3rd UEFA Cup Competition

[Stranded]

From 2021/22 UEFA have announced today they plan to have a 3rd competition of 32 teams.

Europa League will drop down to 32 teams as well, so 96 teams qualify across the 3 comps. Will we see this 3rd comp as a rebrand of the Cup Winners Cup?

Would imagine this will also remove the safety net of 3rd place CL group finishers dropping into the EL knock-out stage.

[Old Man Andrews]

Isn't the Europa League treated as a complete irrelevance as it is? Wish FIFA and Uefa would just leave football alone, its not broken so don't try to fix it.

[Stranded]

Isn't the Europa League treated as a complete irrelevance as it is? Wish FIFA and Uefa would just leave football alone, its not broken so don't try to fix it.

Only in England - here it is a pretty big deal to qualify for it as it is seen as a reward for a successful season and there doesn't seem to be the supposed link between qualifying and being pants in the league the following year.

Depending on how they structure this then, I don't see a problem.

CL will stay as it is now that the big leagues have their guaranteed spots. EL will arguably become higher quality by losing 16 teams. Hope the 3rd comp is mainly for national cup winners.

[Sutekh]

Oh great just what's needed yet another pointless European competition even more meaningless than the Europa League.

Why not have a 4th competition for those that just miss out on qualification for the 3rd and then a 5th to pick up some more clubs and make sure no one feels left out at having to miss competing in any European football and failing to get their share of the $$ cow.

Remember the days when European football used to be great nights as they weren't every other week and the "champions league" had just the champions in it. Every kick mattered in every game too.

But apparently we're told that's what no-one wants any more.

[Green]

Feels like the golden goose is slowly being throttled to this former fan.

The more European football there is, of any flavour, the more it cheapens the product. "Less is more", someone should tell UEFA et al. (Although I get it that it's probably more commercially attractive to have more games of lower quality)

[Old Man Andrews]

This will sound really outlandish and probably unpopular but I would like the Champions League to become exactly that. A league of just the Champions from Europes top league. Have a league of 12 - 16 teams who play eachother twice over the course of the season. You are guaranteed some huge games on a regular basis that way and it also eliminates the chaff that manage to get into it in its current form. Keep the Europa League and the new competition in the knock out format.

[Green]

I think you'd find a lot of people who agree with that particular viewpoint.

[BR0B0T]

nah I want the best teams in Europe playing each other.

I'd expect our 5/6th placed teams to beat off Young Boys

*snigger

They'd expect to go through against Young Boys, Plzen, Club Brugge, Red Star

They'd likely go through against Ajax, AEK, PSV, Shaktar, Porto, Benfica

[leon]

Feels like the golden goose is slowly being throttled to this former fan.

The more European football there is, of any flavour, the more it cheapens the product. "Less is more", someone should tell UEFA et al. (Although I get it that it's probably more commercially attractive to have more games of lower quality)

I bet you like throttling the old golden goose, eh Green?

[Sanguine]

This will sound really outlandish and probably unpopular but I would like the Champions League to become exactly that. A league of just the Champions from Europes top league. Have a league of 12 - 16 teams who play eachother twice over the course of the season. You are guaranteed some huge games on a regular basis that way and it also eliminates the chaff that manage to get into it in its current form. Keep the Europa League and the new competition in the knock out format.

Thing is, the 'chaff' are the champions of Russia and Switzerland and Belgium and Austria, not Chelsea, Liverpool, Real Madrid, Atletico and Napoli.

Your format would simply see the same four or five teams play off against each other for who can score the most goals against Red Bull Salzburg. At least the current format can generate some different QF and SF teams (few would have picked Roma and Liverpool last season).

For all the romanticism around the old European Cup, it is harder now to win.
In 1980-81, Liverpool beat OPS, Aberdeen and CSKA Sofia by a combined 21-2 to reach the semi-finals.

[Sutekh]

This will sound really outlandish and probably unpopular but I would like the Champions League to become exactly that. A league of just the Champions from Europes top league. Have a league of 12 - 16 teams who play eachother twice over the course of the season. You are guaranteed some huge games on a regular basis that way and it also eliminates the chaff that manage to get into it in its current form. Keep the Europa League and the new competition in the knock out format.

Thing is, the 'chaff' are the champions of Russia and Switzerland and Belgium and Austria, not Chelsea, Liverpool, Real Madrid, Atletico and Napoli.

