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Carried on from another thread:

Dameerto wrote:

mr_nool wrote:This is a fantastic thread. Wish we could reach this kind of standard on this board again...

By the way, where is the outrage against the new CL format, who h will also allow a few select teams to qualify based on "history" rather than merit?

It almost slipped under the radar with the Super League fiasco - Klopp's been (rightfully) moaning about an increase in CL group games from 6 to 10 though. If City qualify as PL winners for the new format it means to get to the final City will have to play in 17 CL games (instead of 13 for this season's competion).
Interestingly enough, Gundogan has been getting some BBC coverage for posting about it too.

"With all the Super League stuff going on... can we please also speak about the new Champions League format? More and more and more games, is no one thinking about us players?
The new UCL format is just the lesser of the two evils in comparison to the Super League..."

From how I see it, 2 teams will qualify based on (recent) 'history', provided that they've reached CL qualifiers or the Europa League or Conference League main competition (but I may have this wrong, and it could be teams that have reached the EL and Conference qualifiers, too). I'll have a look later to see which teams would have qualified through this route in recent seasons were it to have existed.

From what I understand, the extra places would have been granted as follows:

2020/21: Arsenal & Tottenham
2019/20: Sevilla & Roma
2018/19: Arsenal & Chelsea

From what I can see, the 2 'historic places' in the new system would benefit the big 4 leagues (due to the league coefficient) and near-ever-present teams from second-tier leagues (namely Dinamo Kiev, Shakhtar, and the Portuguese 3). For the past 3 seasons, 4 of the 6 places would have gone to English clubs, unless there's a limit of one per country, which I've seen no mention of anywhere.

What interests me most is the way the league will be set up: One team will play 10 games against 35 potential opposition clubs. Seedings are going to be involved, so UEFA's promise of 'more top-level games' is just hot air (not that I want top level games, personally; I much prefer variety). The top-tier teams almost certainly won't face each other, and will be more likely to face the likes of Club Brugge, Zenit St. Petersburg and Lille on a regular basis. What will happen, though, is that there will be one monetizable team involved in almost every fixture, so no more Dinamo Zagreb v Slavia Prague-type matches.

How many more extra fixtures (broadcasts) will there be?

If it was up to me I'd revert back to knockouts from the start, have knockout qualifiers pre Christmas and then 32 teams knockout from January on.

BlueinBosnia wrote:From what I understand, the extra places would have been granted as follows:

2020/21: Arsenal & Tottenham
2019/20: Sevilla & Roma
2018/19: Arsenal & Chelsea

From what I can see, the 2 'historic places' in the new system would benefit the big 4 leagues (due to the league coefficient) and near-ever-present teams from second-tier leagues (namely Dinamo Kiev, Shakhtar, and the Portuguese 3). For the past 3 seasons, 4 of the 6 places would have gone to English clubs, unless there's a limit of one per country, which I've seen no mention of anywhere.

What interests me most is the way the league will be set up: One team will play 10 games against 35 potential opposition clubs. Seedings are going to be involved, so UEFA's promise of 'more top-level games' is just hot air (not that I want top level games, personally; I much prefer variety). The top-tier teams almost certainly won't face each other, and will be more likely to face the likes of Club Brugge, Zenit St. Petersburg and Lille on a regular basis. What will happen, though, is that there will be one monetizable team involved in almost every fixture, so no more Dinamo Zagreb v Slavia Prague-type matches.

How the fuck can a competition claim to have any credibility/integrity if teams can qualify for their past achievements, it is just a poorly disguised form of self serving elitism, can’t people see this? Absolutely ridiculous, wonder what Pep thinks? He is always blowing smoke up the collective arses of the istry clubs.

Foreverinbluedreams wrote:How many more extra fixtures (broadcasts) will there be?

If it was up to me I'd revert back to knockouts from the start, have knockout qualifiers pre Christmas and then 32 teams knockout from January on.

10 rounds, each with 18 fixtures, so 180 in the league stage, compared to 96 now. I'm guessing all games in the final matchday will have to be played simultaneously, though, otherwise teams whose fates are guaranteed will most likely play weakened teams, so there's one less television slot that can be filled. An extra two-legged play-off part for teams finishing 9-24, so 16 more games there, too.

I'd prefer a knockout-only system as well, with the champions of the top 10-12 leagues automatically entering the last 32 (or even last 64) knockouts, and 1-4 teams from every other UEFA association (excluding Liechtenstein, of course) entering the unseeded tournament. Last 16 (or 32) from January on, with the preliminary rounds from late August onward. If teams like Arsenal want to avoid traipsing to Azerbaijan and the Faroes, they should buck up their act in the league.

“Champions” League

Harry Dowd scored wrote:

BlueinBosnia wrote:From what I understand, the extra places would have been granted as follows:

2020/21: Arsenal & Tottenham
2019/20: Sevilla & Roma
2018/19: Arsenal & Chelsea

From what I can see, the 2 'historic places' in the new system would benefit the big 4 leagues (due to the league coefficient) and near-ever-present teams from second-tier leagues (namely Dinamo Kiev, Shakhtar, and the Portuguese 3). For the past 3 seasons, 4 of the 6 places would have gone to English clubs, unless there's a limit of one per country, which I've seen no mention of anywhere.

What interests me most is the way the league will be set up: One team will play 10 games against 35 potential opposition clubs. Seedings are going to be involved, so UEFA's promise of 'more top-level games' is just hot air (not that I want top level games, personally; I much prefer variety). The top-tier teams almost certainly won't face each other, and will be more likely to face the likes of Club Brugge, Zenit St. Petersburg and Lille on a regular basis. What will happen, though, is that there will be one monetizable team involved in almost every fixture, so no more Dinamo Zagreb v Slavia Prague-type matches.

How the fuck can a competition claim to have any credibility/integrity if teams can qualify for their past achievements, it is just a poorly disguised form of self serving elitism, can’t people see this? Absolutely ridiculous, wonder what Pep thinks? He is always blowing smoke up the collective arses of the istry clubs.

'Past achievements' only take into account the past 5 seasons, which, although unfair (if Fernandinho leaves, will we have any players left next season that were involved in our performances 5 seasons ago?), is better than what I'd feared. The lion's share of unfairness comes from the country coefficient, which gives teams from Italy, Spain & England a 10-15 point boost over teams from Ukraine, Turkey & Switzerland, if they otherwise have identical records in Europe.

Let’s see if the cheerleaders against the ESL are as vocal with these changes to the CL whereby top 6 clubs can potentially get in through the back door despite not being good enough to qualify ordinarily. Messers Neville Carragher Keown Dixon et all, I am looking at you but shan’t hold my breath

Time to call their bluff and someone take civil court case against them . They are lying it isn't a Champions Competition,