UEFA Champions League 2015/16

[Hamzah]

also the champions from lesser leagues sometimes do well. apoel made the last 16. celtic have made the knockouts three times beating the likes of man u, ac milan and barca aswell.

 

[StarLord]

i like this rule. champions should be rewarded, and teams from lesser footballing nations should have a chance to qualify.

i take it the reason most people are bitching is that valenica have to play monaco, so what? if they are good enough they'll make it.

It has nothing to do with Valencia playing Monaco and everything to do with very weak teams facing off against each other for a prize they are nowhere near deserving.

Also, you fail to account for the fact that by the same degree that you are "helping" the champions from minor leagues, you are at the same time "burying" their local rivals who simply are no longer able to compete with the club that just "earned" almost 20m euros for defeating the champions of Albania.

 

[Hamzah]

the same applies to the top leagues too. the balance of power shifts to a cl club in any league, that's part of what makes it such a presitgious competition.

 

[StarLord]

also the champions from lesser leagues sometimes do well. apoel made the last 16. celtic have made the knockouts three times beating the likes of man u, ac milan and barca aswell.

Celtic used to be good. They have been gash recently. One win over Barca does not change the fact.

Apoel actually made the last 8 (lost easily to Real Madrid) but in their other two CL participations, they have done nothing more than park the bus, and still lose almost all of their games.

 

[StarLord]

the same applies to the top leagues too. the balance of power shifts to a cl club in any league, that's part of what makes it such a presitgious competition.

For a club in the EPL, getting into the CL, increases yearly revenue by 10 to 20%. For a club in Cyprus/Croatia/Denmark, getting into the CL increases your yearly revenue by as much as 400%.

Very bad analogy you attempted there.

 

[Hamzah]

the other option is to structure it that champions of weaker leagues play strong 3rd place teams from better leagues. you'd never see teams from certain countries again, which would be sad.

 

[TornAndFrayed]

Just stop for a moment and consider that as good as the pro neo GS arguments are (they are terrible ) Platini doesn't give a fuck and did this to please the many and reaffirm if anyone doubted it that he's Blatter 2.0.

 

[Chainsaw]

Only League winners qualified for the tournament in the past so why shouldn't league winners get some favourable treatment?, if you start favouring stronger teams than teams from weaker leagues will never qualify for the group stage. The idea behind current system is to encourage investment in the weaker league by making CL money available to them..

I believe that was one of the reasons the Champions League wasn't all that in the past. After UEFA injected more teams from the top leagues in the CL it has caught more attentions and found more excitement. Yes it's nice and all for the weaker sides to get into the GS of the CL for the money factor, but it also affect the quality of the competition.

It has to be free draw for every side, not favoring the weaker or stronger sides.

 

[StarLord]

the other option is to structure it that champions of weaker leagues play strong 3rd place teams from better leagues. you'd never see teams from certain countries again, which would be sad.

For many years, the CL qualification stages did not have a "league route" (very tough route) and a "champions route" (mini-Mickey Mouse route) but a unified route. It needs to become like that again (as was before the season 09/10) and whoever is the best team, may they win.

Why would it be sad for Mickey Mouse clubs such as Maribor, Apoel, BATE or Dinamo Zagreb having to face a proper rival if they want to get into the CL? I really do not get that.

 

[StarLord]

Just stop for a moment and consider that as good as the pro neo GS arguments are (they are terrible ) Platini doesn't give a fuck and did this to please the many and reaffirm if anyone doubted it that he's Blatter 2.0.

Platini wanted the support of the smaller federations so that he could get elected. Hence, this ludicrous situation.

 

[Barcaman]

What you are saying is romantic and all, but the bottom line here is that clubs like Apoel, Bate, Zaghreb, Basel etc etc get to enter the CL GS, while clubs like Lazio/Valencia/Monaco/Leverkusen have to knock out other strong teams in order to take their place in the CL proper.

Just have a look at the performances of said "champions" in last season's CL:

Apoel - 0 wins, 1 draw, 5 losses. They scored only one goal from the penalty spot in 6 games! They are just in the CL, in order to park the bus.

BATE - Conceded something like 50 goals in 6 games. Actually, it was 24, but you get the picture.

Malmo - 1 win, 5 losses

Ludogorets - 1 win, 1 draw, 4 defeats

Maribor - 0 wins, 3 draws, 3 losses


So, out of 30 games, all those "champions" managed 3 wins out of 30 games. All 5 of them finished bottom of their group, while clubs such as Napoli, Besiktas and Lille were eliminated from the "league route".

In my opinion, this is a travesty.

Travesty is what your gloryhunting posts are. It's called "Champions league". Not "Superleague". And those Champions of national competitions still have to play 3 qualifying rounds.
You claim those teams don't deserve to play Champions league.. Do tell me how, 4th placed team from France deserves it more?
And it's "Zagreb", not "Zaghreb" At least learn Europe's capitals before you spout shit about them.

 

[TornAndFrayed]

Monaco finished third, France only has two direct CL spots. Regardless of rankings, it's obvious that monaco and valencia are amongst the best in the qualifying crop, yet one is doomed to go. It sucks.
For once i don't see how starlord was malicious here. The competition is made less competitive and that's a shame.

 

[Darko]

It is a silly format, and makes smaller leagues a one horse race by giving the CL team all that money. But it would also be ridiculous if all the teams in the CL were from the main European leagues, fans from smaller footballing countries would never get a chance to watch their team play against a footballing superpower like Barca or Real.
Plus it makes it so that there's always an underdog, like APOEL a few years back, or BATE beating Bayern, Basel advancing in front of Liverpool etc. The CL just wouldn't be the same without these teams.

 

[StarLord]

It is a silly format, and makes smaller leagues a one horse race by giving the CL team all that money. But it would also be ridiculous if all the teams in the CL were from the main European leagues, fans from smaller footballing countries would never get a chance to watch their team play against a footballing superpower like Barca or Real.
Plus it makes it so that there's always an underdog, like APOEL a few years back, or BATE beating Bayern, Basel advancing in front of Liverpool etc. The CL just wouldn't be the same without these teams.

You either create a general level playing field by restricting foreigners across the board, or you have meritocracy (on the current basis of financial power) so that the CL group stages are at least of high quality.

While giving chances to minor league clubs to play in the CL sounds noble on the surface, in reality, the negatives far outweigh the positives in this whole story. It is more than clear.

Edit: How some think it "fair" that Club Brugge have to face Man United (the 2nd richest club on the planet) while at the same time ZAGREB have to face the champions of Albania and Apoel have to face Astana (for the exact same prize as Club Brugge are fighting for) is beyond me.

 

[6 Ballons for Messi]

You either create a general level playing field by restricting foreigners across the board, or you have meritocracy (on the current basis of financial power) so that the CL group stages are at least of high quality.

While giving chances to minor league clubs to play in the CL sounds noble on the surface, in reality, the negatives far outweigh the positives in this whole story. It is more than clear.

Edit: How some think it "fair" that Club Brugge have to face Man United (the 2nd richest club on the planet) while at the same time ZAGREB have to face the champions of Albania and Apoel have to face Astana (for the exact same prize as Club Brugge are fighting for) is beyond me.

The bosman rule destroyed the multiculturalism of football that existed until the mid 90's.
Now the rich just buy whoever they want and when a team from a smaller economy produces a quality generation they are quickly strapped off their players by the european elite.
In order to fix that permanently they need to revert the bosman rule and force a hard cap of foreign players on all teams.
Until then, although I doubt they will ever do that, I'm fine with the champions of smaller leagues being a part of champions league, instead of 4th/5th teams of the bigger leagues stealing their place.