Uefa Cup- Name Change to Improve Image

[shakus]

The Uefa Cup could be on the verge of being re-branded.
It could soon be called the Uefa Europa League as football's bosses seek to give the competition fresh appeal.
European soccer's governing body Uefa is considering the name change as it seeks to reverse a feeling it has become 'a second class competition'.
The proposed name change was revealed by Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, the acting chairman of the new European Clubs Association, whose organisation was presented with the proposal on Monday.
Refreshment

Rummenigge said: "The hope is that a refreshment of the name and brand can help achieve better results than we've seen in the Uefa Cup in the past.
"There has been a general impression that it has become a second-class competition and that we should get back to how it was ten or 15 years ago."
Uefa's executive committee is set to vote on the name change when it meets in Bordeaux in September.
Confirming the vote, a senior Uefa source added the new name was meant to better reflect the new group stage system being used in the competition from the 2009-10 season.
Copy

This new system is a direct copy of UEFA's more successful Champions League competition and will see the dropping of the unpopular five-team groups in which teams play each opponent just once either home or away in favour of a simpler home and away system.
In another lesson learned from the lucrative Champions League, UEFA will also be marketing the competition centrally from 2009.



I find this quite unbelievable but not totally surprised, after completely ruining the format and prestige for nigh on 10 years, with the culmination of allowing Champions League losers to compete, they've now decided is does have some value after all.

But Europa League, come on....... we can do better than that, what would your suggestions be???

 

[Teemu]

The Annual Tottenham Hotspur Ease Through The Early Rounds Only To Get Beaten Slightly Unfortunately By The First Decent Team They Meet Cup?

 

[Bonjour]

It should be renamed 'The Cup of Christ'. That would get people's attention.

 

[AllSeeingEye]

Or the Double D Cup.

Double Ds always get my attention.....


Shaks, this is your second thread in a week. Have you gone mad?

Or are you just as bored as me?

 

[LSUY]

They want to get it back to the way it was? Then how about cutting back on the amount of teams that get into the Champions League?

The UEFA Cup (and the Cup Winners Cup) use to be good because you were guaranteed decent teams in it. If AC Milan won the league then Juventus, Inter, Lazio, etc., would be in the UC or CWC.

 

[DEFchenkOE]

So I take it they will be stopping CL dropouts going into the "Europa Cup" then?

 

[DC_Boy]

The best way to improve its image would be to double or even quadruple the prize money

 

[Diewhingywenger]

It shouldn't be a cup. It should be a grail.

The Holy Grail should be its name.

 

[Bill_Oddie]

Love the idea of a 'Cup of Christ'. Players could walk onto the pitch with some suitably rousing music like the Champs League has, then once they line up around the centre circle, all the lights in the stadium go out and a huge, booming voice could shout "THE POWER OF CHRIST COMPELS YOU...." followed by a whistle to start the game. I'd fucking watch that. Even if it was Slovan Buggersores Vs Armenia Omelettebadger.


Onto more laughable matters, how cool would it be for Spurs to win the last ever UEFA Cup?

 

[DC_Boy]

how cool would it be for Spurs to win the last ever UEFA Cup?

especially having won the first

 

[sunnydelight786]

Another way of maybe making it a more worthy comp is to maybe give the winners a chance of qualifying for the CL. Let the UEFA cup winners join the final qualifiying round, the stage where scum and bin dippers will join this season. If 3rd and 4th place teams in Italy, Spain and England can have the chance of joining the CL then why not the winners of UEFA's 2nd comp? Recent winners of the Uefa Cup (Zenit, Sevilla, CSKA, Porto, Feyenoord, Valencia,etc) would not look out of place in the CL. Mind you all the named teams above had qualified for the CL anyway in the season they won the UEFA cup through there respective leagues :roll:

 

[worcestersauce]

How about making the CL Champions only then the Uefa Cup would be full of championship winning challengers which would include rich powerful teams who would command a greater sponsorship and television income to the competition at the expense of the CL, this income would be spread among more teams in any league increasing competition in those leagues.
The numer of teams in the CL needn't drop either because it could include ALL of Europes champions

Then they wouldn't need to change the name because they would actually be adressing the problem.

 

[sunnydelight786]

How about making the CL Champions only then the Uefa Cup would be full of championship winning challengers which would include rich powerful teams who would command a greater sponsorship and television income to the competition at the expense of the CL, this income would be spread among more teams in any league increasing competition in those leagues.
The numer of teams in the CL needn't drop either because it could include ALL of Europes champions

Then they wouldn't need to change the name because they would actually be adressing the problem.

Agree 100% with what you say but the likes of CSKA Sofia, MTK, Brondby, Legia Warsaw, etc dont bring in the money from the TV compaies.

 

[llamafarmer]

It needs a revamp for sure. First and foremost stop the parachute system for the CL drop outs! They have to make it more appealing to win, whether that be with bigger prize money or a CL place for the winners, I don't know....

Europa League is a shocking name though!

 

[joey.leone]

'Europa league'? what a pathetic insult to the UEFA cup. its prestige has decreased by their own doing in the first place.

 

[shakus]

Or the Double D Cup.

Double Ds always get my attention.....


Shaks, this is your second thread in a week. Have you gone mad?

Or are you just as bored as me?

Just trying to keep things going until the season starts so looking for as much random stuff as possible. Plus the fact I'm up around 5am these days, so I get to post a thread before someone else beats me to it.

Back on topic isn't there a car hire company called Europa Cars?

 

[milkman]

Europe Gold Cup or
European Golden Cup or
European Trophy or
Not as good as the Champions League, but still good cup! :shrug:

 

[SpurSince57]

Agree 100% with what you say but the likes of CSKA Sofia, MTK, Brondby, Legia Warsaw, etc dont bring in the money from the TV compaies.

Which is of course the root of all evil. Not so long ago Brondby were a side you didn't particularly want to get drawn against in Europe—they were a bit crap, but, like Wimbledon, they were well capable of causing a major embarrassment.

The biggest improvement in both competitions would be to cut out the group stage and make them a straight knock-out. The entire raison d'etre of the group stages is to ensure that Milan or Real don't have a nightmare on some bog of a pitch in Moldova and fail to make up the deficit at home.

Then, improve the UEFA prize money to something approaching parity with the CL and cut out the CL drop-outs' getting a second chance in the UEFA.

 

[Kyras]

The Champion's League should be for "The Champions" or top 2 at least, that's where the problem lies, not in the formatting, although that's not great either. If a max of 2 teams from each country qualified for CL

i.e. Man U, Chelsea, Real, Villareal, Inter, Roma

would leave Liverpool, Arsenal, Barcelona, Ath. Madrid, Lazio, AC Milan

This would increase the prestige, and the money in the tournament, and would be important again, it would also effect the Cartel of the Big 4 over here.

 

[Bonjour]

It would also mean no more of the finishing 7th and qualifying for Europe nonsense that we've seen in the premiership a few times.