Structure of Modern Football Competitions

New competition confirmed:

https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/46421656

As in the real world, the middle class get squeezed further while the top and bottom benefit.

 

.....

1069370692720836608 is not a valid tweet id

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Things UEFA have ballsed up in the last 20 years:
👎🏻 Allowed teams that aren’t champions into Champions League
👎🏻Got rid of the popular Cup Winners Cup
👎🏻 Replacing the UEFA Cup with the Europa League
👎🏻Introducing Europa League 2 and further excluding clubs from smaller nations

— Derek Clark (@derekclarksport) December 3, 2018

 

@peterhrt

Two things:

I'm not his very greatest fan but this is a good article and observation:

Football has changed and we need to understand the new parameters. https://t.co/DqJAoW99Tw

— Jonathan Wilson (@jonawils) February 5, 2019

This is bizarre, and relates to the earlier FFP things of this thread:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/spor...d18dfb7b084_story.html?utm_term=.f8d4b55a5472

http://www.espn.com/soccer/paris-sa...ng-uefa-executive-committee-despite-ffp-probe


As the sports presenter said here: it is like Al Capone running the judicial department, Shell Corporation the office for the tax revenue collection.

The Spanish league (itself not a beacon of good governance perse, see the first page) have protested, but, for example, the (always powerful) Germans have already publicly communicated they will support him.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/spor...ory.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.ddecaaddd6fc

https://sport.sky.de/fussball/artik...l-khelaifi-ins-exekutivkomitee/11628529/33896


#licensetocheat #lawsarefortheperiphery

 

Here an article from two months ago (if direct access doesn't work, type in the title/link in search engine):
https://www.economist.com/game-theo...ying-footballs-administrators-into-submission

Recently one of the co-founders of the European Cup died:
https://www.lequipe.fr/Football/Actualites/Mort-de-jacques-ferran-histoire-d-un-pionnier/986360

As noted there, the competition had become something different as he had imagined.

 

Darth Vader doesn't go away...

The Super League through the backdoor, in the form of an exclusive 24 clubs club world cup (for the time being Europe will have around 10 clubs in, but who knows if this expands in the future).

Speaking to Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung Bayern Munich CEO Rummenigge adds his supports to new FIFA Club World Cup format.https://t.co/GkbouVkUJq pic.twitter.com/lCPQ3Ubiv5

— AS USA (@English_AS) March 16, 2019

As someone said: "This can potentially help Bayern and the other less popular clubs to branch out to other territories like China or the USA."

Even in their own country the media understands this is bad news for the smaller European clubs and European countries (and sadly good news for the latin sphere, clubs violent crime syndicates like River Plate, Boca Juniors and such - sad).

All the while the Champions League is again on the agenda, with now a pro/rel reform (making it more exclusive, with no room for a Porto or Ajax to ruin the party) and the more.

1107403787164098567 is not a valid tweet id

European soccer’s top clubs are due to hold a secret meeting with UEFA on Tuesday to discuss potentially radical changes to the format of the Champions League https://t.co/oCYLijdZAQ

— The Wall Street Journal (@WSJ) March 17, 2019

.... and it was typically a Murdoch newspaper to 'leak' it.

Also funny:

Bloody hell, no wonder Man City are in with a sniff of the Quadruple – here are their cup runs so far:

League Cup: Oxford Utd, Fulham, Leicester, Burton Albion, Chelsea

FA Cup: Rotherham, Burnley, Newport County, Swansea, Brighton

Europe: Lyon, Shakhtar, Hoffenheim, Schalke

— Jonathan O'Brien (@obrien_jonathan) March 17, 2019

 

Might I suggest for Bayern to branch out by moving to China permanently? And take Juve with you while at it.

 

Two articles about the opposite effect migration has on national team results (research using FIFA/Elo ranking):

https://www.theguardian.com/footbal...ngland-potential-youngsters#comment-127292186

https://www.bigsoccer.com/threads/making-dutch-academies-epl-raid-proof.2031334/page-4#post-37500486

 

https://www.caughtoffside.com/2019/04/10/the-minnows-of-european-football/

 

See also an article like this:

"It’s not just that this team has a limited life span. It’s that even the possibility of this team may not exist in the future."
https://www.si.com/soccer/2019/04/1...ccer&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_medium=social

This also applies to a Fiorentina or Tottenham indeed since they payment structure has been altered in a way it creates a vicious/virtuous cycle. Real Madrid gets so called 'coefficient payments' and also large legacy payments for all those European Cups they have won.

