UEFA ready to discuss European Super League

Ridiculous!!

Football is now played by africans and south-americans, clubs are owned by Russians and Americans, watched by Europeans and sold to the Asians! Stop turning it into a business!!

And if there was to come a Uber Super league, at least make some conferences like in the US.

North: Scandinavia+Britain
West: Low countries, France and Germany
South: Med. countries
East: East-European countries

Some nice play-offs at the end..and we are all happy.

I think it'll be shit...the entrants will be decided by which clubs have the most money right now, and those who get into it in the first year will have a head start as the rich get richer and poor get poorer, etc. Can't really see this happening in our lifetimes.

The only possible change I can see would be if the CL evolves into a season-long "league" with playoffs for the top 4 at the end.


That said...if the CL is replaced by a league format instead of a knockout format, will it be the end of Benitez's managerial career?

I always thought the 2nd group stage in the CL was a better way of deciding things rather than the two-legged tie. I would like to see the CL changed back to that format.

Regarding a superleague, I think it would lead to a further polarization of power since the lack of domestic titles would mean that for top players, the only shot at winning titles would be to join the most successful teams in the superleague. Teams like Man Utd, Barca, Chelsea who consistently win in Europe would be more attractive than teh Inter, Madrid, Juve's who haven't done so well. I don't think a superleague is ever going to happen though. The bottom line is there is no need for it.

My guess is the first top 20 (for the first division) would be:

1.Man United
2.Chelsea
3.Liverpool
4.Arsenal
5.Milan
6.Inter
7.Juve
8.Roma
9.Barca
10.Real
11.Valencia
12.Atletico Madrid
13.Bayern Munich
14.Borussia Dortmund
15.HSV
16.Lyon
17.OM
18.Porto
19.Celtic
20.Ajax

Maybe Benfica or PSV instead of HSV.

Fey, what about countries like Austria or the Czech Republic? Where will they play? Maybe it should be:

North: Scandinavia+Britain
West: Portugal, Spain, France, Belgium, Holland
Central:Germany,Italy+central european countries
South-East: balkans
East: ex-USSR countries

King Pipita wrote:I always thought the 2nd group stage in the CL was a better way of deciding things rather than the two-legged tie. I would like to see the CL changed back to that format.

Not sure dude. I found teh second league stage quite boring, or rather it made the first league stage very very boring. And then the teams again played each other in the KOs... there was a good chance that you had already played your quarter final / semi final opponent before.

Ideally, the CL should be a cup competition. I like the way things are now, if anything, UEFA should reduce the number of games in the first round league of the CL - there are very few surprises in that round anyways.

Cirque du Barcelona wrote:My guess is the first top 20 (for the first division) would be:

1.Man United
2.Chelsea
3.Liverpool
4.Arsenal
5.Milan
6.Inter
7.Juve
8.Roma
9.Barca
10.Real
11.Valencia
12.Atletico Madrid
13.Bayern Munich
14.Borussia Dortmund
15.HSV
16.Lyon
17.OM
18.Porto
19.Celtic
20.Ajax

But there's the problem - why OM and not PSG, just because OM happened to finish 2nd this particular year when they start the league?

What if Aston Villa did break into the top 4, would they suddenly be in this super-league at the expense of Arsenal.

Why Borussia Dortmund, who are languishing in mid-table in Germany and only hang out with the big boys because they won the CL in the late 90s when the G14 was formed.

So it all becomes very arbitrary and based on the short term, and clubs who are already in the top positions, with 1 or 2 who get lucky, will suddenly be given an even bigger advantage.

kas, OM is the club with the biggest fan base in France. Borussia Dortmund - the same thing. Huge fan base. When the Super League will be formed they will care about this.

That's a fair point, but again it gets a bit muddy - if this is a league for the 20 best and biggest teams in Europe...why not put Everton in? They are probably better than Dortmund in recent times, and have loads of fans in the Far East.

