People from far beyond Europe tune in to watch the final of the UEFA Champions League, arguably the most competitive football tournament in the world. But there’s a problem.
Not match attendance, match-fixing, suspensions, or anything like that. The problem is who is playing.
Let’s be honest, Bayern Munich’s form this year in their domestic Bundesliga has been unprecedented.
With the records for most wins and most points in a season, only losing one match, and wrapping up the title with six games to spare, it’s pretty hard to justify saying they don’t deserve to be at Wembley next Saturday.
But should they be playing Borussia Dortmund?
Granted, Dortmund registered two 1-1 draws with Bayern in the Bundesliga this year and will finish a noble second in the Bundesliga, but surely the Champions League final should be pitting the two best teams in Europe against each other, and this match-up doesn’t let that happen.
When people think of the great European clubs of the last 10 years, Barcelona is the one that comes to mind – being the highest ranked club in UEFA’s co-efficient ranking system and all.
Admittedly, Bayern ran through them in this year’s semi-finals like a Ferrari through a sponge cake, but Barcelona’s recent domestic and Champions League form is undeniably good.
Since 2003, they’ve won six La Liga titles and three Champions Leagues. This is form only a handful of clubs in Europe from the last 10 years have even come close to matching.
The sides showing the dominant domestic league form over this last 10 years, such as Inter Milan (five championships), Manchester United (six championships), and Real Madrid (four championships) are missing out on winning European titles. And this is the problem.
Since 2003, the Champions League has been won by a side who did not win their domestic league competitions on four occasions. This is four occasions too many.
In Milan’s successful Champions League seasons of 2003 and 2007, they finished third and fourth in their respective Serie A campaigns.
In 2005 Liverpool finished a disappointing fifth, and last year Chelsea claimed the silverware while only managing sixth in their Premier League run.
Now this may be put down to ‘they were the better side on the day’, but in a league of Champions as it is so called, is that really an excuse?
The result is the best sides in Europe aren’t winning, or even necessarily getting the chance to challenge, for what should be the highest accolade in European football.
How can UEFA claim to have one of the most prestigious tournaments on the planet when it proclaims a team that finished sixth in its domestic competition ‘Champions of Europe’?
Clearly that’s not the case, as it would seem there are at least five better teams just in the English Premier League, without even looking abroad.
It is very enjoyable to see the underdog over-perform, but when it starts happening so often that it compromises the tournament, change is needed.
UEFA has a very in-depth, complicated mathematical system for ranking every club side in Europe, called the ‘co-efficient’. Instead of a completely random draw, why not base the group stage draw, and even the knockout matches, on this?
Separate the best clubs by as much as possible, with the intention of having them meet in the final. Barcelona and Bayern are currently ranked one and two respectively, and everyone would get the final they wanted.
This principal has worked in the tennis for years. The National Hockey League does it in the North American Ice Hockey competition after every round to give the top ranked teams in each conference the best chance of meeting each other for the Stanley Cup.
All the pot luck element UEFA insists on employing does is get a few more cameras turn up when they announce the draw. Consequently, the competition is compromised when we have two champion sides playing off in a semi-final.
I hope that come the 2013 final, for the sake of the Champions League, Bayern come good.
AZ_RBB
Guest
the way i see is that for the past few years Barca and Real have been the two best teams in the world. a few weeks ago they played two teams vying for that place after dominating their domestic league for several years. the other two Bayern and BVB won very very convincingly. it might not mean that they are automatically now the top two teams but on form and the margins of their victories it is hard to deny that the Germans rightful place in tomorrow morning's final. very excited for the final. imo it is the biggest annual sporting event in the world and more often than not it throws up a classic.
Blue Devil
Guest
It's a cup competition!?!? And if you have any doubts about BVB: they are probably the only team in Europe right now who have the capacity to not just give Bayern some real heat, but to actually beat them. This match has all the ingredients to be the best final in years.
Nelson
Guest
Good point and by the way just like my Benfica's astonishing European final losses, Bayern will stumble again.
