http://kassiesa.net/uefafiles/2015-16-uefa-access-list.pdf UEFA accidentaly put the acces list for CL and EL staring 2015-2016 on the website uefa.com. One user from the above forum downloaded the list before UEFA deleted it. Anyway to the point. CL stays the same basically, with the exception that the EL winner goes to the CL Play-offs. They will go directly to the CL groups if the winner doesn't use the TH spot. That has been the case most of the times, notable exceptions being Liverpool 2005 Milan 2007 and Chelsea 2012. Anyway to the EL. Now only 7 cup winners (UEFA top 7) go to the groups directly. Starting 2015 that number goes to 26!!! leaving 22 places to fight for. Countries in the 7-9 lose a EL spot for some reason. The most stupid thing they do is send 104 teams to the begining of the qualification. The current number is 78 and from that point on they add gradually . Now they start with 104 and add 54 (15 from the CL Q3 ) in total for the next stages Also countries from the 16th place down start qualification in the first round which this year started in July 17th. The new Euro has 24 teams which means that in 2016 at least 8 countries will start the EL games 1 week after the Euro ends Nice job UEFA
The 7 to 26 increase really isn't correct because the 7 doesn't include the 10 Champions League Playoff Round losers and the 26 includes them. Countries in the 7-9 range currently have 4 Europa League spots compared to 3 for most other countries, so I don't have a problem with that decrease. This year the First Qualifying Round started July 3. It was the Second Qualifying Round that started July 17.
But I like how the EL winner qualifies for the CL. That outweighs any negative changes ten times over! Actually that change starts this season already...
EL has a certain charm to it. Bigger teams that didn't want to play played a second team in the qualifiers and sometimes they were eliminated. 2 games and their unwanted adventure was over Now just because they are from a bigger country they must play all the group games. Sure the CL spot is a good incentive but I can't see teams that think they are above it (looking at you Serie A teams) taking it seriously until after the R16. Speaking of if I were Spurs I would put all my eggs in this basket because this is their biggest chance to play in the CL Also sending that many teams in the q1
It's going to depend on their league position in February. I think any team that is far out of a CL place in their league race will take EL seriously as soon as the round of 32.
I've been trying to pencil-sketch a revised format for Europa League qualifying, namely to condense the four rounds to two: (1) a qualifying round made up of four-team mini-groups, (2) the playoff round as currently exists. Try this: The proposal has (104 + 14 + 25) = 143 teams in the first three qualy rounds. Add one to make it 144, playing as 36 groups. Playoff round has 36 (qualifiers) + 15 (from UCL) + 1 (entering this round) = 52 teams. Group stage has 26 (playoff) + 10 (from UCL) + 12 (entering) = 48.
I don't think UEFA would ever use groups in qualifying. One problem is if at the end one club who is eliminated doesn't use their best players on a Thursday between two domestic games and that makes it easier on that club's last opponent and harder for any other club in the group who is still alive before the last matchday. You could also have groups with a tie for first broken by whether a club beat the worst club in the group 6-0 or 8-0.
Sorry for the mis-understanding, Evan. You probably are thinking that my proposed group would be played on six Thursdays. When I say "mini-group" I mean having one side host a four-team group, playing three matches, in maybe a Thurs-Sat-Tue schedule. (UEFA uses this format for their Women's Champions League preliminary round, using the term "mini-tournament.") The whole point was to shorten the terribly-long Europa qualifying format.
Then 108 clubs, or about 2 per country in UEFA, don't get to host any games like they do now. The clubs involved in your idea obviously couldn't play a weekend domestic game during their Europa League Saturday, which could cause some clubs to have their first game of the season postponed or interfere with a game like England's Community Shield. Not all the leagues start the same weekend so there is no great time to play your groups.
I can't really think of a team that fleshes out this narrow criteria and ends up tanking the UEL playoff to avoid the group stage. I mean you're talking about a team from one of the big leagues that feels it's "too good" for the Europa League and yet would still be playing in the playoff round. A UCL playoff round loser would go straight into group. The only teams you'd be talking about are teams that finished 4th, 5th or 6th in their league, a cup winner, or one that lost in the UCL 3rd round. I really can't think of a team from the last several editions that fits that bill AND ended up playing a weak squad for the UEL playoff matches so that they ended up losing and avoiding the group stages. Now it certainly is possible for a team like Valencia or Tottenham to play their rotation, and they frequently do, but they usually still can't help themselves on their way to running roughshod over the unseeded team they get in that round. I can't think of any who ended up losing.
Teams from lower ranked leagues definetely need a chance to show up their possibilities in the EL, otherwise the gap between strong and weak countries will only go up.
I dont like this new format of UEL... with 2 dirrect slots for Spain, England, Germany and Italy in groups If we look in CL play off , we will see that one of German, Italian or Spanish club will go in EL So, from the start 3 clubs from a country in groups stage. UEFA want only big clubs in groups, and this is bad ... this is MAFIA, and from now, I'll be Legia Warsaw fan, which know and show better how is uefa
UEFA has released the details of the new Europa League qualifying procedure, which I had summarized in the "Benefits of Europa League" thread: http://forums.bigsoccer.com/threads/benefits-of-europa-league.2012647/page-2#post-31860137