Just 5 nations represented in this years CL KO Stage

[Kasper]

The 16 teams this year are exclusively from the big 5 leagues:

4 from England
4 from Spain
3 from Germany
3 from Italy
2 from France

Has that ever happened before? Such little diversity? Normally you always have at least a Portuguese, Dutch, Russian etc. team hanging in there but none this year. Statistical outlier or symbolic for the trend of the gap between the wealthy clubs in Europe and the rest widening?

 

[SalfordRed18]

Not shocked.

Hopefully means every knockout is a good tie.

 

[Infordin]

I can’t believe Atalanta actually made it through

 

[Snow]

It's not that surprising, well a little but not much. Ajax going through instead of Valencia and Benfica not blowing that Leipzig game and you'd have 7 countries. You always expect 9-10 clubs from Spain, Germany and England to make it and at least one Italian but now the Italian teams are better again so there's less variance in countries represented.

 

[Bojan11]

Ajax and Shakhtar bottled it especially with home games in their final games. You could say Ajax had a few games to kill the group and they didn’t.

 

[RoyH1]

Not surprised. The changes done to the competition format, when it went from the European Cup to the Champions League were made precisely to secure this kind of outcome.

 

[strongwalker]

The 16 teams this year are exclusively from the big 5 leagues:

as UEFA would say: a job well done

 

[Kostur]

Disgusting chauvinism and racism displayed by the UEFA.

 

[Infordin]

Not surprised. The changes done to the competition format, when it went from the European Cup to the Champions League were made precisely to secure this kind of outcome.

I mean, it’s not like it was so different in the past.

The Ro16 is normally made up of clubs mostly from the big 5 countries, plus the occasional Ajax, Shaktar or Portuguese club in there

 

[Santos J]

Has that ever happened before?

Apparently not according to BT Sport yesterday.

 

[Damien]

Season​	No. of countries​
2010/11​	7​
2011/12​	8​
2012/13​	9​
2013/14​	8​
2014/15​	8​
2015/16​	10​
2016/17​	6​
2017/18​	9​
2018/19​	7​
2019/20​	5​

 

[RoyH1]

I mean, it’s not like it was so different in the past.

The Ro16 is normally made up of clubs mostly from the big 5 countries, plus the occasional Ajax, Shaktar or Portuguese club in there

It was different. One league, one club. Look at some of the clubs that were making knockouts back in the day, Anderlecht, Malmö, Steaua, Grasshoppers. That’s almost unthinkable now. Only like you say Ajax, the Portuguese giants and the odd Russian or maybe Turkish club can compete now.

 

[Josh 76]

I can’t believe Atalanta actually made it through

Liverpool will get them.
Jammy feckers

 

[KirkDuyt]

It was different. One league, one club. Look at some of the clubs that were making knockouts back in the day, Anderlecht, Malmö, Steaua, Grasshoppers. That’s almost unthinkable now. Only like you say Ajax, the Portuguese giants and the odd Russian or maybe Turkish club can compete now.

The Ajax is a big European club hype train really did it's work. Last year was the first time in 13 years they qualified for the knock out stages. Not exactly a regular contender. I'm of course just a hateful, jealous Feyenoorder, but last year was the exception. This year is par for the course.

 

[Dancfc]

I don't think the Champions of Europe and each country as top seeds is really helping, there's atleast six groups a time now where minnows have next to no chance.

It should be the 8 best ranked teams period.

 

[Gio]

I'm not sure how others viewed it, but I thought that was one of the most tedious Champions League group stages we've seen so far. A couple of competitive groups kept some interest, and I really enjoyed the tussle between Valencia, Chelsea and Ajax, but any group with two top clubs in it was largely a waste a time.

 

[Bestietom]

I can’t believe Atalanta actually made it through

Yes, bottom of the table until last night.

 

[Dr. Funkenstein]

as UEFA would say: a job well done

Exactly. Ajax as the champion and last year's semi finalist had to qualify for the group stages first, so effectively their season starts in june. They have crucial injuries in december, what a surprise! The referees robbing them of 5 points against Chelsea an preventing a late equalizer against Valencia didn't help either.

This is what UEFA wants. For now at least, it will only be getting worse.

 

[Bepi]

This is just the SuperLeague without the fuss... murder without intent.

 

[kouroux]

Not shocked.

Hopefully means every knockout is a good tie.

It won't, despite the 5 leagues being represented there are still very weak teams available in the first round

 

[Gasolin]

It means the CL is getting very concentrated, no? It would also mean that whatever the UEFA has been trying to promote champions from small countries / leagues is not working. The gap is probably too big now.

 

[Paul_Scholes18]

It was close in many groups although some groups was won very early. Salzburg, Shaktar, D Zagreb, Zenit, Ajax could have qualifed.

 

[Allas8]

Leagues with 12 teams should not be able to compete with leagues with 20 teams, so its as expected. 12 teams in a league, and the talent pool gets a lot smaller for that league.

