http://web.mlsnet.com/news/mls_news.jsp?ymd=20071129&content_id=131323&vkey=news_mls&fext=.jsp begins by saying: "Nyon - UEFA are expected to announce on Friday that three English Premier League clubs will qualify automatically for the Champions League group phase from 2009."
Champions Leeauge Format Changes http://www.uefa.com/uefa/keytopics/kind=64/newsid=630602.html All changes effective with the 2009/10 competition: The final moves from Wednesday night to Saturday night, a 20.45 CET kickoff. Qualifying changes: 22 teams qualify directly into the group stage, raising from the current 16. The extra 6 teams will be the 3rd place teams in the leagues from associations ranked 1-3 in UEFA, and the champions of the leagues ranked 10-12. 5 teams coming from a qualifying tournament for non-champions from the top 15 associations. 5 coming from a qualifying tournament for leauge champions only, associations ranked 13-53. UEFA Cup retains the group stage with 48 teams split into groups of 4. The top 2 from each group will advance to the knockout stages joined by the 8 3rd place finishers in the Champions League group stages. Clubs who are eliminated in the 2nd qualifying round of the Champions League move to the 4th qualifying round of the UEFA Cup. Teams knocked out in the CL 3rd qualifying round get a slot in the UEFA Cup group stage. The Intertoto Cup is to be abolished, with the final competitions providing bearths into the 08/09 UEFA Cup.
Thanks all. I like the idea of more lower league teams entering the CL, which affords them more TV revenue. It's almost self perpetuating in that more revenue means more $ to attract better players for competitiveness in the tournament, which leads to more appearances and more revenue, etc. Here is CNNSI's version. Big leagues to get additional CL berth
Champions League changes agreed Friday 30 November 2007Executive Office by Mark Chaplin from Lucerne Michel Platini backed changes to the UEFA Champions League format (©UEFA)Photos/Wallpapers » Between 2009 and 2012, some 22 teams will qualify directly for the UEFA Champions League group stage instead of 16, and the UEFA Champions League final will be played on a Saturday, under format changes agreed by the UEFA Executive Committee at its meeting in Lucerne, Switzerland, on Friday. Group stage unchanged There will be no changes to the main part of European club football's most prestigious competition, which will continue to feature 32 teams split into eight groups of four in the group stage, followed by the knockout phase. The eight sides that finish in third place in their groups will move into the knockout phase of the UEFA Cup – which also has an amended format. Access list However, the UEFA Champions League access list between 2009 and 2012 will change accordingly: 22 teams go through directly to the group stage instead of 16. The six additional clubs will be the third-placed sides from the associations ranked between 1 and 3 in the ranking list, and the champions of countries ranked from 10 to 12. Qualifying routes Ten teams will qualify through a double qualifying route – one is reserved for the champions of the associations ranked from 13 to 53, with the exception of Liechtenstein. Five clubs will qualify via this route. The other path is reserved for the non-champions of associations rated between 1 and 15. Saturday final The final from 2009/10 will be played on a Saturday, in the same week of the year as now, kicking off at 20.45CET. Matches in the first knockout round, featuring 16 clubs, will be split over four weeks instead of two, using dates reserved for UEFA club competitions in February and March. The third qualifying round will be marketed centrally by UEFA. Great competition "We are all of the opinion that this is a great competition which provides a considerable spectacle," said UEFA President Michel Platini. "The Executive Committee has unanimously adopted one of three proposals. I wanted more democracy in the access list, and the Executive Committee has understood this message. Good for football "I think that the decision which has been taken, in particular to spread the first knockout round over four weeks, is good for football, because it gives an added value to these matches," he added. It is also hoped that playing the UEFA Champions League final on a Saturday will give families, especially children, the chance to see the game. UEFA Cup format The UEFA Cup between 2009 and 2012 will feature 48 sides, split into 12 groups of four; the top two teams in each group will qualify for the knockout phase and be joined by the eight clubs that finish the group stage of the UEFA Champions League in third place. The knockout stage, with 32 sides and four rounds, will lead to the final, played in a single match at a neutral venue. The first round – currently knockout – will become part of the qualifying phase. Title-holders Only the title-holders will qualify directly for the UEFA Cup group stage, with all other clubs having to qualify. The qualifying process will consist of four rounds, with 37 additional slots compared to the present situation, to accommodate sides that currently qualify for the UEFA Intertoto Cup (from the associations ranked 9 to 15 and 22 to 51, except Liechtenstein). Losing teams in the UEFA Champions League second qualifying round and third qualifying round will move into the UEFA Cup fourth qualifying round and group phase respectively. Thursday night UEFA Cup ties will be played on a Thursday night – or on a Wednesday night during exclusive UEFA Cup weeks – with two kick-off times, in principle at 19.05 and 21.05CET. The final will take place on a Wednesday at 20.45. UEFA Intertoto Cup abolished Under the format decisions, the UEFA Intertoto Cup, UEFA's summer competition which has provided places in the UEFA Cup, will be abolished. No changes have been made to the format of the UEFA Super Cup, the game that brings together the UEFA Champions League winners and UEFA Cup holders, but this will now be sold in the same commercial package as the UEFA Champions League. Click here for further details of the UEFA club competitions between 2009 and 2012. ©uefa.com 1998-2007. All rights reserved.
