As many of you may know, there were reports coming out a week ago that UEFA were mulling expanding the Champions Leauge because the closed league idea was shot down by everyone but Real Madrid, Barcelona, and Juventus. As a result, a 40 or 48-team Champions League is now being discussed. Because either way they go it has already been determined that UEFA will go with 8-team groups, 48 makes more sense as you need 10 matchdays either way and it is an even number. Here is how I would format it (the runners-up of leagues 10-15 would no longer take part in the competition): Access list: CL title holder EL title holder Champions (1-12) Runners-up (1-9) 3rd Place (1-6) 4th Place (1-5) 5th Place (1-4) 6th Place (1-4) That would make 42 automatic qualifiers. The other 6 clubs would qualify though the champions only qualifying tournament. It would consist of only 3 rounds (instead of the current four + preliminary tournament), and the champions of leagues 13-18 would receive a bye to the second of the three qualifying rounds. Also, if the CL or EL title holder already qualifies for the competition, their place would be passed onto the champion of the 13th ranked league. If both already qualified, their places would be passed onto the champions of the 13th and 14th ranked league. The format would be simple. 8 groups of 6 clubs (10 matches each). The group winner would qualify automatically to the Round of 16. The runners-up and 3rd place finishers would qualify for the Playoff Round. The eight winners of the Playoff Round would join the group winners in the Round of 16. No clubs from the same country or group can meet before the quarterfinals. So what do you think?
Here are questions and problems: 1. It's too many games. You're talking about 6 matchdays for qualifying rounds, 14 in the Group Stage, and 8 in the Knockout Rounds before the Final. That's 28. The current format has 8 + 6 + 6 = 20, or 22 if you count the four clubs in the Preliminary Round. The Group Stage has one week without games if there aren't FIFA matchdays in between and two weeks without games if there are FIFA matchdays in between. Some leagues take winter breaks, and I don't think clubs would want CL games then. You don't want CL games conflicting with World Cups, and players should get a little rest after World Cups or other summer tournaments. Having that many matchdays could also stop top clubs from playing summer friendlies. Unless you can convince leagues to have fewer clubs at the top level and play some CL Group Stage games on weekends, I don't see how it's possible. Another option is to play single round-robin like the UEFA Cup did, but then in order to have an equal amount of home and away games each group would need an odd amount of clubs, which means that not all clubs could play on the last matchday. 2. One reason why Super Leagues are discussed is that it's not exciting for the top clubs to have easy domestic games. By having 14 Group Stage games instead of 6 and having worse clubs in the Group Stage, top clubs will have more easy wins, and there will be games between two clubs who are eliminated. I don't know if the proposal includes clubs going to the Europa League. With the current format, it's unlikely that all four clubs in a group will be locked in place before the last matchday. The difference between first and second is your Round of 16 opponent, second and third is advancing in the Champions League or Europa League, and third or fourth is advancing in the Europa League or being eliminated from both. 3. Do you want the top four countries to have a club in every group? 4. How would TV work? You would need to two starting times each on Tuesdays and Wednesdays to have 6 games at a time. If there were 12 games at a time, many games wouldn't get many TV or online viewers even if everyone in the world could watch for free because of the better clubs playing at the same time.
It's 10 matches for the group stage. As far as top four countries being half the field; that is the only way quality won't diminish too much and TV ratings will still be high. As far as TV, it would be on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday with two different time slots for each day. The Europa League would just be background noise.
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An increase from 6 to 10 matches is significant, and as I said there are FIFA matchdays in September, October, and November. England has games moved from Saturday to Sunday so clubs who play Europa League games on Thursdays have 2 days rest, and that includes travel. If you make clubs play too many games, there will be fans mad at when players get rested. With 10 matches, it's more likely that clubs will have Champions League games 3 days before or after games like El Clasico, the Manchester derby, and the Milan derby. Do you have any statement that Champions League and Europa League games would be played at the same time?
https://worldsoccertalk.com/2020/03...ropes-big-guns-protected-from-one-bad-season/ I think that approach is completely wrong. With the current system, the top four leagues get four spots each at the UCL. That’s not fair. Instead, the top 8 from the previous season should, and each country should get a single extra spot.