Going on the original article they were talking about a multi-level super league, i.e. several divisions, which would at least reduce the problem of teams getting arbitrarily put in ahead of others, as it would be able to ebb and flow as teams improve/worsen via promotions/relegations.

This being the case, it could just start from the Uefa rankings at the point the league is implemented - and you'd presumably have some sort of qualification system running alongside the Super Leagues over the season, where the best domestic teams who aren't Super compete for 3 or 4 spots to enter the bottom division, at the expense of the weakest teams. You'd need to allow some fluidity, to stop it just being like a fixed set of franchises in the American sport leagues.

Wow...so the foreign posters will take the top clubs from the respective leagues against our 5th-12th clubs or decent clubs against relegation threatened teams from our league...and make it seem like our league is crap...well done to you.

Arsenal knocked out Roma...
Man Utd knocked out Inter...
Chelsea knocked out Juventus...
Liverpool knocked out Madrid...
City are still in the UEFA Cup...

On many occasions...foreign clubs have had their arses kicked by English teams. Middlesbrough got to a UEFA Cup final...and Spurs got near to it, only both being defeated by Sevilla...a top Spanish club.

If your only argument is top teams from Russia etc beating English teams from 5th downwards...then you really will look silly won't you.

Btw...Spurs played a reserve side due to a cup final and a relegation battle...and Villa did too, due to trying to qualify for the CL. The only one concentrating, were City who are still in it. So top teams from Russia and Ukraine beat reserve sides from our mid-table clubs ...KUDOS!

Also a Tony Adams managed Portsmouth made Milan look silly.

debaser wrote:Going on the original article they were talking about a multi-level super league, i.e. several divisions, which would at least reduce the problem of teams getting arbitrarily put in ahead of others, as it would be able to ebb and flow as teams improve/worsen via promotions/relegations.

This being the case, it could just start from the Uefa rankings at the point the league is implemented - and you'd presumably have some sort of qualification system running alongside the Super Leagues over the season, where the best domestic teams who aren't Super compete for 3 or 4 spots to enter the bottom division, at the expense of the weakest teams. You'd need to allow some fluidity, to stop it just being like a fixed set of franchises in the American sport leagues.

If this ever happens, I don't see UEFA using any other yardstick other than uefa coefficient rankings. As that stands right now, the following teams would make the superleague:

1 Liverpool
2 FC Barcelona
3 Chelsea
4 AC Milan
5 Manchester United
Arsenal
7 Sevilla
8 Bayern München
9 Olympique Lyon
10 Internazionale
11 Werder Bremen
12 Villarreal
13 Real Madrid
14 AS Roma
15 PSV Eindhoven
16 CSKA Moscow
17 Sporting CP Lisbon
18 FC Porto
19 Zenit St. Petersburg
20 AZ Alkmaar

TITO wrote:Well, everybody can start listing the teams that they think can enter this league.



25.Ajax
27.Anderlecht
Newcastle,
Tottenham, ,
Bayer Leverkusen,
PSG,
Feyennrd...

Laughable...these teams have had mediocre seasons for a while. May aswell chuck Sampdoria in then...we have been in the UEFA Cup for the last few seasons...finishing 5th and 6th during that also.

Ajax are rubbish, even in their own league...and Anderlecht get thumped by anyone outside of Belgium. Why make a Super League when the top 4 Premiership teams will be the top 4 again?

GianDeano Zola wrote:
Laughable...these teams have had mediocre seasons for a while. May aswell chuck Sampdoria in then...we have been in the UEFA Cup for the last few seasons...finishing 5th and 6th during that also.

Ajax are rubbish, even in their own league...and Anderlecht get thumped by anyone outside of Belgium. Why make a Super League when the top 4 Premiership teams will be the top 4 again?

Deano, I think you read too much into the EPL dominance of the CL... English top 4 have mastered the art of CL KO rounds, but that does not mean they would finish top in a league format. For example, I just don't see teams like Liverpool or Arsenal matching Inter in a league format over a whole season.

