Idle speculation about next season.
By: Dan | June 1st, 2009With the exception of the Romanian qualifiers, next season’s Europa League teams are now firmly in place. UEFA probably could not be more pleased with the way events have played out. Of course there is the usual mixture of up and coming teams, Metalist Kharkiv is back, for instance, and big names from smaller leagues like Club Brugge, FC Basel, and Rapid Vienna. Oddly enough, the key to the inaugural edition of the UEFA Europa League will be big names from big leagues.
Marquee names will abound in the Europa League, but they will not be the kind of stumbling giants like AC Milan or Bayern Munich for whom missing out on the Champions League represents a year in purgatory. A large number of teams that find their European destinies teetering between the two competitions have fallen on the Europa League side of the line. Clubs like Roma, Werder Bremen, Valencia and PSV are accustomed to, and would probably rather be competing in the Champions League, but they cannot pretend that they stand a realistic chance of winning that competition or that they wield the kind of money that ensures perennial qualification. Perhaps I’m hopelessly naïve, but the combination of having a very real chance at a winning a European trophy, and the need to prove themselves after an subpar season should mean that we’ll see a real commitment to winning the Europa League from the outset.
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Comments
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I prefer the second-tier competition, whether is was the UEFA Cup or the new Europa League. The Champs League has gotten quite snoring boring with the same list of clubs year after year: ManU, Chelsea, Real Madrid, Barcelona, Arsenal, Liverpool,etc., but you can watch the British clubs go at each other week after week in the Premier League so what is the point of the CL?
Nope. I enjoy watching clubs that rarely get TV time play each other. I thoroughly enjoyed watching Shaktar Donetsk wield their way to their first European cup. Ditto the last two years with CSKA Moscow and Zenit St. Petersburg.
Posted from
Malaysia
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I also prefer the UEFA Cup/Europa League.
I think the best thing for the competition at this point is to have some of the mid-size CL clubs in the Europa League instead of getting knocked out in the last 16 by the first financial giant they encounter.
Having Shakhtar knock out a full strength Roma, for example, instead of Tottenham reserves would go a long way towards improving the status of the competition and getting the word out there that excellent football is played beyond the limits of CL hype.
Posted from
United States
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