It's bollocks and completely unfair to teams who finish in the top four. You qualify if you deserve to, simple as that.
CL should introduce wildcards, says Barca president
- Thread starter rednev
- Start date
Imagine if it happened this season, and Leicester finished 4th and we finished 5th and we got into the Champions League because we've been in it more often than not in the last 20 years. There'd be a real sense of shame about it. I wouldn't want United to get into the Champions League in such a manner. If we don't finish top 4, we don't deserve it.
Cluj was founded 100+ years ago, hardly no history.
Maribor is most successful Slovenian club ever, also no history I presume?
Oh and United is so massive at the moment that fecking Norwich and Sunderland are taking points off us with ease, while Milan can't get in top 4 for years now but let's give them wild card since they have history. Why not give it to Nottingham Forrest then or HSV, nevermind they're even more shitier than we or Milan are.
This is one of most ignorant posts I've read here.
Not very sporting is it but other sports do it.
Big clubs are trying to protect their income, we are lucky we can survive without CL but others can't. A poor example would be a top club doing a Leeds. European clubs don't have the PL money either. Where are AC Milan now?
The other aspect is the CL increasing number of teams and we often see rubbish teams in the early rounds. Not good for neutrals or sponsors. It's supposed to be the best of the best. Reap what you sow...
Big clubs are trying to protect their income, we are lucky we can survive without CL but others can't. A poor example would be a top club doing a Leeds. European clubs don't have the PL money either. Where are AC Milan now?
The other aspect is the CL increasing number of teams and we often see rubbish teams in the early rounds. Not good for neutrals or sponsors. It's supposed to be the best of the best. Reap what you sow...
If you actually look at "Wild Card" entries in other sports; they are either not traditional "Wild Card" entries at all (instead being something akin to the best runner up qualifying in football), or they are for individual sports where hundreds of people qualify anyway.
Why does he care? It's not like Barcelona will struggle to make it there.
Cannot believe someone suggested taking away the spots from poor clubs in return for money because they are not competitive.
Cannot believe someone suggested taking away the spots from poor clubs in return for money because they are not competitive.
To be honest I meant no impressive history in the tournament or in Europe, but I'm sorry if I offended you somehow.
In an ideal world I would like to go back to the system where only league winners would qualify, all clubs having roughly the same budget would be nice and stuff like 3 foreigners max would help, so smaller clubs have a fair chance and it would be a pretty even playing field. But that's never ever going to happen again for obvious reasons.
The Champions League is the biggest European league and for me it's about competition and entertainment, so I would love to see the biggest and best clubs competing year in year out like in a sort off European super league. I've already said however, that I share the sentiments about United being so poor that I'm not sure we would deserve a wild card this year. But at the same time if something similar would happen to a huge club with a genuine existing fanbase and legitimate sponsors, I would't mind if they got some kind of wild card either.
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well said.
These non-rich clubs should just be closed. Make a rule that in football only clubs with €100m+ budget can compete. Close all Eastern European leagues. Actually scrap that, close all East Europe countries while you're at it, there's no point to them.
If wildcards were introduced, clubs like United, Liverpool and Milan could be seriously mediocre and still get into the CL every year. That would give the Glazers even more of an excuse to neglect the playing side of the club.
The requirement to qualify the CL is one of the few things keeping our parasitic owners honest at the moment. We need to keep it in place.
The requirement to qualify the CL is one of the few things keeping our parasitic owners honest at the moment. We need to keep it in place.
Woody would love this. He'd never have to sack Van Gaal.
What's wrong with the Europa League? Djepr did quite well there, surely that was exciting.
Champions League is a higher competition where you get to play the best teams. Europa League is secondary. You don't send teams to secondary competitions just because they're not rich. Are you going to ask Leicester to return the title if they win it if they fail to show €100m in their bank account? Will you actually recognize their title win or will you consider the highest placed rich team as champions?
Well like I said, where I'm from (Holland) loads of fans have complained about being bored with the obligatory Champions League group matches against half arsed top teams who have five times the budget. PSV is a nice exception this year (first time in 10 years though) but they're never going to win it and I'm genuinely under the impression many people wouldn't mind only playing in the Europa League if that meant getting more money like I suggested.
Perhaps clubs could use that cash to finally keep one of their best players for a season longer, making the league a tiny bit more interesting. Or use the cash to invest in the team to compete in the Europa league for a change, because even that has been nearly impossible for the last ten years.
How would he balance this?
This could potentially heavily influence country coefficients and even domestic leagues, because it would be much harder for smaller teams to catch up to the top clubs.
This could potentially heavily influence country coefficients and even domestic leagues, because it would be much harder for smaller teams to catch up to the top clubs.
I'm sure the players would just LOVE it when the clubs sells out their CL campaign.
Yeah what's wrong with Europa League if it's the competition where some "big clubs" belong?
Are you offended too because I called PSG a fake plastic club? I can't really say I'm sorry for that.
I agree, though maybe Donezk and Zenit could be allowed to stay around, they seem pretty wealthy.
No I didn't notice, but I'm completely baffled by your condescending attitude towards the smaller clubs. Incredible really.
I'd like it if the wildcard was actually wild. Put every top division club in Europe into a hat and pull out one name.
Makes sense for UEFA as it protects their income but for the fans I don't think so. It basically just states that all the big commercially successful clubs will be guaranteed entry.
In that case you might as well just decide which clubs qualify on a co-efficient basis and rid the league placing system.