 

Promotion and relegation part of explosive Champions League plans. Story: @david_conn https://t.co/ofDPqaVmqU

— Guardian sport (@guardian_sport) April 26, 2019

Thread here:

European Club Association chief Agnelli pushes for promotion-relegation in European competitions, wants "European matches with higher sporting quality and a more competitive environment at all levels"
Details of letter to @ECAEurope members https://t.co/XEpDaRrBaN

— Rob Harris (@RobHarris) April 25, 2019

Agnelli and Rummenigge are the Darth Vaders of football...

 

They are going to vote on this in June:

"European club football is being turned upside down in Malta on 6 and 7 June. Special conference of the ECA (at a time when many clubs are probably not there with their head). Subject: the reform of the Champions League after 2024. Towards a closed tournament with elite? The organization of national competition has already sounded the alarm. What the ECA wants means the end of the importance of finishing high in the competition. 24 of the 32 participants in the CL come from the previous CL, the other eight from the Europa League. #neveragainpartypooperasAjax"
source

In 2007 this journalist had a very well-researched book on these things, also with numerous historical facts (like: resetting the dutch league back to zero in 1973), named "suspect assists".

 

Solid take on the Champions League & league reforms here (with links in the text):

https://www.forbes.com/sites/stevep...ague-changes-are-self-defeating/#3017c72a5ccb

 

Sadly, the Football Leaks whistleblower is now in jail... story here below

While Rui Pinto sits in jail, his revelations are bringing down the sport’s most famous teams and players.
[...]
The business side of the sport, however, is more like a painting by Bruegel the Elder. Since 1955, the best teams from each country have played against one another, and that has given rise to a dense intermingling of tactics, feuds, and money. Money above all. “Money scores goals,” as the German saying goes. Unlike American sports, with their draft picks, salary caps, and collective-bargaining agreements, European soccer is a heedless, Darwinian affair. Spending rules are broken. Salaries are secrets. The best leagues are awash in Russian oligarchs, Middle Eastern sovereign-wealth funds, and Chinese conglomerates. Rumors fly. Middlemen thrive. “Between clubs, it’s not only that we don’t trust each other,” a director of a top European club told me. “We betray each other constantly.”
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/...aks-is-exposing-corruption-in-european-soccer

On this section: In late November, after Football Leaks revealed that F.C. Twente had sold stakes in seven of its first-team players to a single investment fund, its president resigned. The club was fined a hundred and eighty thousand euros, and was banned from European competition for three years.

Those 180000 euros was the fine by the FIFA. The FA added another 45000 euros (plus penalty points, also costing money, and a three years ban), the tax agency a fine of 4.4 million euros (on top of unpaid taxes). They were effectively punished so hard that they got relegated... (historically it's the 4th/5th club of the country). The most dodgy thing is (arguably) the responsible persons (Münsterman) got away too easily (punished relatively soft) and hiding behind the organization being liable and not the administrators...

 

.... So they are now coming with a new plan to expand the CL to 40 or 48 teams.

Are the ECA's plans dead in the water? Who is behind the plan to expand to 40 or 48 teams? @martynziegler answers the key questions amid proposed changes to the format of the Champions League https://t.co/Q0rSoFFTMd

— Times Sport (@TimesSport) June 12, 2019

I saw somewhere a graph that showed a decline in viewer figures for the Champions League, but can't find it right now.


Intriguing article about Henry Kissinger his meddling in football through the decades:
https://www.theblizzard.co.uk/article/furth-fan

 

News from today, with some telling facts:

Study finds huge wealth gap in European soccer

A study commissioned by UEFA to aid in the debate over the future of the Champions League shows the financial and talent gap between the top five European leagues and the other 50 leagues on the continent is growing.

The destabilizing effect of the power of the “Big Five” leagues — England, Spain, Germany, Italy and France — is set out across a 50-page study by accounting firm Deloitte marked “private and confidential” and obtained by The Associated Press after being presented to UEFA’s Professional Football Strategy Council in Monaco.

The data shared with key European soccer officials is certain to fuel the heated debate over the future of the Champions and Europa Leagues heading into key meetings of clubs next week in Switzerland. The divisiveness of the discussions led to UEFA, European soccer’s governing body, to call off a meeting that was also scheduled for next week involving clubs and leagues. UEFA President Aleksander Ceferin believes they are not “ready for a meaningful discussion.”

The “Polarization in European Football” report was commissioned by UEFA in June during the increasingly fraught talks involving leagues and clubs over attempts to overhaul the format of European competitions from 2024. UEFA initially presented the idea of reserving 24 places for clubs in the Champions League to return the following season, but it has since backed off the proposal because it has left some of the biggest leagues at odds with their best teams.

