- Jul 29, 2005
- 5,171
- 3,676
Just been reading some old comments debating the diminishing prestige of the Europa league, in the AVB thread, obvs... It got me to thinking about the CL and it struck me, money aside, surely this competition has also been hit by a major drop in prestige? Not on the surface as obviously it's the biggest competition a side can win and the financial rewards just for being there are huge, BUT...
It's the Champions League, ironic that when only Champions were included it was known as the European Cup, now it's the CL and teams as low as fifth in their league have been admitted, and now a position in it has been allocated to the Europa League winners to try and add glamour to that, a competition that has seen the likes of Ipswich Town and Millwall compete in it from The Championship in the not too distant past.
I'm sure some will dismiss this as a daft thread, but is the CL now simply prestigious by default? Was it more glamorous when to be the best side in Europe you had to actually be the best side in your league and then beat the best sides from the other leagues?
It's the Champions League, ironic that when only Champions were included it was known as the European Cup, now it's the CL and teams as low as fifth in their league have been admitted, and now a position in it has been allocated to the Europa League winners to try and add glamour to that, a competition that has seen the likes of Ipswich Town and Millwall compete in it from The Championship in the not too distant past.
I'm sure some will dismiss this as a daft thread, but is the CL now simply prestigious by default? Was it more glamorous when to be the best side in Europe you had to actually be the best side in your league and then beat the best sides from the other leagues?