I really like these changes, especially the abolishment of the Intertoto Cup and the removal of the UEFA Cup first round. The Intertoto Cup had a much lower value than the other competitions, and has strange side effects on a country's league coefficients (since a team that loses in the competition doesn't count towards coefficients, and one that does would probably end up harming the country's coefficients by quickly being eliminated in the UEFA Cup). I also never liked the fact that the first round of the UEFA Cup was not considered a qualifier, since due to it's format it is basically a qualifier in everything but name. So the true start of the competition will be the group stage. The groups in the UEFA are also only 4 teams per group, which has far better scheduling than the ugly 5 team per group system currently used. What I'm really amazed at is how greatly improved the UEFA coefficients are going to be with these changes. Since the first UEFA Cup round is now a qualifier, those games only count for half the amount of points. Also, the changes in Champions League qualifiers enhances competition early on. Maybe now we can have a more legitimate league ranking.
I love the changes, I love Platini. The only thing I am gutted about is that he had wanted the winners of each league's major cup championship to be one of the CL qualifiers, and that was not ratified. I wish it were, I hope it will be in the future. One, it will mean more actual champions in the Champions League, and two it will give more importance and drive to the cup competitions themselves.
New UEFA Champions League qualification format starting in 08/09 http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/european_football/article2979988.ece --------------------------------------- Basing on that article, here's what I have figured: 22 spots: auto qualify for group stage Associations 1-3: top 3 auto (9 auto teams) 1 team to qualification round Associations 4: top 2 auto (2 auto teams) 1 team to qualification round Associations 5-15: top 1 auto (11 auto teams) 1 team to qualification round 5 spots: 15 teams from 1-15 ranked countries compete 5 spots: 40 teams from 16-56 ranked countries compete I might be wrong so don't take my words for it. ------------------------------------------------------ Rank League Coeff. CL places 1 Spain 76.891 2 England 68.540 3 Italy 66.088 ------------------ 4 France 53.656 ----------------- 5 Germany 44.364 6 Portugal 42.749 7 Romania 40.165 8 Netherlands 39.379 9 Russia 36.125 2 10 Scotland 30.500 11 Ukraine 29.475 12 Belgium 29.075 13 Czech Republic 26.825 14 Turkey 26.641 15 Greece 25.497 Champions of these 15 leagues will auto qualify for group stage. + 6 more from Spain, England, Italy and + 1 from France = 22 auto qualify. Then "the 1 team to qualification round" from the top 15 leagues will compete for 5 spots. ---------------------------------------- CHAMPIONS Of THESE LEAGUES WILL COMPETE FOR 5 GROUP SPOTS 16 Bulgaria 24.582 17 Switzerland 23.850 18 Norway 19.725 19 Israel 19.208 20 Serbia 18.958 21 Denmark 18.575 22 Austria 18.500 23 Poland 17.000 24 Hungary 14.165 25 Slovakia 10.832 26 Croatia 10.708 27 Cyprus 10.582 28 Sweden 10.541 29 Slovenia 9.915 30 Bosnia and Herzegovina 9.665 31 Latvia 8.664 32 Lithuania 7.332 33 Finland 7.331 34 Moldova 7.166 35 Republic of Ireland 6.498 36 Georgia 6.164 37 Liechtenstein[8] 6.000 38 FYROM 5.831 39 Iceland 4.999 40 Belarus 4.665 41 Albania 3.832 42 Estonia 3.665 43 Armenia 3.498 44 Azerbaijan 3.166 45 Kazakhstan 2.332 46 Northern Ireland 2.165 47 Wales 1.998 48 Faroe Islands 1.665 Luxembourg 1.665 Malta 1.665 San Marino 0.000 1 Andorra 0.000 Montenegro 0.000 -------- 15 Champions from Ranked League 1-15 will qualify. 5 Champions from Ranked League 15-5X will qualify. Thus, the Champions League will have 20 champions in it (out of 32).