Changes to the format are being pursued by the top clubs to ensure them more games against each other and guarantee inclusion in lucrative annual tournaments without qualifying. One of the most powerful figures in the fight is Andrea Agnelli, who has wielded his power as head of the European Club Association and is chairman of Italian champion Juventus, Ronaldo’s team.

The biggest leagues have pushed back, saying changes that would limit the opportunities for teams to earn a place in the European competitions such as the Champions League devalue their leagues.

The European Leagues group has worked to divide the elite, perennial trophy winning clubs from their less prosperous counterparts.

One of the most recent leagues to publicly denounce the ECA was the Czech Republic, which said their clubs agreed it was “inappropriate for European football bodies to create plans that would alter the structures, calendar and competitiveness of the domestic game.”

The wealthy Premier League clubs offered support with a rare joint statement in June that highlighted the “obligation to maintain the health and sustainability of domestic league football.”

Caught in the middle is UEFA, who is using the study to help support its claim that it is the only European soccer body that distributes funds across the continent. The report shows how the top leagues are monopolizing the best players and the cash of broadcasters.

Some key findings:

— The Big Five accounts for 74 percent of the 19.7 billion euros ($21.7 billion) generated by leagues across the continent, up from the 68 percent 10 seasons earlier.

— Forty-Seven teams account for 60 percent of the revenue generated by all 720 clubs in the 55 nations assessed by Deloitte.

— The attractiveness of the Big Five league matches on television could at least partially account for a drop in stadium attendances this decade across the 45 lowest-ranked leagues by revenue.

“To meet broadcast demand, the Big Five match calendar has increasingly been spread to collectively cover the weekend from Friday through to Monday nights to ensure live Big Five games are always available to watch in non-Big Five markets,” the report said. “Meanwhile, most leagues in Europe have seen a decline or little or no growth in matchday attendances.”

— The Big Five leagues banked 97 percent of the 2.4 billion euros ($2.6 billion) generated in non-domestic broadcast revenue by all European leagues in the 2017-18 season.

Rights holders in the other 50 European nations paid 430 million euros ($474.3 million) to show matches from the Big Five, accounting for 18 percent of the Big Five’s international broadcast revenue.

“Nothing is coming back in my country,” Romanian federation president Razvan Burleanu recently told the AP, referring to money Romanian broadcasters pay to screen league games from abroad. “This can be an idea to contribute to decreasing the gap between top-five leagues and the rest.”

UEFA argues it is doing just that, sharing the revenue from European competitions.

While generating 373 million euros ($411.4 million) from broadcasters in countries beyond the Big Five, UEFA distributed more than double that to clubs in the 50 bottom-ranked countries.

The Big Five also profited but to a lesser degree: UEFA gave them around 150 million euros ($165 million) on top of the fees those markets paid for Champions League and Europa League games, taking the total to around 1.3 billion euros ($1.4 billion).

The Big Five redistributes some of their revenue domestically to lower divisions, but Deloitte highlights how they “do not make direct solidarity payments to other European leagues.”

— The report also shows how the Big Five has increasingly been a magnet for foreign talent, with more than a fifth of the players in those leagues coming from the rest of the continent last season.

No country was impacted more than the Netherlands, which lost 50 players to the Big Five — a rise of 61 percent since the 2007-08 campaign. European champion Portugal is next on the list, with 49 players lost.

The struggle keeping players at home is particularly acute for Belgium and Austria. They have experienced around a three-fold increase in the number of players going to the Big Five in a decade.

The report does not touch on the players who benefit from Big Five salaries and the chance to win the biggest trophies.

— Transfers fees are not significantly filtering across the European game, with 67 percent of transfer spending — or 3.5 billion euros — circulating within the Big Five last season compared to 56 percent — or 1.4 billion euros — in 2007-08.

Non-Big Five leagues only receive 18 percent of the transfer spend, down from 23 percent in 2007-08.

“Only the Big Five leagues in aggregate are profitable,” Deloitte concluded to UEFA. “Operating losses have increased across all other tiers, in aggregate, since 2007-08.”

https://apnews.com/9d323a82c54c416eb9cfbe8c26f78c0e

Premier League damaging smaller European leagues, Uefa report says

A confidential Uefa report has warned that the big five leagues in Europe — led by the Premier League — are destabilising football in the rest of the continent by taking increasing amounts of money out of the game.

The report, which has been seen by The Times, is titled Project Famous and was presented to members of Uefa’s Professional Football Strategy Council last week. It states that the leagues in England, Spain, Italy, Germany and France are extracting more and more money out of the countries in Europe via TV deals, while the amount going to the other 50 countries from transfer fees has declined steeply.