Like even the Russian league is sitting at only 16 teams, and is only competing since money is being poured into that league. The only competitive leagues outside the big five is the 18 team leagues of Portugal and Netherlands.

 

[adexkola]

When I seize... *gets violently dragged from podium, thrown into black unmarked van that speeds off*

 

[Sandikan]

Does this not pretty much happen every year, just normally with Porto in there?

 

[redshaw]

Looking at the stats posted by Damien I'm surprised it hasn't been close most times or happened before.

Does seem right now though a trend of the top teams walloping the others whether CL or national leagues. It's funny how 2015 has 10 teams, when I think of a year the lower teams looked really strong and hard to play against in general it's 2015/16 and I remember our players get pushed off the ball left right and centre, the fitness and training evened up and somehow the top clubs have found a way to create the gap again.

 

[Ish]

Does this not pretty much happen every year, just normally with Porto in there?

Yeah, probably a Dutch/Portuguese/Russian/Ukrainian club or 2
in there. At least Serie A seems to be getting more competitive, year on year, as well. (Or at least they are, in my head).

 

[Mb194dc]

The 16 teams this year are exclusively from the big 5 leagues:

4 from England
4 from Spain
3 from Germany
3 from Italy
2 from France

Has that ever happened before? Such little diversity? Normally you always have at least a Portuguese, Dutch, Russian etc. team hanging in there but none this year. Statistical outlier or symbolic for the trend of the gap between the wealthy clubs in Europe and the rest widening?

It's almost like the CL is "rigged" with the seeding etc, so the countries with the biggest TV contracts get through. After all, broadcaster won't pay the €€€ if there nations teams aren't in the knockout rounds.

The group stage was absolutely predictable and thoroughly dull, a total waste of time apart from 1 group which Inter went out of. They may as well change the tournament format so the big teams just play each other all the time.

 

[Nanook]

It's almost like the CL is "rigged" with the seeding etc, so the countries with the biggest TV contracts get through. After all, broadcaster won't pay the €€€ if there nations teams aren't in the knockout rounds.

The group stage was absolutely predictable and thoroughly dull, a total waste of time apart from 1 group which Inter went out of. They may as well change the tournament format so the big teams just play each other all the time.

Valencia topped your group which was unexpected, Atalanta went through after losing their first 3, Liverpool needed a win in the last game.

 

[Le Red]

As pointed by others, a slight difference in some results and we wouldn't even be having this conversation. It's just a year where the big teams + some 2nd tier teams from major leagues performed well, and some teams from other countries that could have qualified flopped.
Nothing to see here, really.

 

[Thunderhead]

the money in this years CL is crazy, how can teams from smaller nations expect to compete on a regular basis.

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[_00_deathscar]

I'm not sure how others viewed it, but I thought that was one of the most tedious Champions League group stages we've seen so far. A couple of competitive groups kept some interest, and I really enjoyed the tussle between Valencia, Chelsea and Ajax, but any group with two top clubs in it was largely a waste a time.

Ours was tougher than when I first anticipated when the draw came out - Salzburg put up a very good fight.

But yes, it wasn't necessarily exciting games throughout or last minute nerve wracking (first half in the final game vs Salzburg was tough though!)

 

[Fox_Chrys]

the money in this years CL is crazy, how can teams from smaller nations expect to compete on a regular basis.

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That coefficient pool smacks of corruption. An artificial way of keeping the big clubs happy.

 

[André Dominguez]

That coefficient pool smacks of corruption. An artificial way of keeping the big clubs happy.

The big clubs have too much power, that's the truth. If UEFA didn't reformulated the Champions Cup, the clubs would rebel and create a private competition like it happened in basketball with Euroleague, who are currently owned by private companies, simply because FIBA was not accepting the top clubs terms to reformulate European basketball competitions.

 

[Fox_Chrys]

The big clubs have too much power, that's the truth. If UEFA didn't reformulated the Champions Cup, the clubs would rebel and create a private competition like it happened in basketball with Euroleague, who are currently owned by private companies, simply because FIBA was not accepting the top clubs terms to reformulate European basketball competitions.

Inter who failed to make the last 16 got more than a smaller Italian club who did make the last 16 because of that coefficient payment, that's crazy.

 

[OutlawGER]

I don't think the Champions of Europe and each country as top seeds is really helping, there's atleast six groups a time now where minnows have next to no chance.

It should be the 8 best ranked teams period.

This is mainly because there are so many 'top clubs' around these days (obviously because of the money).

Back then we had maybe 2 top sides in each league. 2, maybe 3, sides from England, 2 from Spain, 1 from Germany, 0 from France, 1-2 from Italy.

Now we have 4 from England (could even be 5 or 6), 2 from Germany, 3 from Spain, 1 from France, 1 from Italy of which all are pretty safe to make it into the top 16.


The UCL is about the best playing eachother. So i wouldn't critisize the format. The problem lies in the money the clubs have, mostly in the PL. I prefer watching close and exciting games in the knockout stages and not a game where an english/german/spanish/italian/french side has an easy draw against a random team from Russia or the Ukraine.