Liverpool get Champions League go-ahead

[Johnlong]

Liverpool get Euro go-ahead

'Winner must defend title' says Uefa boss

“The winner should have a chance to defend the title,” he told The Sunday Times. “We must sit down as a matter of real urgency to see if there is a fair way to make it happen. If there is a rule that harms the tournament, we have to discuss changing the rule.”

Lennart offers lifeline (http://soccernet.espn.go.com/section?id=uefachampionsleague&cc=5901)

:cool:

[tiburon]

finally some justice!

[Regency]

Liverpool’s amazing victory confirmed that they would vote to change the rules and allow the champions’ participation, thus bringing to five the number of English teams in next season’s tournament. Liverpool will not be asked to go through the qualification process, and neither Everton, fourth in the Premiership, nor anybody else will lose the hard-won right to compete in the Champions League.


It's about time they do something....but how would this work? If 5 teams from England are allowed wouldn't there be 1 extra team in the tournament?

[King Rooney]

its not official!!!!!!!!!!!!!, remember uefa is a democracy, not a dictatorship

but hopefully they will get the place

[Brownswan]

finally some justice!

Not if another team that earned a place gets bumped. Justice has yet to be rendered.

[jrod69]

def. Deserve it

[kevbrunton]

It's about time they do something....but how would this work? If 5 teams from England are allowed wouldn't there be 1 extra team in the tournament?
The original provisions provide for this - there is a spot in the Group Play for the Cup Holders. If that Cup Holder has already otherwise qualified, then the team from Turkey moves from Qualifying Round 3 directly into Group play, etc.

If they decide to put Liverpool in, then it just goes back like it was originally listed.

Remember, that it is only England, Spain & Italy that have this problem. Any other country would have the extra team. So, for example, if Porto had finished below 3rd last year, they would have been a 4th team from Portugal - not bumping one of the top 3. There is a provision that a max of 4 teams can come from 1 country and that's where the problem lies for England, Italy & Spain.

[Sagy]

Remember, that it is only England, Spain & Italy that have this problem. Any other country would have the extra team. So, for example, if Porto had finished below 3rd last year, they would have been a 4th team from Portugal - not bumping one of the top 3. There is a provision that a max of 4 teams can come from 1 country and that's where the problem lies for England, Italy & Spain.You are 100% correct.

Can someone please explain how this is different from 2000 Real Madrid case. They also won the Champions League and finished 5th in their own league. For the 2000-2001 season, Real Madrid was in the Champions League and Real Zaragoza (the 4th place team) was in the UEFA cup.

Why should the English FA and Everton get a "bonus" that was not given the Spanish and Real Zaragoza? :confused: The Spanish did the "right thing" 5 years ago, the FA should do the same.

[kevbrunton]

You are 100% correct.

Can someone please explain how this is different from 2000 Real Madrid case. They also won the Champions League and finished 5th in their own league. For the 2000-2001 season, Real Madrid was in the Champions League and Real Zaragoza (the 4th place team) was in the UEFA cup.

Why should the English FA and Everton get a "bonus" that was not given the Spanish and Real Zaragoza? :confused: The Spanish did the "right thing" 5 years ago, the FA should do the same.
In my mind, the English FA is doing the right thing by allowing Everton to play in the CL. The Spanish screwed Zaragoza. Basically, if Spain had the balls to put Zaragoza into the CL back then, perhaps we wouldn't be having this issue right now. The would have changed the rules to insure that no champion would miss out rather than no champion misses out unless it's a champion from one of the big 3.

[blackjack]

Didn't anybody else notice that the article is from May 9th? This is nothing new.

[aloisius]

In my mind, the English FA is doing the right thing by allowing Everton to play in the CL. The Spanish screwed Zaragoza. Basically, if Spain had the balls to put Zaragoza into the CL back then, perhaps we wouldn't be having this issue right now. The would have changed the rules to insure that no champion would miss out rather than no champion misses out unless it's a champion from one of the big 3.


Real are much more powerful in the Spanish federation than Liverpool in the FA. They made sure they got their place and Zaragoza didn’t make a problem of it.

Now it seems Everton has a pretty strong lobby in the FA and they’ve gotten themselves in.

I’ve said on a different thread, if UEFA allow 5 english clubs they should disband themselves and let g-14 officially take over European football.

[|--LdC--|]

To me this issue is simple, if the FA wants 5 teams in CL they have to put Everton out... its Everton or Liverpool the FA has to choose, its unfair for the supporters of both teams but since this rule wasn´t changed until now...only a "special" decision by Uefa would give 5 English teams on the next CL.

[kevbrunton]

Didn't anybody else notice that the article is from May 9th? This is nothing new.
Sorry, The original poster posted the entire article without a link or quote - which is not allowed. I searched for the article to link it in and got the wrong one. The link has now been corrected to link to today's article.

Kev

[Cannon]

Real are much more powerful in the Spanish federation than Liverpool in the FA. They made sure they got their place and Zaragoza didn’t make a problem of it.

Now it seems Everton has a pretty strong lobby in the FA and they’ve gotten themselves in.

