Hi! Don't really know what I think about Royal League, maybe it will work but it sounds a bit too cold to me. How about this? The national cups are totaly uninteresting, how about extending them to a nordic cup? Maybe play the first part in each nation, and when you have reached quarter final, you put them together. That means there are 32 teams left fighting for the nordic gold. Hopefully no teams that can't afford a trip to another nordic country are left after reaching the national quarter final. Have earlier thought about a professional nordic league instead that can compete with the dutch and the other middle sized leagues in Europe. But I don't know many who thinks that is a great idea. What do guys you think?
It's a nice idea, but you need to work out how the slots for European play get dealt back out. The Swedish Cup winner gets a trip to the UEFA Cup, and I'm sure it's the same for the other nations. I'm not sure that there will be any real desire for another competition with no European payoff at the end. Further, I'm not sure that clubs in lower leagues in each nation are going to be willing to sacrifice a (small, granted) chance at pulling off a miracle Cup run and getting into Europe, either by winning the cup outright, or by backdooring their way in, much like Millwall did, by losing the Cup final to a team already qualified for either the Champions League, or the UEFA Cup. As for the comment that some of the minnows might have bowed out by the quarterfinals, in this season's Swedish Cup, half of the quarterfinal participants were from Division 1. In 2003, there were 3 who were below the Allsvenskan, with 1 making it to the final. There is typically at least 1 or two clubs below the Allsvenskan level who make it that far. If there was some fan concern that Djurgården might miss out on the Royal League to "less-prestigeous" Kalmar, what are they going to say if Djurgården has to step aside for Gefle to go on to the crossover stage? It is an interesting idea, but I have my doubts as to weather or not it'd actually happen.
I think that the reason why so many teams from lower divisions make it to the last rounds in the cup, is because there is not enough prestigue and money involved in the Swedish cup, to motivate some players and teams. Of course there is a UEFA-cup ticket att stake but by some reason the attitude towards Europe is very poor amongst the Swedish teams. Djurgården really tried last year and made two good games against Partizan Belgrad eventhough they lost. But most of the time you hear the coach and players say "well we will trye to enjoy the match and learn..."... I doubt annyone say that in Rosenborg. And if UEFA gave a place in the Champions league to the winner, and a UEFA-cup place to the 2:nd and 3:rd, maybe even the smaller clubs will be satisfied. One big advantage, as I see it, with a nordic league, is that you can extend the league. Maybe five teams from each nation, that makes 20 teams, like In Holland. Even though I doubt that it would benefit the attendance with more matches. No, you're right, it's too complicated. I also doubt that Denmark would agree in having as many teams in the league as Finland, as i guess the general standard amongst the teams are higher in Denmark. There are also different economic conditions in the different nations etc. No I stick to the Nordic Cup, I would really like it ... as a Malmö supporter