Musing on qualification

[ArsenalMetro]

Just a thought I had: Should the CCL give a berth to its defending champion? There are already enough teams in this tournament who completely suck (see: Metapan, San Juan Jabloteh, etc), so putting the defending champion in could be a good idea and incentive to win the tournament. I propose that a spot get taken away from the worst-performing nation with multiple slots in the tournament, and that a bid automatically go to the defending champion. This slot would have no connection to the country, so (for example), this edition of the CCL would have 5 Mexican teams, as Atlante would be included, along with the 4 Mexican teams who qualified through the league. This idea would appease those who think that certain countries deserve more spots, as a winning nation would, essentially, get an extra spot for the next tournament.

Thoughts from others?

[It's called FOOTBALL]

I agree. UEFA, South America and Asia do it. We should too.

Consider this. When Atlante was eliminated from the playoffs this past Spring, they were eliminated from contention for the 2010 Concacaf Championship, while they were still alive for the 2009 title. I don't think that's happened before, where a club is alive for the current championship, yet eliminated for the following year's title.

Granted, it may happen again soon if DC United qualifies for the CCL Quarterfinals, yet gets eliminated in the 1st 2 rounds of the playoffs (or misses them entirely). But still, champion's qualification reduces the oddity of contention for a current title while being eliminated from a future tournament.

It'd be like if the Yankees, who are in this year's MLB playoffs, would already be eliminated from making the 2010 playoffs. How weird would that be.

[Nerroth]

I had hoped they would include the defending champion from the outset - and to be honest, considering the hops that they jumped through in terms of filling out the slots this time around, I'm kind of surprised in retrospect that the idea of bringing back Atlante wsn't floated.

(Especially given the new CCL schedule, which would make preparing for the Club World Cup that bit easier.)


Here's hoping that in 10-11, the defending champions get their slot.