The big five leagues have been the most outspoken in opposing any expansion of the Champions League, and Uefa has presented these findings to counter their arguments. It could also herald a push by Uefa to redistribute its TV income so it is spread more widely around Europe rather than being concentrated among the top clubs in the Champions League.

The report was commissioned by Uefa and put together by the analysts Deloitte.

It states: “The gap in total revenues between the clubs in the big five leagues and the 622 clubs in the other 50 top-tier European leagues combined has grown from €4.1 billion [£3.7 billion] in the 07-08 season to €9.6 billion euros [£8.6 billion] in 2016-17 and further since.”

In relation to TV rights, it highlights how in Scandinavia (Denmark, Norway and Sweden) more is paid out for Premier League TV rights than for the domestic leagues in those countries.

Last year, the three countries paid €130 million (£117 million) for Premier League rights, €122 million (£110 million) for domestic football rights and €83 million (£75 million) for the Champions League and Europa League.

The report states: “In a few European markets, Scandinavia and the Balkan region in particular, the popularity of non-domestic leagues — specifically the Premier League — results in broadcasters paying more for these rights than for the domestic league.”

Project Famous also details a shift in transfer spending which indicates that the amount of money smaller countries receive from selling their star players to the big five is declining. More aggressive scouting means that players from countries such as Holland are increasingly snapped up when they are teenagers, meaning the clubs only receive a training fee instead of a big transfer fee.

It says 67 per cent — €3.5 billion (£3.15 billion) — of total transfer spending by clubs in the big five leagues flowed to other clubs within the big five last season. That figure is up from 56 per cent — €1.4 billion (£1.25 billion) — in 2007-08.

The report also states that matches in the big five leagues have “increasingly been spread” so that they now cover the weekend from Friday through to Monday nights to ensure live big-five games are always available to watch in non-big-five markets.

It adds: “Meanwhile most leagues in Europe have seen a decline or little or no growth in matchday attendances.”
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/...r-european-leagues-uefa-report-says-mp56wjpkq


One of the user comments beneath: "The transfer of Sepp van den berg to Liverpool being a good recent example. Ajax announced the signings of 16yr olds from their academy as some of the best get lured away by the premier league. So clubs get squeezed out CL participation by the top 5 leagues getting 4 champions league places and get their academy raided at the youth end. It's killing the game and redistribution is needed to support domestic football. Ajax had to play some of the most important matches of their season in August trying to qualify for CL without it they loose half their annual income."

"Taking youth players from these smaller leagues is a major factor in them not getting more revenue. And what do the big leagues do, loan the youth players out. Then take season professionals on loan, like Sanchez to Inter rather than play the youths. Loan system should have a major overhaul in all leagues."


In the meantime there are now talks and discussions here about a Benelux league. The clubs from the countries have commissioned a few studies by universities and the consultancy firm Deloitte. Results are expected in october to december.

https://www.vi.nl/nieuws/clubs-en-bonden-geven-opdracht-voor-onderzoek-beneliga
https://www.vi.nl/nieuws/discussie-beneliga-nieuw-leven-ingeblazen


To be continued... It can be argued relative to population things are going fine.

 

@peterhrt


Press release from the KNVB today:

FEASIBILITY STUDY FOR BENELIGA IN THE SECOND PHASE

The first phase of a study by consultancy company Deloitte has confirmed the potential of a BeNeLiga. It has therefore been decided to start a second phase of the feasibility study.

Just before the summer of 2019, the G5 are from Belgium (AA Ghent, Club Brugge, KRC Genk, RSC Anderlecht and Standard Luik) and six clubs from the Netherlands (AFC Ajax, AZ Alkmaar, FC Utrecht, Feyenoord Rotterdam, PSV Eindhoven and Vitesse) sat around the table to examine the idea of a cross-border competition, the so-called 'BeNeLiga'.

Gap
Such a competition seems to be an effective way to narrow the gap with the five largest European leagues, both financially and sportingly. Belgium and the Netherlands currently have two competitions that are in the middle bracket of Europe, but can jointly become the sixth competition in Europe. The ambition to join the top five in Europe is also driven by the changes currently being discussed at European level, with the risk that the playing field will be diluted into a mix of large and small competitions, in which the middle class bracket disappears.

The clubs involved decided in a first phase to conduct a feasibility study into the theoretical added value of a BeNeLiga. This study is also facilitated by the national associations (KNVB and KBVB) for the sake of the broader football interest. That research has since been carried out by Deloitte. The results of the first phase confirm that a new BeNeLiga has the potential to show significant value increase.

