New Champions League format
- Thread starter aliyid
- Start date
Misfit
President of The Niles Crane Fanclub
- May 7, 2006
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Was fine as is. 8 different opponents introduces more randomness to events IMO. Not exactly an apples to apples comparison as the group stages allowed with both opponents and home and away ties against the same teams.
Hardly a disaster though and when these UEFA/FIFA money grabs come along that's always a welcome bonus.
Hardly a disaster though and when these UEFA/FIFA money grabs come along that's always a welcome bonus.
bubble07
Well-Known Member
- Dec 27, 2004
- 23,155
- 30,326
Think they are out of Europe completely which makes europa easier to win
Nope. No dropping down.
People don't like changes but I'm on the side that it could be quite good. The CL group stage sucks except for 1 or 2 groups.
Saoirse
Well-Known Member
- Aug 20, 2013
- 6,163
- 15,641
Genuinely think it's a big improvement.
1) Completely removing the advantage of being higher-seeded in the group/league stage makes it much fairer, and gives smaller/less experience in Europe teams a much fairer shot.
2) This, combined with only the Top 8 automatically progressing, makes the tournament much less predictable. It's far easier to see a giant club coming 9th out of 36 in the league stage and losing a playoff, than it is to see them coming 3rd in a group of 4 where seeding protection means they can't even face other big teams.
3) No teams dropping into the Europa or Conference leagues after qualifying means teams outside the Big 4 leagues have a stronger chance of going far or winning those tournaments.
4) The bracket system for the knockouts means every place in the league matters - there's likely to be a substantial difference between finishing 1st and therefore playing whoever scraped through in 16th, vs finishing 8th and having to face the team in 9th.
Right now the group stages have become a mostly dull affair in the Champions League -think this will give it a new lease of life.
1) Completely removing the advantage of being higher-seeded in the group/league stage makes it much fairer, and gives smaller/less experience in Europe teams a much fairer shot.
2) This, combined with only the Top 8 automatically progressing, makes the tournament much less predictable. It's far easier to see a giant club coming 9th out of 36 in the league stage and losing a playoff, than it is to see them coming 3rd in a group of 4 where seeding protection means they can't even face other big teams.
3) No teams dropping into the Europa or Conference leagues after qualifying means teams outside the Big 4 leagues have a stronger chance of going far or winning those tournaments.
4) The bracket system for the knockouts means every place in the league matters - there's likely to be a substantial difference between finishing 1st and therefore playing whoever scraped through in 16th, vs finishing 8th and having to face the team in 9th.
Right now the group stages have become a mostly dull affair in the Champions League -think this will give it a new lease of life.
I thought I was the only one on here who thought this! Great points.
FrankSpencer
Well-Known Member
- May 23, 2007
- 1,237
- 4,133
I definitely think it’s time for a refresh.
Sevilla have made a very successful habit of finishing 3rd in the CL to then go on and win the Europa. I never thought that was fair and I’m glad they’ve removed it.
It will be interesting to see how it all pans out next season!
Sevilla have made a very successful habit of finishing 3rd in the CL to then go on and win the Europa. I never thought that was fair and I’m glad they’ve removed it.
It will be interesting to see how it all pans out next season!
Misfit
President of The Niles Crane Fanclub
- May 7, 2006
- 21,243
- 34,895
Yep. I'm still iffy in the variance teams might get with their 8 different opponents and the randomness it might result in standings wise but overall, I'll wait and see. 2 extra games is also suboptimal but eh.
As radical reboots go, this is very much on the least disastrous end of the spectrum which is a minor miracle when dealing with UEFA/FIFA
ItsBoris
Well-Known Member
- Jan 18, 2011
- 7,900
- 9,304
I love it as a spectator, but you're gonna have 8 group stage games PLUS presumably 2 knockout playoff games if you're not in the top 8, so potentially 4 games more. And that's when everyone says there are already too many games in one season.
Nope. The two extra sides go into the group...I mean league stage.
skiba
Well-Known Member
- Jul 22, 2006
- 301
- 1,288
It’s just a way to get the top seeds playing each other before the knock outs.
If you want to liven up the group stages then introduce more jeopardy. Unless spurs are involved I want be tuning in to see which 24 teams manage to qualify out of a league if 32 where fixtures are still seeded
If you want to liven up the group stages then introduce more jeopardy. Unless spurs are involved I want be tuning in to see which 24 teams manage to qualify out of a league if 32 where fixtures are still seeded
Marty
Audere est farce
- Mar 10, 2005
- 40,173
- 63,898
Thst also goes for the losers in the playoff round between teams 9th to 24th, from what I can read. Losers there and in all knockout ties are out altogether.
