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THE FOUNDER May 2022
The Problems with the New Champions League Changes BRETT VAN ZOELEN | CONTENT WRITER
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EFA plan to make sweeping changes to the current Champions League format ahead of the 2024 season. Some of these involve safety nets for some of Europe’s largest clubs, and fans are concerned because this policy resembles the European Super League debacle of 2021. However, some aspects of the new format are on the right track to making Champions League a more inclusive competition that can help smaller leagues in Europe grow. The European Super League was originally backed by 16 founding clubs from Europe’s top five leagues, with notable absentees being French giants Paris SaintGermain and six-time Champions league winners Bayern Munich. Supporters everywhere voiced their outrage at the concept due to concerns that the league would effectively dismantle the football pyramid. In essence, the European elite are selling out the fans in return for a more financially stable system without the fear of relegation. This new elitist version of the current system is largely problematic due to how it maintains the status quo. Football as we know it has been a pyramid system since the first division was founded in England in 1888. This format has allowed clubs to work their way up from the national leagues all the way to the top, its principles owe its foundation to sporting principles, the Super league undermines all of that. While the division system would still be around to some extent, the worlds most popular clubs leaving would cause viewership to go down and bring further financial troubles on already struggling lower league clubs.
With only three of the 16 founding members still officially trying to bring the concept to fruition, its controversial place in the football world has been taken by the “Legacy” qualification method that is part of the Champions League changes. Fans have compared this to the Super League as it could bail out European giants that fail to qualify through traditional means. While this is not quite as extreme as the Super League, it is more evidence of the footballing hierarchy that supporters fear. Since the beginning of club competition teams have mostly earned their place on merit and giving a free pass to bigger clubs not only threatens the smaller local clubs, but also the quality of competition, as the 36 teams taking part in the competition may not necessarily be the best in Europe. Fans have also reacted negatively to the idea of more games being played per season. The new group stage format would see the number of guaranteed games played in the competition increase from six to ten. Managers have also expressed their concerns over player protection, arguing that adding more games to the already-packed calendar could damage young players’ careers due to fatigue. The belief is that footballers are playing too many games, while some fans do not believe this to be an issue because footballers are very well paid. However, matches every three days for clubs playing in four competitions is arguably too much, and anymore would be at the physical expense of the youth.
The only real up-side to this competition format is that the top teams from smaller leagues will be handed more opportunities to play against the elite teams in Europe. This will make some of the smaller leagues more competitive, but more importantly it will allow them to level the playing field in terms of funding as their seasonal revenue could significantly increase, closing the gap between themselves and the so called “top five” leagues.
Football is slowly becoming more of a business every year; the problems have begun to pile up much faster because of billionaire owners with no respect for the sport buying up the elite clubs of Europe. Additionally, as the game has slowly become more monetized, there have been more consistent attempts to dismantle the football pyramid, which has caused supporters to be fearful of further changes, as it seems the sport is moving closer to a system reminiscent of the US franchises like the NFL, that threatens to undermine footballing history and culture. The negatives outweigh the positives, but the new format brings some good ideas to the table and if UEFA can tweak the system they are currently proposing, then European football can continue to grow.
Source: UEFA