Wat Le Fark
Roar Rookie
Yes Dave, thanks for pointing that out, but still getting the gist of what I was saying. Finals sometimes don't live up to the expectations, but I think this one is going to be a great final with plenty of action and goals.
Siege of Perth
Guest
Stupid argument. the champions league is a cup competition, sure it has the round robin group stage but it is no where near being a league and shouldnt be treated as such. And Dortmund are the 2nd best team in Europe right now. Just because they arnt champions this year (and were last year) doesnt mean they arnt worthy over Barca and Man U. By your logic you would rather see FC Copenhagen or Olympiakos over Dortmund. Ridicluous
Dave
Guest
As others have pointed out Dortmund have won the past two Bundesliga titles and this seasons Champions League was based on the finish of the 2011-12 BL not the 2012-13 season. and that year Dortmund won the German double beating Bayern 5-2 in the DFB Pokal (German version of the FA Cup) final as well as the Bundesliga title. Then during the Champions league they were undefeated in the "Group of Death" and beat Real Madrid to make the final, the 2-0 2nd leg loss the Madrid was the first loss Dortmund has suffered during their entire Champions League campaign. Yes this year they fell way behind Bayern in the Bundesliga but Jurgen Klopp made a point of saying that he is going after the Champions League this year, just like last year he focused on the German doubled and achieved it. At lot of the smaller clubs who don't have the deepest team lists, need to focus on either domestic or European football. Only the sides like Bayern and Barca can rotate their players enough to give themselves a chance at both titles. Had Madrid and Barca made the final I wonder if this article gets written even though there is a similar gap between Barca and Madrid domestically and like Bayern and Dortmund they are both from the same country. Perhaps we're just dealing with another EPL and/or La Liga fanboy who doesn't realise how good from the crowds to financials and quality of games the Bundesliga is.
Dave
Guest
It was actually 1-1 Muller scored last year. Nitpicking maybe and your point about the favourite not always winning is still valid, but still need to get facts correct.
Bert
Guest
Dortmund and Bayern deserve the final. Best teams this year. Expect a fast and high class final. I have seen the quater final between them in the national cup. Dortmund can stand the pressure of Bayern. Maybe the only team at this time. Very impressing.
Wat Le Fark
Roar Rookie
Get off your Bayern hobby horse. Are you trying to say the final will be so one sided it will be boring? Dortmund have won the last 2 BL titles and beat most of the best teams in Europe over 2 legs to get there. Like the ACL, the ECL teams qualified on last season's results. This is a one off game at Wembley stadium. Anything will happen. What about Bayern the hot favourites for last year's ECL beaten by Chelsea. Couldn't score a goal at their home ground.
robbie
Guest
What did I just read?
Nick
Roar Guru
+1
Golden Boots
Guest
Does the writer of this article even watch European football? The Champions League is a cup, just like the World Cup, where whoever qualifies has a chance to win it, no matter how big or small they are. Sure there's a group stage of rounds so it goes for longer and generates more cash, but it is still a Cup. Just like the FA Cup smaller teams can win it - that's the beauty of it and why it's so exciting. The Cup system is designed this way as an addition to the league systems where it is first past the post, even if the team that comes second beats the top team all year . Some would argue this is fairer but others would not since match day pressure is not as intense. If you think about it, any team could win the league if they got 3 points from the bottom 80% of the table and lost to the other table-toppers. That's why the Cup system was invented. If I am reading this article correctly, why not just scrap the whole comp and let the co-efficient decide the winner? Because it would be boring and reduce the whole pressure and competitiveness of it. The whole beauty of a cup is that a smaller team can beat a huge one! Are you somehow proposing that the top teams should get some advantage through the competition? Which was more memorable/exciting, Liverpool coming from nowhere to win in 2005 or Barca strolling through in 2011? I bet you people will be talking about Liverpool's win a lot longer than Barcelona's.
