UEFA to Increase Champions League to 64 teams
UEFA President Michel Platini has stirred up the football world by announcing plans to possibly increase the UEFA Champions League to 64 teams and eliminate the UEFA Europe League starting with the 2015 season. A lot of speculation has started on the implications of this decision if it indeed goes through. Of course, the devil will always be in the details, and those are unlikely to be clear until at least 2014, when Platini has hinted a decision will be taken. However, it is useful to look at the general picture of such a decision.
The main beneficiaries if such a move goes ahead will be the kind of teams that currently play in the Europa League. UEFA’s second tier competition has never really provided the payoff teams expect for the effort they put in, especially financially. Last year Manchester United brought home 28 million pounds from the Champions League despite failing to qualify from the group stages. Meanwhile Atletico Madrid’s reward for their championship run in the Europa League was a mere 8.5 million pounds. Clubs like Madrid will benefit immensely from having regular access the continent’s richest competition. Football’s vast wealth will be more evenly shared, and maybe that would not be a bad thing.
The quality of play and level of competition, however, are unlikely to be so positively impacted. Obviously a team like Atletico will add to the competition, but generally the group stages will see some very lopsided match-ups. There are teams like Dinamo Zagreb in the Champions League that are clearly not up to par with the other teams in the tournament. It all depends on how the new tournament will be structured of course, but adding the 7th placed teams in some domestic leagues is unlikely to produce a lot of real contenders. You could see a situation where the top teams field second-rate teams just because the competition they face is second rate. This would hardly add to the glamour of the new league. It would also be a little strange to keep calling it the “Champions” league in these circumstances.
All in all, if left at that, the new format would bring a lot of change, but would not be a revolution. The majority of both fans and clubs would likely say “Good riddance” about the elimination of the Europa League. The expanded Champions League would not be too different from the current version, except the top clubs like Manchester United and Manchester City would miss the elimination phase less often. It would also ensure that a top club would not miss a chance at European glory due to one bad season where it finishes outside the top 4. It would make domestic leagues more interesting, after all there are a lot more teams that can challenge for 7th place than to challenge for 4th. Overall, it may also lead to more equality in terms of income distribution.
No more Thursday night football, or will there be ?The change, however, may have much bigger implications if it acts to bring a snowball effect that fundamentally changes European football. Given that major change is happening anyway, the top clubs may decide to scrap their association with UEFA and go at it alone. The European Club Association, an organization of the biggest clubs including Barcelona, Real Madrid, Manchester United and Bayern Munich, has already discussed such possibility. In 2006 documents surfaced showing the clubs have discussed forming a Super League of the best teams outside the jurisdiction of UEFA. Europe’s football body then met the idea with staunch resistance and the issue has not been openly discussed. However, by 2014, the top clubs might as well decide the time has come to move boldly forward.
Michel Platini has said that he is not worried because he does not see how the idea can materialize outside the framework of UEFA. That doesn’t say much. In the early 1990s there were probably few people who say how the top level of English football can operate outside the Football Association, but it happened. The English Premier League is a successful model on how teams can organize their own league and share the profits that come with this. In the end it can just come to show how shortsighted Platini has been.
The issue still has far more unknowns than knowns. In fact, it seems the only sure thing is that there will be a significant change in the organization of European football. Whether it is an evolution or a revolution will remain to be seen. The resolution might be as interesting to watch as the football games themselves.
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