In that case you might as well just decide which clubs qualify on a co-efficient basis and rid the league placing system.
Awful. just awful.
Or like the fair play league, except to an extreme version. Roberto Martinez would take Lukaku and Barkley out to (some parts of) Africa to dig wells and handing out Malaria nets. So Guus Hiddink flies out to personally take control of the response to the Ebola crisis which leads to Van Gaal heading to South America, his Philosophy in tow, to try and eradicate the Zika Virus.
I like this idea a lot.
Now this I could probably get on board with for the entertainment value. Imagine a team like Leicester last year getting it and then winning the entire thing.
It should go back to straight knockout with maximum of 2 places per league and that includes the champions of each league regardless of whether they're in England, Spain, Italy or Germany. I find it a load of bollocks that the champions of Sweden have to qualify simply because UEFA don't find them glamorous enough to be included straight away. Criminals.
The president of the team that has won it 4 times in the last 10 years thinks its a good idea - im with him.
At least you can say he has no real agenda cos Barcelona should be favourites til Messi retires.
Id love to say "if we cant qualify we dont deserve it" but nope im selfish and want to see United in it every year. If it helps or gives us a chance of being in it every year then im all for it.
At least you can say he has no real agenda cos Barcelona should be favourites til Messi retires.
Id love to say "if we cant qualify we dont deserve it" but nope im selfish and want to see United in it every year. If it helps or gives us a chance of being in it every year then im all for it.
Wow. That is horrible. Being a supporter of a team "without history" who qualified for the CL two years in a row (widely seen as one of the most impressive feats of Swedish club football) I would be utterly disappointed if we qualified and then sold our spot to a bigger team.
You just outlined everything wrong with the money driven game. For shame.
So UEFA alone will be able to decide what extra club gets entry to a competition worth millions? Yeah they won't abuse that.
So in the name of increasing competitiveness, we'll be able to include an established top club who had "a bad season" at the expense of a club that earned it though merit. Yeah that seems like the best way to get more people interested and improve competiveness.
Well I just feel it's a bit of a farce to act like it's so great to have the smaller clubs in it. Sure it might seem nice to be in the Champions League if your club or perhaps your country has never been in it. But in reality the results of the last 20 years show the small teams hardly have any chance to compete, let alone win it. Not much you can do about that as long as clubs from bigger league have much bigger budgets.
And then there's a risk it can end up costing a lot of money too. Take Steve McClaren's old team FC Twente, they fluked their way to the title, qualifying for the Champions League. After that their board got so caught up by the idea of competing with the top clubs and the allure of the big stage that they were convinced they could be a top 20 club in Europe and made all kinds of irresponsible investments and shady deals. They're now on the verge of bankruptcy, and they're hardly the first time to undergo such a scenario.
Bad management decisions can happen at any club in any situation. I'm sure there are plenty of clubs in Europe who managed to screw up their finances without even qualifying for the CL.
Playing in the CL gives teams from "lesser" Countries a chance to show themselves and perhaps more importantly their players a chance to present themselves in Europe. I'm sure that there are many youngsters who use ambitions clubs from second or third tier nations as a stepping stone, because there they can prove themselves to bigger clubs from bigger leagues in the European competitions.
Team gets weaker ---> Does not qualify for CL because they are weak ---> Let them in the CL to make it stronger.
Logic?
Actually I was just thinking Fc Twente are maybe another example of buying themselves into the Champions league, with money that was't even really theirs, and I'm assuming this happens at loads of clubs.
We could have the viewers vote for the team they would like to see included and everything or feck it, just have the same 32 teams compete every year because we all know they are the best ones 
Awful idea, why would we put more arbitrary power in to the hands of an organisation (UEFA) that many believe to corrupt and/or incompetent. The whole competition is like an 'old boys club' at the best of times and such a gimmick would only go further to cementing that.
Awful idea, why would we put more arbitrary power in to the hands of an organisation (UEFA) that many believe to corrupt and/or incompetent. The whole competition is like an 'old boys club' at the best of times and such a gimmick would only go further to cementing that.
We all know they are not going to win but different teams have different aspirations and see success being different things. Shrewsbury were never going to win the FA Cup but have experienced a magical journey that fans and players alike will cherish for the rest of their lives. PSV managed to get through a group they had no right to (in theory) and it will be a great learning environment for their players however much further they get. Small teams take great esteem from seemingly insignificant achievements and to remove such opportunities for them further detracts from the beauty of sporting competition.
No. Don't reward today's big clubs at the expense of tomorrow's.
For what it's worth, I'm against the "win the Champions League and automatically qualify for next year" rule too for similar reasons. If you want the best clubs in the competition, get them to finish as one of the best clubs in their respective leagues.
For what it's worth, I'm against the "win the Champions League and automatically qualify for next year" rule too for similar reasons. If you want the best clubs in the competition, get them to finish as one of the best clubs in their respective leagues.
Earn the right to compete. After all it's the CHAMPIONS league
That's no reason to go the opposite extreme.
"Elite" clubs should form their version of CL with entry being based on who's having more money not actual in-time performances and problem solved.
By the way PSG,Arsenal and City only participate in CL, haven't won it even once, what's their historical significance?
Is it just me finding it insulting when your competitors start pitying you?
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If this ever happened it'd just be another reason for me to take up rugby or something. The money in football and the dominance from the same teams has already depressed the life out of me. This horrendous idea would be the final straw.