Competition format, effects and impact analysis
Based on the current findings, the initiators decided that there is sufficient reason to proceed to a second phase of the feasibility study. Among other things, the focus is on the actual competition format of the BeNeLiga, its effects on the various competitions, as well as an impact analysis per club.

https://www.knvb.nl/nieuws/betaald-...ede-fase-haalbaarheidsonderzoek-voor-beneliga


The second phase has to check whether the theoretical potential can also be realized in practice. Are fans open to it, what would a successful format look like, how can the currently separate TV contracts be aligned? That becomes complex - that is why the negotiators were careful in their communication yesterday - but certainly not impossible. "Nothing has been decided yet, we are still in the study phase," it sounded from various corners. One message, however, was unanimous: "In both countries we feel the momentum to change something."
https://www.hln.be/sport/voetbal/st...r-om-kloof-met-toplanden-te-dichten~a7ae2c39/


"That is according to the ambitious president of Club Brugge, Bart Verhaeghe, who wants to create a new super league to rival the Big Five.

He told French newspaper Le Monde: "We are setting up a competition together with the Netherlands to reduce the gap to the five top European countries.

"Belgian football is waking up and has entered modernity.

"We could tap into a market of 28 million people.

"A new meeting is scheduled this week. The championship would consist of 18 clubs, eight of which come from Belgium.

"It could all go very quickly. If it is not for next season, then without a doubt in the next two seasons."
https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/foot...an-pro-league-merge-super-league-ajax-brugge/


Brief history of this by VI in may 2019:

"It is not the first time that the BeNeLiga is on the agenda. Various attempts have been made since 1996, but these have always failed. In the past the plans aroused a lot of resistance because in both countries many clubs would end up on the second plan and due to possible cultural differences, the question was whether fans would really warm up for a merger competition.

Anderlecht was the main advocate in the nineties and then found support at PSV. From the original BeNeLiga plans, the dreams about an Atlantic League and the EuroLiga were born. They were usually ridiculed as unfeasible, and UEFA was always immediately bothered.

Since then, the plan has been regularly covered with dust. In 2006, national team coach Marco van Basten made a proposal for a BeNeLiga, but that plan saw a cold welcome. The same was true of the cross-over of federal chairman Michael van Praag in 2009. He already wanted a feasibility study at the time, but that plan for a study was immediately rejected by the clubs in the Netherlands.

In recent years, UEFA seems to have been more sympathetic towards international cooperation, also because the gap between the top countries and the rest has become enormous.
https://www.vi.nl/nieuws/discussie-beneliga-nieuw-leven-ingeblazen


--------------------------------------

Still clearly not a done deal and I can already predict fans of the smaller clubs are en bloc opposed. Thing is: the Big Three in Netherlands represents 70% of the market (can be even more extreme, like Portugal) and the Big Six of the other country represents about 85% of the market as well.

 

It will be interesting to see how this develops.

 

Certainly interesting to see this all, including the UCL nonsense. There are hundred reasons why this could fail, and hundred why it could succeed. Not sure whether I'm against or in favor.

Of course there are precedents during the past two decades of successful cooperation (euro 2000 and also 2018 WC bid despite the outcome). There is also a long going tacit agreement they represent, weigh and take care of each other interests at FIFA and UEFA level. Furthermore, in various studies on sports governance structures and maintenance they are not too far removed from each other (see the post on page 1 of this thread). Both countries share the navy (same boats under one command) so you'd say this wouldn't be theoretically impossible either.


Here some comments by Anderlecht general manager Verschueren (who is also one of the fifteen members on the ECA executive board). Part on the 'Beneliga' is at the bottom but what goes before is very much relevant for this.

Show Spoiler Hide Spoiler

Even more income for the major European top clubs, even less sporting tension. Is that what is likely to happen to European football in five years?

“If you look at it one-sided it will. But the real intention is to organize a balanced competition. In doing so, we must ask ourselves: can we still let the top 5 countries (England, Spain, Germany, Italy and France, ed.), Where the large football clubs generate more income than elsewhere, play football against the small countries? I think so, let that be clear. But that is where Uefa and ECA propose to start a new semi-open Champions League with 32 teams. "

How was that proposal received?

"Not good. There was relatively a lot of opposition from the start, including from clubs from the big football countries. If you turn the Champions League into a protected competition with only twenty absolute top clubs, then the access for numbers 5, 6 and 7 in major competitions such as England or France is a problem. And so you also get no support within those large countries. "

So that protected European top competition, that new Super Champions League, is not coming?

“The concept as such is dead. As it is now, it will not happen. "

Can you explain to us where that constant drive for change comes from? Is the current income of the Champions League not sufficient?