I was watching Goltv's coverage of the Milan game today. The announcers had a few words on this that I thought were right. The problem isn't with the English FA's action but rather the actions of the Spanish FA years and UEFA years ago. The Spanish FA should have forced a rule change then and we wouldn't be in this situation today. They pointed out that the winner of the old ECC got to defend their title no matter where they finished in their domestic league. In 81/82, Aston Villa won the ECC but only finished 11th (30 points behind the league winner) but was still allowed to attempt to defend their ECC title in 82/83.

[Borruma]

Why should the English FA and Everton get a "bonus" that was not given the Spanish and Real Zaragoza? The Spanish did the "right thing" 5 years ago, the FA should do the same.

Yes but Zaragoza went into a major decline after that finishing 17th the next season and bottom the one after that, if they had made the CL they would have not in all likelyhood lost their coach and their top scorer, Savo Milosevic.

I don't think anyone here (except 'pool fans of course) wants to see the same happen to Everton.

How about excluding Arsenal... they never do anything in Europe

[Johnlong]

I wonderd why you have edited my post Kev !

This article explains it a lot better than the ESPN one.

Here is the link

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2093-1632220,00.html

Liverpool get Euro go-ahead

'Winner must defend title' says Uefa boss

LIVERPOOL will be allowed to defend their Champions League title after the intervention of Uefa president Lennart Johansson and other senior officials. It had been expected that any decision would not come until June 17, when the 16 members of Uefa’s executive committee meet in Manchester, but Johansson is determined to resolve the matter within the next 10 days.

“The winner should have a chance to defend the title,” he told The Sunday Times. “We must sit down as a matter of real urgency to see if there is a fair way to make it happen. If there is a rule that harms the tournament, we have to discuss changing the rule.”

Liverpool failed to qualify after finishing fifth in the Premiership. The Football Association, whose chairman, Geoff Thompson, sits on the Uefa executive committee and who has ambitions to succeed Johansson, maintained that the top four clubs (Chelsea, Arsenal, Manchester United and Everton) were the immovable FA nominees for the available Champions League places.

Johansson, however, was critical of the FA’s efforts to resolve the problem. Speaking last Wednesday afternoon, before Liverpool had won the final, he said: “So far the FA are not helping us to find a solution.” In another swipe at the FA, he added: “I can ask what the hell is happening in England right now. It seems that the Premier League is taking over everything.”

Johansson, his senior vice-president, Senes Erzik, and Lars-Christer Olsson, Uefa’s chief executive, said the rule that does not provide automatic right of defence for the winners of the Champions League is wrong and must be revised. “We will arrange a telephone conference because the urgency of the situation is too important to wait until we could get the full committee together,” said Olsson.

All three men will lobby for Liverpool’s inclusion, and it is inconceivable that the executive committee would go against their wishes. Seven members of the committee contacted by The Sunday Times after Liverpool’s amazing victory confirmed that they would vote to change the rules and allow the champions’ participation, thus bringing to five the number of English teams in next season’s tournament. Liverpool will not be asked to go through the qualification process, and neither Everton, fourth in the Premiership, nor anybody else will lose the hard-won right to compete in the Champions League.

Five years ago, after Real Madrid had won the Champions League but finished fifth in the Spanish Primera Liga, the authorities in Spain entered Madrid and left out Zaragoza, the fourth-placed team. But that, say Uefa insiders, is a bad precedent, unfair on the side that finishes the domestic league on merit ahead of the club that happened to win the Champions League.

By this weekend the G-14, a self-elected group of 18 big European clubs including Manchester United, Arsenal and Liverpool, had collectively stated that they supported the desire to see Liverpool defend their trophy. Franz Beckenbauer and Eusebio were among leading former players who voiced opinion that the players who won the trophy must be entitled to defend it.

[Arwel]

Why should the English FA and Everton get a "bonus" that was not given the Spanish and Real Zaragoza? :confused:

Well, for one thing Zaragoza's stadium is not about 400 metres from the Bernabeu! :D If Liverpool got a place at Everton's expense I can foresee the army being brought back from Iraq and the FA headquarters getting an armed guard :eek: I think the blame lies with the Spanish FA for not pressuring UEFA to sort out this mess the first time it arose. Zaragoza were certainly badly treated and should have made a bigger fuss.

[Soccerballs]

That sounds unfair :confused: . They are the champions this year... Good for them! But the truth is they are not good enough to qualify for the next league (there are guidelines for qualifying, first 4 go), so it's not fair to give them a free passage. (Even WWC has changed the free passage of the world champions to the next championship). So they are England's 5th = no qualification. That's FAIR.

[Johnlong]

Well, for one thing Zaragoza's stadium is not about 400 metres from the Bernabeu! If Liverpool got a place at Everton's expense I can foresee the army being brought back from Iraq and the FA headquarters getting an armed guard

LOL MATE,CLASS ! :D

[BSjanitor]

Liverpool could enter next year's group stage automatically and Man. United and Everton play off in the third qualifying round. End result is that England would only have a max of 4 teams in the group stage.

This solution isn't simple, though, because it violates another UEFA rule, that teams from the same FA can't play each other in qualifying.

Also, if England had 5 teams, wouldn't it screw up the group draw/seeds somehow?