Until the U.E.F.A. Champions’ League and the U.E.F.A. Europa League are replaced
and both a “League of Europe” and a “Cup of Europe” are established in accordance
with the ideas expressed by Jean-Bernard Lévy in Le Miroir des sports on 11
December, 1934, the modus operandi of the U.E.F.A. Champions’ League could be
altered in order to raise the levels of competitiveness in this competition. This
alteration could be made primarily by dividing the 32 clubs which qualify for it into 2
sections of 16 clubs. The first of these 2 sections would contain the 16 clubs which
qualified by coming first, second, third or fourth in one of the 4 financially advantaged
and comparatively successful, national leagues; and the second of these 2 sections
would contain the other 15 clubs which qualified either directly from their national
leagues or indirectly from their national leagues by way of the qualifying rounds, in
addition to the club which won the U.E.F.A. Europa League during the previous
season.
The 16 clubs which qualified from the 4 financially advantaged leagues would then
enter Groups A, B, C and D of the Group Stages of the Champions’ League in such
a way that each of these 4 groups would contain one club from each of the 4
financially advantaged leagues and that each of these 4 groups would contain one
club which had come first, one club which had come second, one club which had
come third and one club which had come fourth in its national league. For example,
at the end of the 2016/17 season, these were the clubs which came first, second,
third or fourth in each of the 4 financially advantaged leagues:
La Liga Premier League Bundesliga Serie A
Real Madrid Chelsea Bayern München Juventus
Barcelona Tottenham Hot. RB Leipzig A.S. Roma
Atlético Madrid Manchester City Bor. Dortmund S.S.C. Napoli
Sevilla Liverpool TSG 1899 Hoff. Atalanta
Therefore, in the Group Stages of the U.E.F.A. Champions’ League during the
2017/18 season, there could have been the following groups:
Group A Group B Group C Group D
Real Madrid Chelsea Bayern München Juventus
A.S. Roma Barcelona Tottenham Hot. RB Leipzig
Bor. Dortmund S.S.C. Napoli Atlético Madrid Manchester City
Liverpool TSG 1899 Hoff. Atalanta Sevilla
The other 15 clubs which qualified either directly from their national leagues or
indirectly from their national leagues by way of the qualifying rounds, in addition to
the club which won the U.E.F.A. Europa League during the previous season, would
enter Groups E, F, G and H in the Group Stages of the Champions’ League in such
a way that none of these groups would contain more than one club from the same
country. Therefore, in the Group Stages of the U.E.F.A. Champions’ League during
the 2017/18 season, there could have been also the following groups:
Group E Group F Group G Group H
Manchester Utd. Shakhtar Don. Ajax Feyenoord
Paris Saint-Ger. A.S. Monaco Celtic Spartak Moscow
Porto Benfica Sporting C.P. Beşiktaş J.K.
Legia Warszawa R.S.C. Anderlecht Olympiacos F.C. Basel
At the end of the Group Stages, in the Round of 16, the 8 clubs which progressed
from Groups A, B, C and D could have been kept apart from the 8 clubs which
progressed from Groups E, F, G and H in such a way that the following matches
could have been arranged:
Round of 16 (First-Leg Matches)
Contest
I Group B Runner-up B2 v. A1 Group A Winner
J Group A Runner-up A2 v. B1 Group B Winner
K Group D Runner-up D2 v. C1 Group C Winner
L Group C Runner-up C2 v. D1 Group D Winner
M Group F Runner-up F2 v. E1 Group E Winner
N Group E Runner-up E2 v. F1 Group F Winner
O Group H Runner-up H2 v. G1 Group G Winner
P Group G Runner-up G2 v. H1 Group H Winner
Round of 16 (Second-Leg Matches)
Contest
I Group A Winner A1 v. B2 Group B Runner-up
J Group B Winner B1 v. A2 Group A Runner-up
K Group C Winner C1 v. D2 Group D Runner-up
L Group D Winner D1 v. C2 Group C Runner-up
M Group E Winner E1 v. F2 Group F Runner-up
N Group F Winner F1 v. E2 Group E Runner-up
O Group G Winner G1 v. H2 Group H Runner-up
P Group H Winner H1 v. G2 Group G Runner-up
In the Quarter-Finals of the competition, the following matches could have been
arranged, with the clubs which had progressed from Groups E, F, G and H playing at
home in the first-leg matches:
Quarter-Finals (First-Leg Matches)
Contest
Q Winner of M M1 v. I1 Winner of I
R Winner of N N1 v. J1 Winner of J
S Winner of O O1 v. K1 Winner of K
T Winner of P P1 v. L1 Winner of L
Quarter-Finals (Second-Leg Matches)
Contest
Q Winner of I I1 v. M1 Winner of M
R Winner of J J1 v. N1 Winner of N
S Winner of K K1 v. O1 Winner of O
T Winner of L L1 v. P1 Winner of P
Then, in the Semi-Finals of the competition, the following matches could have been
arranged:
Semi-Finals (First-Leg Matches)
Contest
U Winner of Q Q1 v. S1 Winner of S
V Winner of R R1 v. T1 Winner of T
Semi-Finals (Second-Leg Matches)
Contest
U Winner of S S1 v. Q1 Winner of Q
V Winner of T T1 v. R1 Winner of R
Thus, in the Final of the competition, the Winner of U would have competed against
the Winner of V at the Olympic National Sports Complex in Kiev on 26 May, 2018.
Summary
If such an alteration of the modus operandi of the U.E.F.A. Champions’ League were
to be made, then the levels of competitiveness of this competition would be raised
because:-
- it is likely that most of the matches in the Group Stages would be contested
between clubs which have approximately equivalent, financial resources and,
therefore, these matches would be much more competitive than they have
been up to now; - it is likely that there would be fewer occasions when the financially poor team
of one club was heavily beaten by the financially rich team of another club; and - it is likely that, more often than not, 4 clubs from the financially disadvantaged
leagues would qualify for the Quarter-Finals and that these 4 clubs would be the
strongest clubs from the financially disadvantaged leagues and would therefore
be much more able to compete successfully against the 4 clubs from the financially
advantaged leagues than would the other, weaker clubs from the financially
disadvantaged leagues.
In addition to these improvements, if this alteration were to be made, it is likely that
there would be fewer, meaningless matches on Matchday 5 and Matchday 6 of the
Group Stages; there would be more, commercially attractive matches between the
best teams in the competition; and there would be a greater variety of clubs and
nations represented in the latter stages of the competition.
It would also be impossible for 2 clubs which had been in the same group during the
Group Stages to compete against one another again until the Final Match of the
competition.
Surely this proposal to divide is also one which will unite ?