“The main cause is commercial. We are in a rapidly changing landscape, where income is under pressure. The large media groups are melting together or buying each other up, which reduces competition and reduces the TV rights. This means that the growth in recent years - the TV revenue grew by 20 to 30 percent per cycle of three years - will fall sharply. We expect at most 10 percent growth for the next cycle. "

“To reverse that downward trend, people want to organize more exciting competitions by bringing together more clubs of the same size and sporting strength in one strong competition. And by simultaneously segmenting more, for example by turning the Champions League into an elite competition, including the Europa League 1 and 2 (the new European competition, somewhat comparable to the former cup of cup winners, which will be introduced from 2021, ed. ). "

There were also scenarios on the table for a number of Champions League matches to take place during the weekend.

“I think this is not feasible. There is no support for this either. National competitions, such as the English Premier League or the German Bundesliga, still generate much more money than the Champions League. If the remaining English or German clubs have to play their matches during the week, that income will come under considerable pressure. "

The European Federation of National Football Competitions launched a counter proposal last week.

“I don't know the details of their proposal. But I understand that they don't want to know about protected teams in the Champions League. They want to make the placement for the European champion ball almost entirely dependent on the performance in the national competition the year before, as now. And the five major national competitions might be willing to give up one of their four guaranteed Champions League tickets for that. "

Does that proposal stand a chance?

“It will be a difficult balancing act anyway. The driving force remains: which proposal generates the most money and how? If you see that the top 5 countries generate at least 65 percent of the total revenue of the Champions League, then that must be taken into account. "

What about the timing? When should there be white smoke to be able to efficiently reform European competitions by 2024?

“An ECA working group is now studying new proposals and competition formulas. They are rolling in now. At the start of next year, this should lead to an improved Uefa proposal. The new competition formula for the Champions League must be finalized by the end of next year at the latest. "

How do you see the role of Belgian clubs in Europe from 2024? Will our top clubs still be able to play against real top clubs such as Liverpool, PSG or Barcelona?

“My role is to ensure that the number of Belgian tickets for all European competitions combined does not decrease. At the moment there are five Belgian clubs playing European, with one guaranteed place for the champion in the Champions League. And one ticket for the number two in the Belgian league for the Champions League preliminary round. That must remain the same even after 2024. "

How realistic is that? Perhaps the Champions League is simply too high for the Belgian teams. 0–5 and 1–4 were clear results this week.

“I admit: on paper, one or two Belgian teams in the renewed Champions League seem feasible. Which team will qualify for this will mainly depend on the performance in Europe in the future: from now until 2024. If Club Brugge continues to perform like they do today, chances are that they will be there the first year. "

“But if you have to play against Barcelona or Liverpool every week and you lose 5–0 each time, then as a Belgian club you have little chance of remaining at the highest level in the longer term. Today, around twenty top clubs in Europe are clearly stronger than the rest. And the Belgian clubs are not among them. "

The chairman of Club Brugge, Bart Verhaeghe, has a solution for this: an amalgamation with the Dutch competition in a BeNe League: with ten Dutch and eight Belgian clubs.

"That will depend on the outcome of an important study into the economic impact of such a BeNe League. And not only for the participating clubs, but for all football clubs in both countries. If the answer is positive, then step two follows: the negotiations on the composition of such a cross-border competition. And that will be difficult. Whether this is possible within three years? Perhaps it will take more time: the TV contract in the Netherlands will expire in 2024. "

In the past there was always more enthusiasm in Belgium than in the Netherlands for such a cross-border competition. Have the minds in the Netherlands grown in the meantime?

“In the past, the response of clubs in the Netherlands was they had four times more TV money than we have here in Belgium and there is no parity yet. But now we are at about the same level. That changes a lot. "

How big do you personally estimate the chance that the BeNe League will be reality within five years?

"75 percent."

Because it is the only way to scale up and, as a small country, to connect our wagon to the stronger European competitions?

“Yes, but it cannot be a purely defensive response. A realistic economic project must be put on the table. We have to do something. We see that the commercial impact of the football product is declining, both among the sponsors and among young fans. And that while football is fully globalized and we don't have the weapons today to raise our Belgian clubs financially to a higher level. A BeNe League is a unique opportunity for our top clubs to build strong organizations that go beyond the borders and teams that can join the European subtop in a sporting way. ”

And what if it doesn't work?

“Then we must stop being ambitious. And resign ourselves to the fact that in Belgium at most we will have football clubs that can compete with the top in Europa League 1. That is also a worthy business model, but we must be honest about that. ”

Genk chairman Croonen said:

Show Spoiler Hide Spoiler

"To support and monitor the broader perspective on the overall football interest," explains Croonen. The chairman of RC Genk emphasizes that no decision has yet been taken. “Something will only be decided if the Deloitte study shows that a BeNeLiga is interesting enough. And then that decision does not belong to us. We make a proposal, the Pro League and the Eredivisie make the decision. We think we should have the intellectual honesty to thoroughly investigate this track."