Your format would simply see the same four or five teams play off against each other for who can score the most goals against Red Bull Salzburg. At least the current format can generate some different QF and SF teams (few would have picked Roma and Liverpool last season).

For all the romanticism around the old European Cup, it is harder now to win.
In 1980-81, Liverpool beat OPS, Aberdeen and CSKA Sofia by a combined 21-2 to reach the semi-finals.

22-3 actually and the CSKA goal was offsde.

[Snowflake Royal]

This will sound really outlandish and probably unpopular but I would like the Champions League to become exactly that. A league of just the Champions from Europes top league. Have a league of 12 - 16 teams who play eachother twice over the course of the season. You are guaranteed some huge games on a regular basis that way and it also eliminates the chaff that manage to get into it in its current form. Keep the Europa League and the new competition in the knock out format.

Assuming you don't mean a breakaway league and it's in addition to domestic competitions, that's a hell of a lot of games for each team. I'd split it into two groups, where within each group you play each other twice and then the top two of each go into a semi and then final. And I'd include the winners of a cup winners competition and a third competition for major nation runners up and minor nation champions.

[Snowflake Royal]

This will sound really outlandish and probably unpopular but I would like the Champions League to become exactly that. A league of just the Champions from Europes top league. Have a league of 12 - 16 teams who play eachother twice over the course of the season. You are guaranteed some huge games on a regular basis that way and it also eliminates the chaff that manage to get into it in its current form. Keep the Europa League and the new competition in the knock out format.

Thing is, the 'chaff' are the champions of Russia and Switzerland and Belgium and Austria, not Chelsea, Liverpool, Real Madrid, Atletico and Napoli.

Your format would simply see the same four or five teams play off against each other for who can score the most goals against Red Bull Salzburg. At least the current format can generate some different QF and SF teams (few would have picked Roma and Liverpool last season).

For all the romanticism around the old European Cup, it is harder now to win.
In 1980-81, Liverpool beat OPS, Aberdeen and CSKA Sofia by a combined 21-2 to reach the semi-finals.

You mean like the same four - six teams competing to beat a random assortment of shit at the bottom of the Premier League?

[Stranded]

This will sound really outlandish and probably unpopular but I would like the Champions League to become exactly that. A league of just the Champions from Europes top league. Have a league of 12 - 16 teams who play eachother twice over the course of the season. You are guaranteed some huge games on a regular basis that way and it also eliminates the chaff that manage to get into it in its current form. Keep the Europa League and the new competition in the knock out format.

Assuming you don't mean a breakaway league and it's in addition to domestic competitions, that's a hell of a lot of games for each team. I'd split it into two groups, where within each group you play each other twice and then the top two of each go into a semi and then final. And I'd include the winners of a cup winners competition and a third competition for major nation runners up and minor nation champions.

Problem with any large league formats is that you end up with a masive amount of dead rubbers. Take an 8 team group - after game 8 or 9 where is the interest for any club from 5th down. Are you going to get any sort of crowd interested in 7th v 6th. They would have to invent some kind of SPL split. After 7 games, the top 4 play again whilst the bottom 4 either drop down to the EL/have their own competition/are knocked out.

[Sanguine]

This will sound really outlandish and probably unpopular but I would like the Champions League to become exactly that. A league of just the Champions from Europes top league. Have a league of 12 - 16 teams who play eachother twice over the course of the season. You are guaranteed some huge games on a regular basis that way and it also eliminates the chaff that manage to get into it in its current form. Keep the Europa League and the new competition in the knock out format.

Thing is, the 'chaff' are the champions of Russia and Switzerland and Belgium and Austria, not Chelsea, Liverpool, Real Madrid, Atletico and Napoli.

Your format would simply see the same four or five teams play off against each other for who can score the most goals against Red Bull Salzburg. At least the current format can generate some different QF and SF teams (few would have picked Roma and Liverpool last season).

For all the romanticism around the old European Cup, it is harder now to win.
In 1980-81, Liverpool beat OPS, Aberdeen and CSKA Sofia by a combined 21-2 to reach the semi-finals.

You mean like the same four - six teams competing to beat a random assortment of shit at the bottom of the Premier League?

Yeah. But that's got nothing to do with ripping up a successful CL format.