Nick
Roar Guru
The real question that should be asked is why the winner of the Europa league gets more money than the quarter and semi finalists of the champions league? Why on earth should we be rewarding so favourably the 17th best team in Europe? And btw, what happens if Bayern dont come good and win? Are we going to see more articles regarding the champions not winning and how this is again an example of the obvious need to fix and manipulate draws to ensure that only Barcelona, Milan, Man U and Bayern have the divine right to be in the champions league final?
Nick
Roar Guru
+1 There is nothing wrong with the champions league. The two teams have performed the best throughout the group and knockout stages and deserve to be in the final. This article is baffling. Pot luck is a more accurate measure of a champion. It requires teams to have to be ready to potentially face strong teams each time. If you win through all of that...you are a true champion. Miles, it is silly to manipulate the draw to try and setup a final between two teams, and not the best teams. This year, Bayern and Borussia have been the best teams. Live with it.
Brisvegas
Guest
Stupid argument. So stupid I didn't get to the end of it. It's a cup competition, and in football the best team doesn't always win. Would you prefer the final to be played by the two teams that win an international vote of who is best in Europe? Why bother actually playing a game; let's just have a poll.
mrlanky
Guest
Sorry but your logic has more holes than Barca's defense against Bayern. How many chances do you want these teams to have? They've already been seeded once and you want a second round of seeding? I know, why don't we just get rid of the first stage and put the 8 richest clubs onto the paddock for the finals; the deserve the be champions after all! The best teams all had a chance to get there. The two that finished at the top are the ones that should be there.
Subversion13
Guest
There is always the issue of protecting the strength of the competition too. For example, if the CL ONLY featured champions and all the teams placed 2-4 from the big nations went into the Europa League, then the secondary comp would probably end up being collectively stronger.
Nelson
Guest
You have brought up a great point but UEFA dosent care... They just want to make as much revenue as they can and make the rich clubs even richer, it's just the way It is now... Other issue is that a few years back the teams playing in the UEFA Cup were stronger than the one in the Champions League, so UEFA came up with the brilliant idea to allow the RICH clubs up to their main tier and make more money for UEFA. Its really not that hard to understand at all... Look if Benfica played in the Spanish League instead of the Portuguese league we would no doubdts be the strongest and richest clubs in the world, we are already the club with the most members in the world. 6 million followers in Portugal and 16million abroad. But guess what we play in a league that is only dominated by the corrupted FC Porto and the dying Sporting Lisbon, the rest of the clubs there are just for decoration. If we played teams like Porto, Sporting, Real Madrid, Atletico Madrid, Valencia, etc.. We would have a full house of 65k week in week out. Could you imagine how much money Benfica would make? We stil have a good average of 40k thou... We have already made a profit of 30million season imagine being in a better league... What I mean is its all about $ things will never change now, by the way UEFA whants to abolish the Europa Cup.
Matt F
Roar Guru
Do you mean the same Dortmund who entered the tournament as German champions and topped a group containing the Spanish champions, English champions and Dutch champions? It looks like they very much deserve to be there from what I can see. As has been said by others, the group stage draw is determined by seedings and those are determined by each clubs European performances over the past 5 seasons. The first knockout stage is also determined by seeding with each group winner playing a group runner-up, so they certainly didn't get here through some kind of lucky draw. Besides, given what Bayern did to Barcelona in the semi-finals, would you really want to see that final?
nickoldschool
Roar Guru
I think the article is somehow confusing. Of course it's possible to win the champions league and finish 6th or 10 in your domestic league as your participation to the UCL is based on the previous season's result, not the current one. When it comes to the current format it has pros and cons. Having known both, I think that I prefer the current one. When only champions of their domestic league were qualifying it meant average teams from lesser nations were a couple of upsets away from a European cup title. With this format, I think if Dortmund wins the cup they will fully deserve it and can't be labelled unworthy winners. Sure it's less romantic than before and usual suspects keep coming back but it's 2013 and romanticism is a thing of the past am afraid, especially in football.