The study came from the realization that the European football landscape is changing enormously. “Since 2012-13, the gap with the" big five "has been widened every year. Belgium and the Netherlands are in the middle bracket, but there is a fear that it will disappear in the long term and that the football landscape will turn into the little ones versus the big ones, ”says Croonen. “Our specific Belgian and Dutch model is aimed at being a good training environment for the major competitions. This requires that our budgets have to evolve with the major competitions in order to maintain our training model. Unfortunately, there are few potential game changers. A BeNeLiga can be that. Suddenly you create a market of 28 million people, instead of 11 and 17 million. At least you have to investigate that potential. "

Sixth European league
Croonen explains that the quality development of a football club is driven by the internal sporting effect, by the strength of the competition and by the budgets that you have. “In the long term, there is a correlation between available resources and sporting results. You can draw that trend line if you compare the competitions. With larger budgets, which is theoretically possible in that 28 million market, the gap with the "big five" can be partially closed in the long term. The ambition of a cross-border competition must be to become the sixth European league. "

Larger blocks
That the idea of a BeNeLiga is now re-emerging is also explained by risk analysis. “Other European regions are also thinking of creating larger blocks. In the first study, we examined the sporting-financial story on the one hand, but also looked at the risk of doing nothing. If we do not thoroughly investigate this slope, we may regret it in ten years. The obvious emotional resistances that exist cannot form an excuse. That is also the purpose of this exercise. If you discuss the idea now, it is a purely emotional debate. This study must determine whether there are sufficiently strong arguments to bridge the emotional resistance. "

The first phase of that investigation is now over. The conclusion was that the value-increasing potential of such a BeNeLiga is interesting enough to continue the research. "It is worthwhile to start a practice-oriented study, both sporting and economically," Croonen explains. “We are going to simulate what the format, the national competitions and the BeNeLiga look best. The impact on each club is also viewed individually. We also want to better identify the downsides and negatives. This second research phase must provide a clearer picture of the difficulties and of course what it would cost. "

In the newspaper Le Monde, Club Brugge president Bart Verhaeghe stated that a BeNeLiga would come within three seasons and would consist of eighteen teams, eight of which were Belgian. Premature, says Croonen. “It is much too early to deposit a timing or a format. The competition with 18 teams is merely a working hypothesis that you need to make a simulation. But only now do we come to the stage that this can be worked out in concrete terms. "

with thanks to google translate

 

What many of our country do not know it has regularly happened our prime minister speaks and represents on behalf of Luxemburg/Belgium and vice versa.

https://www.telegraaf.nl/nieuws/2575656/premier-belgie-nederland-is-in-goede-handen

"For a brief moment Xavier Bettel [prime minister of Luxemburg] is also the prime minister of Holland"
https://www.trouw.nl/nieuws/even-is-xavier-bettel-ook-premier-van-nederland~b5619ed3/


From the correspondent of the press agency ANP:

For a moment, Xavier Bettel was our prime minister. Who? The prime minister of Luxembourg. While "our" Mark Rutte was busy in the tower on Thursday, Bettel represented our country at the European summit in Brussels. Bettel felt "very important."
Prime Minister Rutte had to cancel the European summit on Thursday at the last minute due to the cabinet disagreement in The Hague, where the new Health Care Act was debated well into the night.

In theory, King Willem-Alexander could have been asked to represent our country in Brussels, because only government leaders and heads of state are allowed to do so. But it is also permitted to ask a colleague from another country to take the honors. This duty fell on the prime minister of Luxemburg Xavier Bettel. It is obvious that Rutte picks a leader from Belgium or Luxembourg. He chose Bettel over the Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel on the basis of experience for these subjects. Bettel has held the position for some time.

"Today I feel very important", Bettel said during the meeting in Brussels. "It is a matter of trust that Mark Rutte has given me this responsibility. I hope he solves his own problems quickly". Bettel was consulted and briefed in advance about by Foreign Minister Bert Koenders. The EU summit lasted two days.

The point is: if such cross-border competition is for whatever reason not possible here, chances are small it is possible on another place.