Lots of bells and whistles that will have virtually no effect on the Champions League. Oh, except for moving the final to a Saturday. Guess that is nice but hardly worth confessing a man-crush on Platini over. Nothing to see here folks...
Well, teams will still play 6 games to reach the round of 32, many of them involving clubs you've probably never heard of. So the first UEFA cup round is not being moved to a qualifier, but rather being moved to the group-stage (in essence). You don't understand the changes. We will have 6 more top-notch teams automatically qualify for the group-stage. Of course, this is hardly Earth-shattering news since it was more or less a formality for these teams to qualify anyway. But that's still 6 fewer spots for lower league clubs to have a shot at.
Well, Germany, Netherlands and Portugal might only have 1 team in the group stage in this revised format because the fourth best team from EPL, Series A, La LIga will compete against the second best from these countries. There are 5 spots available. 3 will probably be taken by the Big 3 League. 3 guarenteed 1 Spain 76.891 2 England 68.540 3 Italy 66.088 ------------------ 2 guarenteed 4 France 53.656 ----------------- 1 guarenteed 5 Germany 44.364 6 Portugal 42.749 7 Romania 40.165 8 Netherlands 39.379 9 Russia 36.125 2 10 Scotland 30.500 11 Ukraine 29.475 12 Belgium 29.075 13 Czech Republic 26.825 14 Turkey 26.641 15 Greece 25.497 Before, Germany, Portugal, Netherlands has 3 possible CL spots, now only 2. p.s. Can a Mod change the thread title? This is OFFICIAL NOW.
It looks like UEFA has a different 22 auto qualifiers into the groups stage. Specifically they show countries 5 and 6 sending two (not 1 team) to the group stage and countries 13-15 not having any auto qualifiers. The 22 teams are: Countries 1-3: 3 teams each = 9 teams Countries 4-6: 2 teams each = 6 teams Countries 7-12: 1 teams each = 6 teams Total 21, plus title holder makes 22. I assume that if title holder is already in, the champ of country 13 will get into the group stage (same as country 10 today). The next place team from countries 1-15 will play for 5 spots so no country lost a theoretical spot. But the path into the group stage for these teams in likely to be harder. Some (7-9) will have an extra round of qualifiers while most will have to face better teams than they do now in the final round of qualifiers (now they have the chance of playing the champ of countries 16-53). The last 5 spots will go to the champs of countries 13-53. In general all these teams benefited since now they don't have a chance of facing a true top team before the group stage. Yes, Czech Republic, Belgium, Greece and Norway (if Rosenborg is the champ) might sent a CL group regular. But overall these teams are not going to be as tough as teams 3 & 4 from the top three leagues. Overall this will lead to a small change in the makeup of the 32 teams in the group stage. I think that we will see 1 or two more champs from countries 13 and below and 1-2 less 2nd place teams from countries 7-15.
I love it how lower ranked leagues would have their CL spot without having to compete for it with top leagues runner-ups (which are still way better than any of them). Present system has only widened the gap between them. On the other hand, in the light of this "let's give the rich ones multiple CL entries", why don't we give Italy, France or Germany two spots in Euro? Their Team B is still much stronger than, say, Austria or most of other competitors. This way both the tour and their players would benefit and earn more money :sarcastic:
Mostly good UEFA Cup record. '06/'07 - Steaua and Dinamo reach round of 32 '05/'06 - Steaua reached semifinals and Rapid reached quarterfinals. '04/'05 - Steaua reaches round of 16. Steaua also qualified for Champions League group stage two years in a row. This season on the other hand has been a catastrophe for Romanian clubs in Europe.
I don't like nor hate the new method. Minnows will continue being pounded hard, superclubs will continue winning the competition. Even an odd year like 2004 seems so far away now... European football's cancer is not in the access system, it's caused by money. Clubs with big money will tear apart "poor" clubs any day of the week, whatever the draw. UEFA needs to have a better revenues distribution system between CL teams, not some meaningless qualifying change. Why American sports systems seem so much ahead of us in this regard?