There is a difference between sides who do better in a league, and who do better in a Cup. Teams like Milan and Liverpool, they seem to rise to the bigger occasion rather well, and have done very well in the CL of late. Teams like Inter, are more made for a long league season, we play with consistency over the season and would drop less points over 38 games than teams like Milan or Liverpool.

Palermo played some pretty, pretty, pretty decent stuff against West Ham Deano. You're basing your opinion on one off ties, there are a lot of other factors that need to be taken into consideration. The EPL sides aren't the greatest of all-time just because 4 of them are in the last 8.

The top 4 EPL teams do better in the league and the CL. Therefore they master both. The whole thing is ridiculous anyway. It's just a silly way of ruining a competitive league. Do the top 4 always find it easy against clubs outside of it? No they don't. Liverpool, Chelsea, Arsenal and Man Utd usually have to work hard for their wins, or have been held/beaten by decent teams in the division.

You should make a Super League without touching the Premiership then.

Also Bluey...it's not the first time EPL teams have dominated the Champions League isit? Or got to UEFA Cup semi's and finals recently is it?

Black Magic wrote:Palermo played some pretty, pretty, pretty decent stuff against West Ham Deano. You're basing your opinion on one off ties, there are a lot of other factors that need to be taken into consideration. The EPL sides aren't the greatest of all-time just because 4 of them are in the last 8.

This is Udinese vs Tottenham all over again.

Top of Serie A against a struggling, relegation battling and out of form EPL side. There was only ever going to be one outcome.

The point is...there is no reason to break up a good competitive league like The Premiership.

GianDeano Zola wrote:
The point is...there is no reason to break up a good competitive league like The Premiership.

I agree, but you're obviously hinting at the EPL being superior to it's European neighbours though. What makes you think the English teams would dominate a league based competition just because they were able to 'get up' for the one off tie, conversely with the Italian teams probably playing below par in the legs.

bluenine wrote:

debaser wrote:Going on the original article they were talking about a multi-level super league, i.e. several divisions, which would at least reduce the problem of teams getting arbitrarily put in ahead of others, as it would be able to ebb and flow as teams improve/worsen via promotions/relegations.

This being the case, it could just start from the Uefa rankings at the point the league is implemented - and you'd presumably have some sort of qualification system running alongside the Super Leagues over the season, where the best domestic teams who aren't Super compete for 3 or 4 spots to enter the bottom division, at the expense of the weakest teams. You'd need to allow some fluidity, to stop it just being like a fixed set of franchises in the American sport leagues.

If this ever happens, I don't see UEFA using any other yardstick other than uefa coefficient rankings. As that stands right now, the following teams would make the superleague:

1 Liverpool
2 FC Barcelona
3 Chelsea
4 AC Milan
5 Manchester United
Arsenal
7 Sevilla
8 Bayern München
9 Olympique Lyon
10 Internazionale
11 Werder Bremen
12 Villarreal
13 Real Madrid
14 AS Roma
15 PSV Eindhoven
16 CSKA Moscow
17 Sporting CP Lisbon
18 FC Porto
19 Zenit St. Petersburg
20 AZ Alkmaar

'zackly. Although I think the league would be smaller than that. Probably 15/16 (if they plan to run it alongside domestic leagues). If the PL went down to 15, alongside a Super league of 15, that would be 56 games for someone in both (plus domestic cups). That would not be alot more than what a team getting to the CL final plays now (say 38 league games, plus 13 minimum in the CL = 51).

They should limit the Super League to 12...that way Madrid are in the 2nd tier

GianDeano Zola wrote:
The point is...there is no reason to break up a good competitive league like The Premiership.

(though I have to agree that I can't see a single good reason to break up *any* of the top 10 leagues in Europe )

@ Kas

Even if you had 12 team Euro Divisions with say 2 or 3 tiers that's still 22 games that have to be played + the 36/38 that are exclusive to all domestic top flight competitions now! That's 60 games on the two competitions alone!

