Fifa officials are discussing regionalising leagues: UEFA implication [Archive]

pc4th

20 Aug 2007, 07:01 PM

http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/sport/2007/07/18/former_yugoslav_region_highlig.html

I was in Neuchatel, Switzerland last Thursday for a Fifa conference considering the viability of amalgamating certain eastern and central European leagues.

Amalgamation, briefly, has two main advantages: it would increase competition, operating as a stepping stone between domestic and European competition; and it would increase the size of the market, raising revenues from advertising, sponsorship and television rights, which should also enjoy a boost from the increased quality and competitiveness of the league.

Under Lennart Johansson's presidency Uefa opposed on principle anything that undermined the integrity of a domestic league. Under Michel Platini, now that the desirability of narrowing the gap between west and east has been acknowledged and accepted, there seems to be a softening in attitude. Lucu even claims that two Uefa officials have admitted privately to him that regionalisation is the future.

There are still concerns. For one thing, as Lucu, Tudoran, Petkovic and Vasiliev pointed out, if the regional league is to have real validity it would have to offer the reward of European places, and that means it would have to replace, not supplement, domestic leagues.

pc4th

20 Aug 2007, 07:03 PM

Here's a post by SheffWedfan about this topic

I just thew this together for the heck of it for UEFA: each league would have a top division of 20 teams competing for the regional title on a simple single table home-and-away basis (38 games), with linear promotion and relegation within each region.

The number of "qualifiers" shown would qualify for the post-season "Champions of Europe" playoff - 64 qualifiers in total, which would then be independently seeded and drawn into a straight 6-round knockout competition (64/32/16/8/4/2), 2-legs home and away each round until the final, to find an overall European Champ!

I have no idea whether it would work or not, or be beneficial, but it could be fun thinking about it!
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ALPINE LEAGUE (3 QUALIFIERS)
Austria, Liechtenstein, Switzerland
Aarau, Austria Wien, Basel, BSC Young Boys Berne, FC Superfund, Grasshopper-Club Zürich, Grazer AK, Luzern, Rapid Wien, Red Bull Salzburg, SC Rheindorf Altach, Schaffhausen, Sion, SK Sturm Graz, St. Gallen, SV Mattersburg, SV Ried, Thun, Wacker Tirol Innsbruck, Zürich

BALKAN LEAGUE (4 QUALIFIERS)
Albania, Bosnia, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, Slovenia
Banat, Bežanija, Crvena Zvezda Beograd, Dinamo Zagreb, FK Sarajevo, Hajduk Kula, Hajduk Split, Makedonija Gjorche Petrov, Mladost Apatin, NK Domžale, OFK Beograd, Osijek, Partizan Beograd, Pobeda Prilep, Rabotnički Kometal Skopje, Šibenik, Slaven Belupo, Smederevo, Vojvodina, Zagreb

BALTIC LEAGUE (3 QUALIFIERS)
Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland
Arka Gdynia, Cracovia Kraków, Ekranas Panevėžys, FBK Kaunas, FK Ventspils, Flora Tallinn, GKS Belchatów, Groclin Grodzisk, JK Trans Narva, Korona Kielce, Lech Poznan, Legia Warszawa, Levadia Tallinn, Liepājas Metalurgs, LKS Lódz, Odra Wodzislaw, Skonto Riga, Vetra Vilnius, Wisla Kraków, Zaglebie Lubin

BENELUX LEAGUE (5 QUALIFIERS)
Belgium, Luxembourg, Netherlands
Ajax Amsterdam, Anderlecht, AZ67 Alkmaar, Charleroi, Club Brugge, De Graafschap, Feyenoord, Genk, Gent, Groningen, Heerenveen, NAC Breda, NEC Nijmegen, PSV Eindhoven, Roda JC, Sparta Rotterdam, Standard Liège, Twente Enschede, Utrecht, Vitesse Arnhem

BOHEMIAN LEAGUE (2 QUALIFIERS)
Czech Republic, Slovakia
1. FC Brno, Artmedia Bratislava, Baník Ostrava, Dukla Banská Bystrica, Dynamo Ceské Budejovice, Jablonec 97, Kladno, MFK Košice, MFK Ružomberok, Mladá Boleslav, MŠK Žilina, Nitra, Senec, SIAD Most, ŠK Slovan Bratislava, Slavia Praha, Slovan Liberec, Sparta Praha, Teplice, Viktoria Plzen

BRITISH-IRISH LEAGUE (6 QUALIFIERS)
England, Ireland, Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales
Arsenal, Aston Villa, Birmingham City, Blackburn Rovers, Bolton Wanderers, Celtic, Chelsea, Derby County, Everton, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United, Middlesbrough, Newcastle United, Portsmouth, Rangers, Reading, Sunderland, Tottenham Hotspur, West Ham United

GALLIC LEAGUE (5 QUALIFIERS)
France, Monaco
AJ Auxerre, AS Monaco, AS Nancy-Lorraine, Girondins de Bordeaux, Le Mans UC '72, Lille OSC, Lorient, Metz, OGC Nice, Olympique de Marseille, Olympique Lyonnais, Paris Saint-Germain, RC Lens, Saint-Étienne, SM Caen , Sochaux-Montbéliard, Stade Rennais, Toulouse, Troyes AC, Valenciennes