Ehh ... Europe is pretty open right now. There are "second class" clubs that haven't reached their full potential yet ... People forget that half of Europe was behind the iron curtain until only 15-20 years ago ... so those clubs are still in the early stages of their potential ... But you look at clubs like Zenit, Spartak, CSKA, Lokomotiv and Shakhtar and they are slowly closing the gap. They are finally getting out of their Soviet era stadiums and building new state of the art stadiums. They play in big cities with good fan bases. They have enough money to buy world class internationals that play for some of the best national teams in the world ... some examples : Vagner Love (Brazil), Srna (Croatia), Lewandowski (Poland), Rat (Romania), Castillo (Mexico) and many more ... You also look at Turkish, Greek, Romanian and Polish clubs and they are all improving slowly. Look at the state of the art stadiums that are being built in Poland and Ukraine for Euro 2012 ... Champions League accessability will only help these countries ... And in the more distant future I predict that there will be more money invested in clubs in more obscure places like Israel. And even in the Balkans eventually clubs like Crvena Zvezda, Hajduk and Dinamo Zagreb will become relevant. Those clubs are just waaay too popular to stay down forever. Yes they have the disadvantage of playing in small leagues, but look at Scotland ...
Come on, man! That's a nice dream, but sadly it doesn't even come close to reality. The gap is widening. Just go back 10-12 years and look at some of the teams that reached the quarterfinals of the CL: Legia Warsawa, Panathinaikos (semifinals), Hajduk Split, Gothenburg, Dinamo Kjiv (semifinals). In the past 5 years, there have been precisely ZERO clubs like that (ie from "lower-level" leagues) reach the quarterfinals.
No way. Today minor leagues are shittier/poorer than ever, there's some money in Russia from a few petroldollar guys, but what if they decide to take their petrol revenues away investing in something more lucrative than football? The teams will sink like rocks. Not that they have any hope to win the CL anyway, Shakhtar and CSKA, they're just weak teams outside their nation. Red Star already had their glory days ('91 is so past), but those days will never comeback, today they consider it a good season when they escape UEFA Cup first round alive. I doubt anybody under 20 outside Croatia even knows which kind of teams Hajduk Split and Dinamo Zagreb are... basketball teams? Hockey teams? They non-existant on European level, and they're in good company. Do you really think any side from Hungary, Croatia, Serbia, Czech Republic, Romania, Bulgaria, Russia, Ukraine, Greece, Austria, Switzerland, Poland, Belgium etc can do any good in Euro competitions? And with doing good, I mean winning. Will Steaua win something again? No, not if the trend will continue. If even the domestic league are strangled by a few powers, how can the minnows survive on competitions who gather the 2-3 stud teams from every nation? Lazio is supposedly the 4th power in Italian football, yet it suck hard, and wanna know why? Because it's a poor club, and the players don't want to join them because the club can't give them the money they could make in a bigger side. The gap is widening because how it is now the more you win the more money you make, and the more money you make the more you win. There's no escape. And don't tell me passion can overcome money, it's not true, with passion a good team could beat a great one. but a mediocre one will be pounded anyway. Americans guarantee parity in 2 ways, drafts and equal revenues sharing. Since a draft system is impossible in football world, let's hope UEFA makes a move toward money sharing at least.
how woude you do the money shareing between clubs inn a league or bwtween clubs inn the eniterty of europe ?
AT LEAST at CL level, since UEFA is still independent and has some authority (should...). At domestic level, big clubs have grown so much power that can decide the rules by themselves, and they'll never give the money up.
I think the reason you see this trend is because of the CL format. They practically allow all of the G14 teams to participate, which lowers the chances of an outside club winning it. You could get lucky and maybe eliminate Chelsea, but then you still have Liverpool, Arsenal and Man Utd ... That's the real problem. Too many superclubs to go through. In an ideal CL tournament you'd only have 4 superclubs ... 1 premiership, 1 la liga, 1 serie a and bayern munchen. That makes it a lot more likely that the occasional Olympiakos or Spartak could sneak into a final.
I'm from Sweden and I'd love to see some swedish teams go further than the last 32 of the UEFA cup but we don't deserve it. Our league stinks and I'd much rather see four clubs from La Liga than watch AIK make a fool of themselves. Our clubs have an opportunity as it is today so it's not like they are banned or something.