While this is a more middle ground proposal than what Platini had initially proposed, I think this still will sit very poorly with the English, Italian, and Spanish clubs. I also am not sure how it would work in principle in terms of identifying the fourth team to make it when the finalists are already qualifiers. For instance, last year Chelsea and Man United faced off in the FA Cup final, but already had Champions League places. Who would the spot go to then? Watford or Blackburn (the other semi-finalists)? How do you choose between those teams? I'm not a huge fan of the proposal -- I think it's too likely that deserving teams will be left out (either by not qualifying by not winning the domestic cup or by getting knocked out -- although I suppse that could happen in qualifying now).
Bill's lead in mentions that eventuality holden - in the event that the cup winner has already qualified for the competition, the place would go to the next highest team in the league standings, not the losing cup teams. Personally, I'd be delighted if Platini could come good with his original idea of limiting CL qualification to three teams per country, but couldn't see how he was going to push that past the objections of the big clubs. Adding a fourth spot to the cup winners maintains the relevance of the FA Cup in England and acts as a sop to the big clubs at the same time. Plus, the idea of, say, Liverpool finishing fourth and having to root for Manchester United in the cup final to preserve their chances of Champions League football amuses me.
Bill's lead in mentions that eventuality holden - in the event that the cup winner has already qualified for the competition, the place would go to the next highest team in the league standings, not the losing cup teams. This is reading comprehension 101. I don't know how I got it in my head that the runner-up got the spot.
Bring back the Cup Winners' Cup. Straight knockout, no seeding, no qualifying rounds. To quote Winston Churchill, the small nations of Europe need a voice. /hums 'Land of Hope and Glory'.
For me the issue is getting the best 32 teams into the group round and not fairness to smaller nations. Pro sports have winners and losers and not everyone gets to go home with a shiny medal and I think letting the, say, Hungarian league winner into the knockout rounds ahead of a fourth or fifth place English, Spanish or Italian side isn't going to bring the best competition.
I think that's fine for the Champions' League, bill. But the UEFA Cup also has dabbled with qualifying, league systems and taking the third place team from the Champions' group stage. My point was having at least one real cup competition in the old fashioned style. And what better than restoring the competition for national cup winners? Cups are supposed to be about knockouts and upsets. A cup for the best of the cup teams?
I'm with owlhouse. Also, LOL. And please please limit the Champions League to just the champs. Please. It's useless to say it, I know, when the booty is tens of millions of Euros for the qualifiers, but I wanna register my place with the rest of the curmudgeonly purists.