GERMAN LEAGUE (5 QUALIFIERS)
Germany
1. FC Nürnberg, Alemannia Aachen, Arminia Bielefeld, Bayer Leverkusen, Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund, Eintracht Frankfurt, Energie Cottbus, FSV Mainz 05, Hamburger SV, Hannover 96, Hansa Rostock, Hertha Berlin, Karlsruher SC, MSV Duisburg, Schalke, VfB Stuttgart, VfL Bochum, VfL Wolfsburg, Werder Bremen

IBERIAN LEAGUE (6 QUALIFIERS)
Andorra, Portugal, Spain
Atlético Madrid, Barcelona, Belenenses, Benfica, Deportivo de La Coruña, Espanyol, Getafe, Mallorca, Osasuna, Porto, Racing Santander, Real Madrid, Real Valladolid, Real Zaragoza, Recreativo Huelva, Sevilla, Sporting Braga, Sporting Lisbon, Valencia, Villarreal

ITALIAN LEAGUE (6 QUALIFIERS)
Italy, San Marino
Atalanta, Cagliari, Catania, Empoli, Fiorentina, Genoa, Internazionale, Juventus, Lazio, Livorno, Milan, Napoli, Palermo, Parma, Reggina, Roma, Sampdoria, Siena, Torino, Udinese

MEDITERRANEAN LEAGUE (4 QUALIFIERS)
Cyprus, Greece, Israel, Malta, Turkey
AE Larissa, AEK Athens, Ankaraspor, Aris, Atromitos, Beitar Jerusalem, Besiktas, Ergotelis, Fenerbahçe, Galatasaray, Gençlerbirligi, Kayserispor, OFI Crete, Olympiacos, Panathinaikos, Panionios, PAOK Thessaloniki, Sivasspor, Skoda Xanthi, Trabzonspor

SCANDINAVIAN LEAGUE (5 QUALIFIERS)
Denmark, Faroe Islands, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden
Aalborg BK, AIK Solna, Brann, Djurgårdens IF, FC Copenhagen, Haka, Hammarby IF, Helsingborgs IF, HJK Helsinki, Honka, IF Elfsborg, Kalmar FF, Lillestrøm, Midtjylland, Nordsjælland, Odense BK, Rosenborg, Stabæk, Tampere United, Vålerenga

SOVIET LEAGUE (4 QUALIFIERS)
Belarus, Kazakhstan, Russia, Ukraine
Amkar Perm, Chornomorets Odessa, CSKA Moscow, Dnipro Dnepropetrovsk, Dynamo Kiev, Dynamo Moscow, FK Moskva, FK Rostov, Krylya Sovetov Samara, Lokomotiv Moscow, Luch-Energia Vladivostok, Metalist Kharkov, Rubin Kazan, Saturn Moskovskaya Oblast , Shakhtar Donetsk, Spartak Moscow, Spartak Nalchik, Tavriya Simferopol, Tom Tomsk, Zenit St. Petersburg

TRANS-CARPATHIAN LEAGUE (4 QUALIFIERS)
Bulgaria, Hungary, Moldova, Romania
CFR Cluj, CSKA Sofia, Debreceni VSC, Dinamo Bucureşti, Gloria Bistriţa, Levski Sofia, Litex Lovech, Lokomotiv Sofia, MTK Budapest FC, Oţelul Galaţi, Pandurii Târgu-Jiu, Politehnica Timişoara, Rapid Bucureşti, Sheriff Tiraspol, Steaua Bucureşti, Unirea Urziceni, Universitatea Craiova, UTA Arad, Vaslui, Zalaegerszegi TE

TRANS-CAUCASIAN LEAGUE (2 QUALIFIERS)
Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia
Ameri Tbilisi, Ararat Yerevan, Banants Yerevan, Borjomi, Dinamo Batumi, Dinamo Tbilisi, FK Baku, Inter Baku, Khazar Lenkoran, Lokomotivi Tbilisi, MIKA Ashtarak, MKT Araz Imisli, Olimpi Rustavi, Olimpik Baku, PFC Neftchi Baku, Pyunik Yerevan, Sioni Bolnisi, Torpedo Kutaisi, WIT Georgia Tbilisi, Zestaponi

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Maybe someday, FIFA will allow leagues with population smaller than 15 million people to merge.

Ceres

21 Aug 2007, 09:37 AM

SCANDINAVIAN LEAGUE (5 QUALIFIERS)
Denmark, Faroe Islands, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden
Aalborg BK, AIK Solna, Brann, Djurgårdens IF, FC Copenhagen, Haka, Hammarby IF, Helsingborgs IF, HJK Helsinki, Honka, IF Elfsborg, Kalmar FF, Lillestrøm, Midtjylland, Nordsjælland, Odense BK, Rosenborg, Stabæk, Tampere United, Vålerenga
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Maybe someday, FIFA will allow leagues with population smaller than 15 million people to merge.

Speaking for Scandinavia, the problem is that ther is no way teams from the Faroe Islands, Finland or Iceland are able to compete at the same level as Denmark, Norway and Sweden.... I mean, the best paid player at FC København probably earn just as much as the intire wage budget at the Finnish Champions.

We btw already got a Scandinavian Royal League for the top 12 best teams from Denmark, Norway and Sweden.. Smaller Nordic countries are not invited, because ther is no way it could work financially to invite the Finnish or Icelandic champions.. The cost is too big and the market pool is to small, so the TV stations wont pay for such a tournament. As it is, they hardly even want to pay for brodcasting games from the Royal League.
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