Right now it normally takes 13-17 games to win the CL, 17-21 games to win the UEFA Cup. (All depending on how you qualified).

The domestic cups would really suffer the most, managers would start treating the FA Cup even worse, and The League cup would effectively become as important as the FA Trophy (cup competition for lower division sides).

The HuddFather wrote:@ Kas

Even if you had 12 team Euro Divisions with say 2 or 3 tiers that's still 22 games that have to be played + the 36/38 that are exclusive to all domestic top flight competitions now! That's 60 games on the two competitions alone!

Right now it normally takes 13-17 games to win the CL, 17-21 games to win the UEFA Cup. (All depending on how you qualified).

The domestic cups would really suffer the most, managers would start treating the FA Cup even worse, and The League cup would effectively become as important as the FA Trophy (cup competition for lower division sides).

No, I'm against this whole idea as well...I was just picking up on debaser's point about this being limited to 15, and extending it to make a dig at Madrid

That said, to answer your point - they wouldn't keep the domestic leagues at 20 teams if there was another season-long league competition.

And finally, I don't see the point of the League Cup even now. Waste of a tournament, just causing unnecessary fixture pileups for English teams.

he would be great in principle to see real vs milan every season, but it would be shit because certain club will play defensive football and then probably success, which will leave to most of the other teams following them

GianDeano Zola wrote:The point is...there is no reason to break up a good competitive league like The Premiership.

Money. I'm sure the TV stations will pay huge amounts of money to see a Man United - Milan on saturday then Man United - West Ham or Milan - Sampdoria.

bluenine wrote:If this ever happens, I don't see UEFA using any other yardstick other than uefa coefficient rankings.

---

The EPL clubs get about 1.2 billion Euro TV money per year these days, (much) more than any other league in Europe. Surely they don´t want to share that money with the rest of football Europe, so the question is

1. How much money would the EPL lose if it´s all about the Euro Super League in the future? Would it really be worthwhile for the EPL clubs?

2. If the EPL clubs could keep their money, wouldn´t gradually more than half the first Super League consist of EPL clubs, so the Super League would become some kind of EPL plus the top 4 of Spain and Italy plus Bayern Munich?

Imagine a opening day with games like:

Man United vs Milan
Chelsea vs Bayern Munich
Liverpool vs Valencia
Arsenal vs Real
Inter vs Atletico Madrid
Juve vs Porto
Roma vs Borussia Dortmund
Barca vs OM
HSV vs Ajax
Lyon vs Celtic

chrissicross wrote:

bluenine wrote:If this ever happens, I don't see UEFA using any other yardstick other than uefa coefficient rankings.

---

The EPL clubs get about 1.2 billion Euro TV money per year these days, (much) more than any other league in Europe. Surely they don´t want to share that money with the rest of football Europe

A Super League will probably sell the TV rights for 3 to 5 times that amount. And they will not share it with the rest of Europe. The rich clubs will share that money between them. And they will NEVER use the UEFA rankings.

Cirque du Barcelona wrote:Imagine a opening day with games like:

Man United vs Milan
Chelsea vs Bayern Munich
Liverpool vs Valencia
Arsenal vs Real
Inter vs Atletico Madrid
Juve vs Porto
Roma vs Borussia Dortmund
Barca vs OM
HSV vs AZ
Lyon vs Celtic

That is mouthwatering, have to admit that

Axeslammer wrote:

Cirque du Barcelona wrote:Imagine a opening day with games like:

Man United vs Milan
Chelsea vs Bayern Munich
Liverpool vs Valencia
Arsenal vs Real
Inter vs Atletico Madrid
Juve vs Porto
Roma vs Borussia Dortmund
Barca vs OM
HSV vs AZ
Lyon vs Celtic

That is mouthwatering, have to admit that

We see ties like these every Pre Season.

Black Magic wrote:
We see ties like these every Pre Season.

?!

1) Pre Season = women's football

2) It's not about a single tie, it's the whole package


Are all 17 year olds this thick, or just the ones on our board ?