There’s the European Union, and the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) – but neither quite represents the true unity of an entire continent in sporting terms.
With a 2011 Europa League semi-final set that contains three sides from Portugal, making for an all-Portugal final, and the usual smattering of Spanish, Italian and English clubs reaching the last 16 of the Champions League, it’s a rather confusing fortnight for SBS viewers who don’t dine out regularly on the world game.
Football fans have, for many years, had to make their way through a bewildering array of competitions to fathom the best team on the continent.
There’s the European Cup – sorry, Champions League – which doesn’t even just contain league champions any more anyway…The Inter-City Fairs Cup – sorry, the UEFA Cup – sorry, Europa League – which somehow allows middling sides from half-way through the Champions League to enter it as well…The Intertoto Cup – sorry, now discontinued, which used to be for the third tier of domestic clubs that weren’t ever likely to make it to the European Cup – er, Champions League or the UEFA Cup – er, Europa League.
Plus the European Cup Winners’ Cup – for cup winners, apparently and of course the Super Cup, which is the deciding, winner-takes-all-bragging-rights-for-another-12-months match between the winners of the Champions and Europa Leagues.
It’s enough to do the average armchair fan’s head in.
Why can’t it be simplified, surely?
Here are three ways to do so. Feel free to offer a fourth, fifth or sixth if you like, fellow Roarers…
1. Simply combine the Champions League and Europa League (the two remaining top-draw competitions) into one, monstrously huge European Cup and be done with it. The full kitchen sink and kaboodle, 64 teams in the first stage, then a 32-team knockout over two legs until a single-game final.
That should do it – no more name confusion, and it can be for the champions of each of the 50-plus domestic leagues first, with the runners-up all piled into a complex series of regional qualifying matches for the remaining nine spots.
I say nine as I’d give the first two auto entries to the 2011 Champions League and Europa League winners, but that’s just my opinion of course.
2. Properly split the Champions League and Europa League to mean what they used to mean – one league for Champions only and another league for non-Champions, particularly from nations outside the top 32-ranked UEFA countries to give the second-tier guys a bit of fun in the sun.
Thus, the Champions League would return to its true origins as a prestigious trophy to win – and it would be arguably even tougher to win than it can be nowadays, while the likes of Azerbaijan’s Neftchi Baku, the black and white oil men (to pick any random winning country from the 2011 Eurovision Song Contest out of the air) can have a chance to score the Europa title. Sounds fair and logical to me.
3. Go back to the way it all used to be – there was genuinely something for everyone then. Bring back the Intertoto Cup, but only for third-tier sides – that is, teams from the third level of domestic league competitions across Europe. Like it was when Ernst Thommen built it as a “Cup For The Cupless” following in the vein of the Inter-City Fairs Cup. Right. That’s one cleared up.
Next – bring back the UEFA Cup/Europa League – I don’t care what you’d call it (“Second-Best Bunch Of Teams Cup” probably wouldn’t sound terribly attractive), but leave it for only the second-level sides, again, with a 32-team final competition after a set of qualifying rounds. Brilliant.
Now for the big one – the European Cup, for champions alone.
As one poster on the Soccer24-7.com form put it earlier this month – the fact that even the third or fourth-best teams in the domestic leagues of some countries can qualify for the Champions League completely wiped out the chances of any smaller second-tier clubs ever claiming the title.
And that’s probably included some genuinely well-loved and historically successful clubs, too.
The poster wrote: “Ajax, Benfica, Anderlecht and Red Star Belgrade are just a few major clubs who benefited in the old system of only champions going into the European Cup.”
Maybe it’s time to go back – for the sake of a truly competitive (and entertaining) future? You know it makes sense, don’t you Mr Platini?…
Those Cups and Leagues in full
Intertoto Cup (third tier) 1961-2008, with 50 teams
Inter-City Fairs Cup (second tier) 1955-70, with 64 teams
UEFA Cup (second tier) 1971-2008, with 160 teams
Europa League (second tier) 2009- , with 160 teams
European Cup (first tier) 1955-1991, with 32 teams
UEFA Champions League (first tier) 1992- , with 77 teams
UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup (first tier) 1960-99, with 32 teams
UEFA Super Cup (first tier) 1973- , with 2 teams
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