Champions league and Europa league thread (General)

Well there's always the Atlantic League ... could soon be back on the agenda ... http://www.cityam.com/255304/dominant-domestically-crushed-continent-why-atlantic-league

 

I read that they'll also change the Europa League entry criteria. Do you know more about that?

I really hate that Rummenigge and Hoeness frauds. The master conspirators behind this.

 

Here you can find a few posts about it ... also included this link in that thread: Preliminary Access List 2018/19 - http://kassiesa.home.xs4all.nl/bert/uefa/AccessList2018.html

@PuckVanHeel

 

OK, that also means they screw us in the Europa League.

 

Had a quick look ... before the reform the cup winner, 3rd and 4th placed teams (country ranked 13th) also had to go through Qs ... after the reform a bit more Qs but starting earlier in Qs usually means very soft opponents (easy points for the coefficient).

 

Yes, but starting in July is always very risky. I won't count on it.

See also how Italy struggles with the UCL play-offs... The date (early in season) being a major reason.

 

I wonder if the support in other European countries for the CL will remain. All the top teams have met each other so often in the CL it has taken much away from of the legendary status of these match ups.

 

I hope that will happen, and the divide and rule will not work.

They try to disunite the smaller countries by giving countries ranked 7 to 10 still a few cherries.

 

There already seems to be declining interest in Europe, but a rising one in Asia and the USA. Wonder how the numbers split up. Maybe Swissramble has a go at it?

 

The money is not in the Low Countries, Scandinavia or the Balkans. It is in the Americas and Asia. Those like to see the regular match-ups just like you watch a TV series.
http://www.espnfc.com/blog/marcotti...-footballs-superclubs-shows-no-sign-of-ending

They also like to see Celtics vs Lakers four times a year.

Furthermore, there has been some sort of decline in Italy and England.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/football...-sports-dismal-champions-league-viewing-figu/

But that is perhaps more related to the showing of the clubs, and lack of domestic 'talent'.

 

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...cer-tv-deals-expected-to-bring-in-3-4-billion

Sale of TV rights starts today ... if anything changes to the 2018 reform, it won't be a major change ... maybe the EPFL can tweak it a bit ... or we'll have to consider more powerful innovations (e.g. BeNe League, Atlantic League, ...)

 

http://www.footballseeding.com/country-ranking/a2016-2017/ ... has been updated with the entry list ... for the EL the impact of the reform is minimal for Holland: it's only the 3rd placed team that starts 1 round earlier and as I said before ... this usually means very soft opponents and easy points for the coefficient.

For a direct CL group berth you need to overtake the Czechies... they aren't that far ahead either ... if Ajax and AZ win their ties until they reach the QFs you overtake the Swiss ... if the Czechies haven't added to their lead, you just need 2 more wins.

 

Unbelievable to see how a loser Zlatan is, teams always do better once he leaves.

 

PSG, apart from the yesterday's game, is less performing than during the years of Zlatan. I do not know if it's related, but it's a fact. So your reasoning seems biased

 

13 league titles. What a loser.

That's just one less than Feyenoord in their entire club history.

 

It s true, but Zlatan and big games just dont belong to the same sentence.

He puts an enorme pressure on himself and on the other players and it always leads to failure.

 

Was sad for Barça because I have always been a great admirer, and good, teams live and die. It is not the Barca that I liked. The game is movement, so if you no longer have the movement, you may have the same inte. ntions, it does not have the same efficiency in the fluidity of the game, in the organization, in many things .

 

After AZ's defeat and Ajax's draw Holland have lost a direct CL berth ... the Eredivisie Champions of 2017/18 will have to go through qualifiers

De Nederlandse kampioen van 2018 moet uitkomen in de Champions League-voorronde https://t.co/UcZvjEzMds

— Voetbal International (@VI_nl) February 16, 2017

Van Basten said ... to look to the Belgian league to reform the Eredivisie won't help much ... only the BeNe League will have a serious impact.

It sounds like the Eredivisie is planning a reform with 16 clubs + play-offs ... just like in Belgium ... I've always been a proponent of the BeNe League though.