who would previously had to have qualified go straight in. So at the moment that would be top 4 from England Spain and Germany. The 3rd placed team from the 4th ranked league (Italy at the moment) which previously had to qualify will now go straight in as will the 4th placed team in that league which previously couldn't get in at all. So that's 1 extra team from England Spain and Germany guaranteed and 2 from Italy. 5.

Yup, 5 extra teams automatically qualify for Group Stage ... glad we agree on that!

What I'm wondering is what 5 teams will now have to qualify so the extra 5 teams from the top 4 leagues can get in automatically.

My immediate thought of a UEFA quick fix would be to introduce another play-off round between the 5 Winners from the Champions Route and 5 Winners from the League Route ... I'm hoping this line means I'm wrong:

Retention of Champions and League route of qualifying in the UEFA Champions League, ensuring that clubs from all associations can enter through their domestic leagues and qualify for both competitions.

As Awesomeness and GLaDOS said, it'll probably be the 8th to 12th ranked leagues that lose out (2106/17: Ukraine, Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland and Turkey)

Or maybe 2nd place from 5th and 6th ranked leagues (2016/17: Portugal, France) and champions from 10th to 12th ranked leagues (2016/17: Belgium, Switzerland and Turkey) will lose out

Awesomeness

I just saw this tweet from a sky sports reporter

Bryan Swanson ‏@skysports_bryan 1h1 hour ago
Re. UEFA Champions League changes. There may yet be additional qualifying game for champions outside Europe's top four leagues. #SSNHQ

That would be ridiculous

Awesomeness

Also with the 4 teams from the top leagues auto qualifying that is 4 less teams in the league route of the draw leaving 6 so that would make up 2 spots.

But I imagine a lot of the other leagues like the dutch will not be affected too much and it will be the real lower tiers that will suffer

Francie Barrett

Here's a thought on how it could be done.

Automatic qualification spots x6
Portugal champion
France champion
Russia champion
Ukraine champion
Holland champion
Belgium champion

Non champion route x4
Portugal runner up/third place
France runner up/third place
Russia runner up
Ukraine runner up
Holland runner up
Belgium runner up

Champions qualification x4-6
Various knock out stages for the remaining 45 nations.

Badabing

So if there is a extra qualifier the first round will have to start the first week of July to fit them all in.
Sorry they all ready do start end of June start of July so god knows what they'll do now.

noodler

Pretty disgraceful changes imo.

eagle eye

Yeah like in the Europa league last night it was just so unfair that West Ham had to play a minnow from Romania. Like what's the point in having Astra Giurgiu get a place in the Europa league group stage. It's just so unfair to a Premier league side!!!!!

Does the maximum of 5 clubs from one country rule still apply I wonder? If a club from one of the top 4 leagues wins the CL but finishes outside the top 4 in their league that year, does the club sitting in 4th place lose its CL spot?

EDIT: maybe not at this stage. from the Q & A page on the proposed changes:

Will an association be able to have six teams in the UEFA Champions League group stage?

The number of teams per association is capped at five and any change will be determined in due course.

http://www.uefa.com/uefachampionsleague/news/newsid=2398611.html

pablomakaveli

I think the rich clubs should just feck off and have their "Super League". That would open the CL up to more teams from other countries and would be more beneficial to football around Europe. With these changes only the German,Spanish, Italian and English benefit.

The Super League would fall on its arse after a few years anyway when people get bored of seeing the same teams playing each other every season. They can come crawling back then with their co-efficients reset to zero for their troubles.:)

Mr.Nice Guy

I feel this is one of the nastiest measures I've seen introduced in football, even topping the proposal a few years back to play league games overseas in other countries - the extra game idea that caused outrage. I see this as much worse because it's basically the top teams pulling up the ladder and saying to everyone else, go f*ck yourselves.

And there's nothing that will be done about it.

Porto deservedly beat Roma the other night in the CL qualifier and Monaco deservedly beat Villareal, so it comes as little surprise that Italy and Spain are championing this move. Greed is good, right? Why let competition get in the way of the real goal - making money.

This is no longer about sport; making money is now the real sport to these clubs. Forbes rich lists are now the real league tables. And who are the players in this game? We are. We who consume it via buying shirts, tickets, Sky and BT Sport packages, which finance and perpetuate the new sport. We are compliant players; we are loyal.

Those who initially warned against allowing non-champions from Europe to contest the European Cup have been shown to be correct. The slippery slope has come to pass, and football has slipped into its cesspool. Things have spiralled so out of control that we are now witnessing measures to make it easier for teams that finish fourth to reach the 'Champions League' over teams that are actually champions in their own country. Think about that. Imagine trying to explain that to someone not familiar with football.

