I was reading this article in Italian...it seems to me that the UEFA boss wants to somehow reduce the number of games played in the major European leagues b/c they are playing too much and that is why major nations like France, Italy, Spain and England were bounced early from Euro 2004......this is what I understood....am I partially right and if I am not can someone kindly post a summary of the article...thanks http://www.gazzetta.it/primi_piani/calcio/2004/pp_1.0.426274412.shtml
I think this has been something UEFA has been trying to get to happen for some time now. They would LIKE all leagues to be 16 teams max, to avoid the fixture congestion that we now have, and certainly, to be less than 20 teams. England and Spain have been at 20 teams for years, and now Italy has moved in the wrong direction and will be at 20 teams next year. With the big nations all bombing out of Euro2004 this year, I think they're just taking the opportunity to bring it up again at the current meeting in Lisbon.
Okay, I found another headline about this which says UEFA is actually suggesting that leagues with 20 teams should not have domestic cup competitions in order to reduce fixture congestion. But it's just a proposal at this point. I'm not sure how they can enforce such a rule. http://it.sports.yahoo.com/040630/4/1vzi.html
Having seen various articles about this now, I believe Mr Olsson (Lars-Christer Olsson, UEFA's Chief Executive), made some pointed comments in an interview about what topics might get discussed at the upcoming meeting in Lisbon. Here is UEFA's sanitized version, which looks to me like an attempt to defuse any controversy over his remarks: Olsson encourages debate http://www.uefa.com/uefa/news/Kind=128/newsId=203726.html Note that this article doesn't mention his proposed elimination of cup competitions for larger leagues.
Well, for one, they can eliminated UEFA Cup spots for countries whose first division contains more than 16 teams. It might not kill the cups, but with nothing much at stake you'll rarely see first division sideds field more than a handful of first-teamers until the semifinals.
Sure that would make sense. Just eliminate the berth given to each country's cup-winner. Frankly, in Italy, I don't think too many people would miss the Coppa Italia if it went away. But again, even if they are going to propose this, it sure seems like they didn't want Mr. Olsson out there spilling the beans before the meeting!
Both are true, for the most part. I wouldn't say "noone cares about it". Home games for lower-division clubs vs Serie A clubs are well-attended, as are games in the later stages (semifinals/final) which are almost always among the big clubs. But it's never really caught the nation's imagination like, say, the FA Cup in England, mainly because the format makes it next-to-impossible to have a "Cinderella" story. Only a few Serie C teams even qualify and they have to go through a group stage to even make it to the knockout stages. Then, there is the home-and-home setup, which makes it difficult for the lower-rated teams to spring an upset. And, to top it off, as I just discovered today, it's seeded. Not even random draws. Just silly.