→ The eco-friendly formula
One day or another, UEFA will be forced to look for a way to limit the carbon impact of its competitions. Even if it means transforming the Champions League groups into championships, we might as well ensure that all the teams compete against each other. Or, that half the teams play each other, at least. To do this, it would be enough to divide Europe into two: Southern conference and Northern conference. The best teams from the South would then face the best teams from the North, which would offer more balanced back-and-forth matches than in an East-West division that was a little too Cold War.
For this 2023-2024 season, the North-South border between the 24 teams would be located between Salzburg, the northernmost of the southern clubs, and Munich, where Bayern would be the southernmost of the northern clubs. Furthermore, the division would follow a geographical and not a national logic. Often it would amount to the same thing. But it would be enough for Marseille to have qualified instead of Lens for Salzburg to find themselves in the Northern Conference. Before Greek, Turkish, Israeli clubs and those from the former Yugoslavia start qualifying more teams than the English, OM should still be assured of appearing in the Southern Conference.
So, obviously, with this version we would lose the taste for thermal shocks, Copenhagen-Galatasaray and Lens-Seville. But it’s for the planet, we told you. And this would give the queen competition a taste of Game of Thrones, with scenes in the snow and scenes in the sun. In the end, geography wouldn’t matter any more than it does now anyway. It will always be the richest who win.
→The Battle Royale formula
The World Cup, the most coveted trophy on the planet, can only be won by playing seven matches. This new format Champions League would therefore also be played over seven matches. Except that, a small subtlety, there will be no group stage. No more boring matches without stakes which only serve to decorate and fill the Tuesday evening TV program. All matches will be direct elimination, there will no longer be any room for error. A total of 128 teams will be entered in this new competition, starting from a first round until the final to win the ultimate trophy. In this way, we reduce the number of matches for the players, all the matches will have a real stake and above all, everyone will have a chance. And yes, because with 128 teams involved, there is plenty to achieve.
To choose the competitors, it will be quite simple. The qualification system remains the same as today, according to the UEFA coefficient rankings, each country will have the right to send a certain number of clubs. The big difference is that the Europa League and the Europa Conference League will disappear. So all the teams that qualified for these two competitions will now have a place in the brand new CL. With the qualifying places for the European Cups via the national cups and an extension of the number of places allocated to the countries with the most UEFA coefficient points, we will easily arrive at 128 teams. The draw will take a bit longer, but it will be worth it.
And finally, to avoid a big mess in the first round, the national champions of the 32 nations highest ranked in the UEFA coefficient will benefit from seeded status. A system which rewards the best teams in each country, but does not prevent Manchester City from drawing Real Madrid in the first round. Or Arsenal. Because we’re tired of teams from the same country not being able to compete against each other. And we also want to see APOEL Nicosia in the quarter-finals of the Champions League. Like in 2012.
→The openness to the world formula
Football is not the only sport that has decided to change its European Cup format in an attempt to attract a wider audience. Rugby also underwent an extreme makeover in 2020. Gone are the 5 groups of 4 teams, replaced by 2 groups of 12 teams with 4 matches to play to qualify for the round of 16. Before making a slight change in 2022: the integration of three South African teams. Enough to inspire football which likes to steal ideas from rugby (video refereeing, referees equipped with microphones). And we could therefore imagine that among the 36 teams qualified for the Champions League, we find for example the winner of the Copa Libertadores (Flamengo), an MLS team (randomly Inter Miami), the winner of the League African champions (Al Ahly) or even a team from Saudi Arabia (randomly Al-Nassr).
This could thus make up for the shortfall and the lack of interest from which the Champions League may suffer with the exodus of many players to Saudi Arabia in particular. So yes, it would be strange to have Saudi or Brazilian clubs in C1, but there have already been Qatar or Japan invited to the Copa América. And then it would still be less weird than seeing the Champions League played without Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi or even Karim Benzema. Football has changed, Europe is no longer necessarily the place where all players want to go and we must therefore adapt to these changes. If the Champions League wants to remain the biggest club competition in the world, this must involve expanding its borders. In addition, it would allow us to get rid of this Club World Cup which interests no one and where there is not the slightest suspense. A good thing done.
2023-12-16 05:16:32
#formats #Champions #League
