64 team Champions League

Check out this article. What do you guys think about this?? This is a very interesting topic lets discuss because this forum needs some life!



Seven English clubs could qualify for the Champions League every season under radical new proposals being considered by UEFA.

European football's governing body is pondering a proposal that it scraps the woefully unpopular Europa League in order to launch a 64-team uber-tournament that would double the size of the existing Champions League group stage.

With no second-tier competition, that would mean seven English sides all heading into Europe's top club tournament.

Assuming that European places for the FA Cup and League Cup winners are retained, that could open the door to Champions League riches for a huge number of clubs who have previously been unable to break into the top four.

A dilution of the quality of the early group stage matches would be inevitable, but a super-sized Champions League would also bring undoubted benefits in reigniting some of the largely redundant competitions. Many teams field semi-youth sides in the FA Cup and League Cup, for example; that sacrificing of cup matches for the sake of league success would instantly become a thing of the past.

It would also lead to some extraordinary anomalies: in 2011-12, Birmingham City were in the Europa League despite being relegated and plying their trade in the Championship. Under the possible new format they could have been playing Barcelona at Camp Nou on Wednesday and then lining up at Peterborough that weekend.

"There is an ongoing debate to determine what form the European competitions will have between 2015 and 2018," UEFA president Michel Platini said in the Daily Mail, adding that, "nothing is decided yet" and that a decision is due in 2014.

The spark for the radical proposal has come as UEFA is under threat of a breakaway alternative to the Champions League that is being rumoured among some of Europe's biggest sides.

But Platini was dismissive of the idea that any such Euro Super League could take off.

"It doesn't worry me. I can't see how it could work outside the UEFA framework," he said. "Who will referee them? In what stadiums will they play?"

Unconscionable weakening of the Champions League or the perfect way to boost European cup football across the continent? Have your say in the comments box below.

Reuters - Eurosport - 11/28/12 5:41 AM

Indeed interesting .I certainly applaud the idea as long as the brand name Champions League stays intact. Anyway, during which days the games should be happening , assuming it's going to happen ..

Tuesday-Wednesday-Thursday

64 teams playing all together in just 2 days , seems quite a lot to me.

so liverpool can now have a chance to win UCL :3?
don't mind the idea, but it's impossible to have that many teams going on

Just this opening phrase makes me shake my head at this.

Seven English clubs could qualify for the Champions League every season under radical new proposals being considered by UEFA.

"Yeah, more English clubs in there, they can all challenge for the trophy!!"

Just no. No. The Champions League is perfect as it is. Don't try to fix something that's not broken. You'd only bring its quality down by so many steps.

Nah. I think CL should just be for the best teams in each league.

I mean isn't that the whole point of it?

Word's can't express how stupid I think this idea is.

ffs no

they should give europa winners a cl spot if they haven't already qualified for it

also 3rd spot of the cl group stages shouldn't go into europa

they could seriously make the competition more exciting if they used some brains.

This is an awful idea. CL is a such glamorous competition just the way it is, why would they want to change anything. I can't stand the thought of having Everton qualify for CL

Well, it's pretty obvious that UEFA understands that it generates money. Likewise, teams are more interested in the broader appeal because that is what brings them the big $$.Sooner or later, there will be a European (super) league and that is where they want to take CL.

Art Morte wrote:Just this opening phrase makes me shake my head at this.

Seven English clubs could qualify for the Champions League every season under radical new proposals being considered by UEFA.

"Yeah, more English clubs in there, they can all challenge for the trophy!!"

Just no. No. The Champions League is perfect as it is. Don't try to fix something that's not broken. You'd only bring its quality down by so many steps.

Agreed about the amount of participants , 7 it's just too much , for any country.

If you ask me , i like the idea of a massive CL , i guess it will make it tougher for everyone , not to mention , no more Europa League .

Ironicaly enough , this could prove to be the biggest obstacle . Imagine a club like Manchester United , playing all these british furniture-cups plus the league AND having to deal with this massive CL as well .

Suppose they make it far into every competition , the amounts of games they might be playing could prove even unhealthy . We are talking over 75+ games a season and easily so .

And one can only imagine what would happen to those players during a World Cup/Euro year

Bayern
Dortmund
Schalke
Neverkusen
Hannover
HSV
Bremen



NOO it doesn't favour us at all.

intead of weakening the CL why not make it smaller and add more teams to the EL ?

Arsenal

What a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad idea.

It wouldn't hurt to increase the number of teams and make groups with more teams, 5 or 6. But 64 teams looks way too large.

dumb idea, if anything make europa league smaller, don't let champs league failures drop out into the europa league once they knocked out of champs league.

Well, Rummenigge as head of the ECA already said he'd go against this.

Source: http://www.kicker.de/news/fussball/intligen/startseite/578396/artikel_rummenigge-gegen-el--und-cl-reform.html

rwo power wrote:Well, Rummenigge as head of the ECA already said he'd go against this.

Source: http://www.kicker.de/news/fussball/intligen/startseite/578396/artikel_rummenigge-gegen-el--und-cl-reform.html

Good it's an absolutely terrible idea.

The only way the CL should be extended is by letting last seasons Europa league winners in as well as the cup winners from the top 7 leagues determined by the Co-ef points.

That would make 2 extra groups worth in the CL which would consist of cup winners only unless a league winner wins the cup too, then you just extend the CL place similar to how it works now with the Europa league.

64 teams is too much, and a majority of games would include teams that are whipping boys to pot 4 whipping boys.

EDIT: One major point I forgot to mention is how the teams playing on thursday, which would include some of the bigger teams naturally, would be at a disadvantage in their respective leagues.

For example you have Man U playing on Tuesday and Chelsea playing on a Thursday the league race would be a mess.

TomJuve wrote:EDIT: One major point I forgot to mention is how the teams playing on thursday, which would include some of the bigger teams naturally, would be at a disadvantage in their respective leagues.

For example you have Man U playing on Tuesday and Chelsea playing on a Thursday the league race would be a mess.

That problem already exists. We had Bayern (Tuesday, CL) vs Hannover 96 (Thursday, EL) last week on Saturday. It ended badly for Hannover (5:0 loss in München).

No I realise it happens already but the teams in the Europa league are there because they weren't title contenders and finished well below the league winners.

But if you have the defending champions playing 2 days after the next best team then the title race becomes unbalanced whereas last seasons 5th/6th/7th placed team are in the Europa league playing on thursdays for a reason.

Well, in the BL you can't say that EL teams are in no way title contenders. Current 2nd placed team Bayer is in the EL, for example.

It's a fair point but more often than not the CL teams are going to be up there again the next season. The issue would only increase.

TomJuve wrote:It's a fair point but more often than not the CL teams are going to be up there again the next season. The issue would only increase.

Well, this may be true for the PL, but in the BL you usually have a nice merry-go-round and the teams are often mixed through thoroughly except for Bayern in the CL.

hmm giving more slots to other countries would be better than expanding the current places for UCL in England,Spain,Germany,Italy. Poor countries need to develop their teams to develop and their football to develop so insteand of having for example in my country the 1st placed in the league goes in qualification instead of that make the 1st to go to group stages it will help a lot !