Historical success will now be taken into account in coefficient calculations. What was done in the past will now have ramifications for the present. One of the great stories of this sport during the Euros was a team that had never played at a major tournament before, Iceland, defeating a winner of the World Cup in 1966, England. Another involved Wales, in their first Euros ever, beating Belgium, a team that went into the tournament number one in the world.

Now imagine a system devised by UEFA which made it harder for the likes of Iceland and Wales to reach tournament football. Would that be good for the sport? Don't think it is too far-fetched. Remember football is not the priority any more.

Here is UEFA's general secretary ad interim, Theodore Theodoridis, speaking today on the Champions League proposal they have just agreed:

"We are happy European football remains united behind the concepts of solidarity, fair competition, fair distribution and good governance.”

There's so much bullsh*t in that statement one doesn't know where to begin, or whether to laugh or cry.

Like others on this thread I am finding my enjoyment of the sport I've loved since I was a kid being sapped away gradually by those that run the game. (ruin the game is more accurate.) UEFA, like FIFA, are more interested in making the rich even richer than trying to open up the sport and make it more competitive. That's what sport ought to be about: competition. This rule though isn't about competition; it is the big boys closing ranks against other potential competitors.

I turned over to Sky Sports News after the Champions League draw to see corporate cheerleader Jim White with a big grin on his face. 'Wow Kirsty, Pep Guardiola is returning home to Barcelona. How incredible is that?'

It's not incredible. The future of the sport is now going to involve these super rich clubs playing one another over and over again. And these sorts of interactions are not going to be limited to Europe, they will occur in China and the Middle East too, so as to squeeze even more money from fan's wallets.

Depressing.

RoryMac

Doesn't look like it will be as easy as UEFA thought to push this through

http://www.epfl-europeanleagues.com/UEFA_decision_forces_epfl_to_act.htm

Ulysses Gaze

Mr.Nice Guy wrote: »

I feel this is one of the nastiest measures I've seen introduced in football, even topping the proposal a few years back to play league games overseas in other countries - the extra game idea that caused outrage. I see this as much worse because it's basically the top teams pulling up the ladder and saying to everyone else, go f*ck yourselves.

And there's nothing that will be done about it.

Porto deservedly beat Roma the other night in the CL qualifier and Monaco deservedly beat Villareal, so it comes as little surprise that Italy and Spain are championing this move. Greed is good, right? Why let competition get in the way of the real goal - making money.

This is no longer about sport; making money is now the real sport to these clubs. Forbes rich lists are now the real league tables. And who are the players in this game? We are. We who consume it via buying shirts, tickets, Sky and BT Sport packages, which finance and perpetuate the new sport. We are compliant players; we are loyal.

Those who initially warned against allowing non-champions from Europe to contest the European Cup have been shown to be correct. The slippery slope has come to pass, and football has slipped into its cesspool. Things have spiralled so out of control that we are now witnessing measures to make it easier for teams that finish fourth to reach the 'Champions League' over teams that are actually champions in their own country. Think about that. Imagine trying to explain that to someone not familiar with football.

Historical success will now be taken into account in coefficient calculations. What was done in the past will now have ramifications for the present. One of the great stories of this sport during the Euros was a team that had never played at a major tournament before, Iceland, defeating a winner of the World Cup in 1966, England. Another involved Wales, in their first Euros ever, beating Belgium, a team that went into the tournament number one in the world.

Now imagine a system devised by UEFA which made it harder for the likes of Iceland and Wales to reach tournament football. Would that be good for the sport? Don't think it is too far-fetched. Remember football is not the priority any more.

Here is UEFA's general secretary ad interim, Theodore Theodoridis, speaking today on the Champions League proposal they have just agreed:

"We are happy European football remains united behind the concepts of solidarity, fair competition, fair distribution and good governance.”

There's so much bullsh*t in that statement one doesn't know where to begin, or whether to laugh or cry.

Like others on this thread I am finding my enjoyment of the sport I've loved since I was a kid being sapped away gradually by those that run the game. (ruin the game is more accurate.) UEFA, like FIFA, are more interested in making the rich even richer than trying to open up the sport and make it more competitive. That's what sport ought to be about: competition. This rule though isn't about competition; it is the big boys closing ranks against other potential competitors.

I turned over to Sky Sports News after the Champions League draw to see corporate cheerleader Jim White with a big grin on his face. 'Wow Kirsty, Pep Guardiola is returning home to Barcelona. How incredible is that?'

It's not incredible. The future of the sport is now going to involve these super rich clubs playing one another over and over again. And these sorts of interactions are not going to be limited to Europe, they will occur in China and the Middle East too, so as to squeeze even more money from fan's wallets.

Depressing.

In 10 years time, there will be a football team based in the ME, Dubai probably, playing in one of the top leagues in Europe.

I'm guessing it will be in the Premier League.