I don't really like this whole group business. We have enough groups in the CL. There is only one way to imporve the UEFA cup, and that to only have the actual League champios, in the CL
I like the old way better CL with a home and home series, nothing of this money make Groups bring back the old European Cup of Cups, just for the winners of the Cups Uefa Cups for the best 2nd and 3rd place teams
I agree, but that will never happen. Too much money involved not to have ManU, Real, or Barcelona in the CL.
Expanding the CL wasn't a bad idea when they just allowed 2nd place finishers in the top 3 leagues to enter. I would have done a couple of elimination rounds, then just 4 groups in the group stage (16 teams), with more elimination rounds afterwards. UEFA Cup should then go back to the old format.
I was fine with the old formats that were used in both the Champions League and the UEFA Cup, but I like the current formats they use too. It allows more teams to play more games and have a chance to make some money, nothing wrong with that.
The current format of the CL is only made to please the big teams from the big nations but thats life, i like the format even more now since they cut the second group stage. The Uefa Cup format is IMO a lot better right now because it gives opportunity to teams from smaller nations to make more games gain more exposure and earn more money we have some good groups with good teams and some surprises like Lazio out and Steaua qualified.
First, my CL rant... There should be a rule in which the champions in the top 8 or 10 leagues get an automatic spot. It is sad that a country like Portugal in 2002, when SCP was the champion, didn't have a team in the CL yet Italy had not only the 1st, 2nd and 3rd place teams, yet the 4th place team as well! Then we all wonder why Italy, Spain and England always have 4 teams in the CL - because the balance of power is so heavily favoured to them that other nations don't really have much of a chance to do something. Those 3 countries, coupled with Germany and France, have over half of the 32 teams in the CL. Champions in Belgium, Portugal, Holland, Greece, Scotland, they need to qualify and that takes away the whole purpose of the European Cup, which is what the champions of the leagues play for. I don't mind 2nd or 3rd place teams, but not at the expense of champions of domestic leagues. Now, my UEFA Cup rant... UEFA had a home and away matchup then put the winning teams into groups of 5. I like the group format, because teams get to play many different teams in different countries within a few weeks. I would've liked to have seen teams play each other home AND away in the group phase, but I am sure that UEFA will be tweaking this format a little more for next season. One thing that I absolutely despise is the fact that the 3rd place team in the CL group no longer play for the European Cup, but for the UEFA Cup! What is up for that? Why give teams a chance to play for 2 different cups? I am saying this with Porto hanging on the CL/UEFA Cup fence, but it gives CL teams more motivation to battle for a top 3 spot in their group to continue to play for a cup. They should be concentrating on a top 2 spot and going for the European Cup. I think the quality of the Champions League would benefit if they took away the '3rd spot goes to UEFA Cup' because more teams would concentrate on placing top 2. I would love for UEFA to get rid of that one. My hands are hurting from all of this typing, so I am going to stop now...
Well the top 8 countrys in the rankings get an automatic spot don't they? Why should UEFA give away 2 more automatic spots to leagues that can't produce a champion half as strong as Italy's 4th pos?! The CL is about getting the best in there, not exclude them. I agree with the current format, even if it doesn't favor portuguese teams or other small countries teams. But in purely competitive terms it's a great format. How can I put my despize for this UEFA format in an understandable way? Well....1st this format of the UEFA Cup is just one giant bore fest! 2nd it's an obnoxious money making scheme with no regard for competitive fairness towards the REALLY small teams. Instead of the usual 3-4 rounds with crap teams and then increasingly good teams right to the final....NOW we have an endless amount of crap games that never seem to end and that no one bares to watch! Further more the group fixtures are total crap and favor the obvious good teams against the obvious crap teams. If UEFA was going to bore the whole of Europe with groups the least they could do was make it fair and have home and away games. Ultimately the crap teams will be eliminated (quarter finals), it just takes a lot more time to do that.
You are right but it's called the champions league. It should at least have some Leauge champions in it. Atleast 16 teams should be champions of their league.