Remarks by Ajax and the KNVB last week to a Brussels newspaper:

The Dutch Football Association (KNVB) says that the creation of a Belgian-Dutch league is not immediately for tomorrow. "The interest is there and the studies are continuing," it says. “At the moment, however, we cannot say when they will expire. Based on the current findings, it has been decided that there is sufficient reason to proceed to a second phase of the feasibility study. Among other things, the focus is on the competition format of the BeNeLiga, its effects on the various competitions, as well as an impact analysis per club. ”
[…]
"The BeNeLeague is one of the routes that we look at," Edwin van der Sar confirmed to our editors [of the Brussels newspaper HLN] last year. The constructive attitude of the general manager of Ajax can be decisive if the BeNeLeague wants to have any chance of success. Van der Sar is not only the general manager of the largest club in the Benelux, he holds together with Anderlecht a position in the board within the European Club Association.
“Within the ECA, we are exploring the possibilities of staying competitive with Ajax and various other clubs against the four, five top countries in Europe. Our ambition continues to compete with the European top. For this it is important that we can push our league to a higher level than it is today. That way you improve your performance in Europe.” Van der Sar wanted to emphasize he only speaks in the name of Ajax, not in the name of the other Dutch clubs, and that besides the BeNeLiga there are several other options for increasing the level competition.


Critical opinion piece on this and whether any Super League could work here (if you can't read, please say), by a Flemish journalist who at times also appears in dutch publications, tv and radio:

https://www.demorgen.be/meningen/de...seren-met-de-italiaan-van-om-de-hoek~b177c99a

"You never hear the real, albeit correct, reason: the top clubs in Belgium and the Netherlands are tired of showing enormous solidarity in their market with clubs that have 20 times less to spend and that contribute nothing economically to the Jupiler Pro League or the Eredivisie NV . That concern is therefore the big thing the two competitions have in common.
For the rest there is a huge gap between the two football worlds. The Beneliga is the same as the Italian who wants to merge with the take-away Chinese from around the corner. The Eredivisie makes it an art to train its own youth without tax benefits or other benefits. The Jupiler Pro League runs on a system of import and export of cheap foreign workers, supported by substantial tax and burden reduction. The Beneliga cannot work."

 

CHAMPIONS LEAGUE viewership fell a massive 35 per cent in the 2018/19 campaign, fuelling rumours about a potential European Super League.
[…]
These damning statistics were revealed at a recent conference with more than 140 delegates from around the world.
https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/football/10551237/champions-league-tv-viewership-european/


The first reports about this emerged in 2016:

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/footbal...-sports-dismal-champions-league-viewing-figu/

 

The point of the falling ratings is in the non big 5 countries the interest already was going downwards because the local clubs were shunned/had no chance to get into the group stages as these were for the most locked in for the big 5.
However even in the big 5 countries the interest is going downwards as it's always the same clubs that go into the CL with very rare exceptions.

So the interest is going downwards due to the CL fixed usual suspects, even in the big countries.
And the solution those big clubs have is even a worse scenario of that boredom fest.
Right.
And expect to reverse the trend of losing viewers in Europe.
I can't wait for that cliff dive of the arrogant bunch.

 

One funny thing I read in one of those articles the UEFA and the SL clubs are looking at the Superbowl and how much more money they make with a sport far less popular world wide.
I guess these people should take a good look at where the bulk of that money comes from, not the world but from inside USA. As is the case with the other 3 top USA sports.
To get that money you really need to become top of the USA bill sport. That's not going to happen as the USA top 4 are USA dominated, actually in terms of impact local national sports. Quality wise and attraction wise the rest of the world versus the USA 4 are like an amateur league compaired to the epl.
Americans hate sports they can't dominate, so good luck trying to emulate the Superbowl income.

 

The reasoning they apply is the decreased ratings are a consequence of the big teams (rather: big markets) performing poorly. It costs billions.

Interestingly though, now the English teams are doing better again in the Champions League, the ratings didn't rebound as strongly as they hoped/expected.

The incentive for fully fabricated VAR images and not-so-random referee appointments is there.

That said, the ratings of for example the NBA (and NFL) are falling too and that does seem for a part related to the increased predictability.

 

Yeah, the corporisation of football by risk eliminating tactics in international competitions for the big money spenders is back firing. It started with introducing group stages into the European Cup I competition, so the participating top clubs could at least have a couple of matches before being KO'd. Then it went into big leagues favourizing by granting them more spots. The consumer doesnot like predictability. It's however a must for those clubs spending ridiculous amounts of money. You can't run a club with the kind of money at stake Real/Barca/PSG/Chelsea/ManCity etc are spending and being thrown out. It takes two sucker seasons and you're in trouble. However the predictability that now begins to hurt the corporised sports like the ones you mentioned and the CL is also a huge warning to the clubs taking an eye on a Superleague. They better start a clean up job and peddle back on their spending or they at a given moment get burned.