Diarm's ideas to fix football:
Break down the 52 weeks of the year as follows:
38 Weeks - Club season, including all domestic league & cup games, plus European club competition.
6 Weeks - International season, including all friendlies, qualifiers and tournaments.
4 Weeks - Holiday for all players.
4 Weeks - Pre-season training.
Club/Domestic Game:
Clubs who qualify for Europe don't enter the EFL Cup. Make the EFL Cup 2 legged rounds and play them the same weeks as European competitions. Send the winner directly into the Europa League.
FA Cup is the only domestic cup with every team in England. Winner takes the 4th Champions League position.
These changes mean the maximum number of games for any club is 57. You can work 57 games into 38 weeks with no team ever having to play twice in a week, two weeks running (ie: if you play Wednesday then Saturday, you have a full weeks break before your next game).
The club game is run uninterrupted from 1st September until the middle/end of May.
International Game:
A 6 week window runs from the end of the club season each year in May/June.
There are 10-12 potential game weeks available depending on how nations wish to use them.
There are 55 teams in Europe who enter qualifying for both Euros and World Cup.
24 sides qualify for the Euros, 13 for the World Cup.
Euro qualifying takes place in the year following the World Cup.
World Cup qualifying takes place in the year following the Euros.
Euro Qualifying:
11 groups of 5 teams.
Seeded draw.
Sides in each group play each team home and away.
Top 2 qualify from each group.
3 sides qualify in host nations group (host, plus next best 2).
Best 3rd place side across all groups qualifies.
World Cup Qualifying:
11 groups of 5 teams.
Seeded draw.
Sides in each group play each team home and away.
1st place qualifies from each group.
If host is European, 2 qualify from host nations group (host plus next best).
Best 2 runners up across all groups qualify.
There would be 8 competitive internationals in a non tournament year, and a maximum of 7 in a tournament year. International sides could chose to arrange friendlies during the other 4/5 available match days as they saw fit.
This model doesn't feature a winter break, but there is a far better balance of rest periods across the season. Removing the need for any player to play in both Europe and the League Cup will also reduce the load.
The EFL Cup would have an identity of its own, becoming a real target for clubs outside the elite rather than an afterthought, dominated by the second string sides of the big clubs. Offering a proper route into European qualification would help distribute wealth down past the top4/6.
The FA Cup would regain its status as the premier cup competition in the country. With the carrot of Champions League qualification it would command attention and why should 4th place be seen as a greater achievement than winning the FA Cup?
International football would have its own summer season. Countries could arrange events and sell packages to groups of games. Qualifying would take on the form of mini tournaments instead of just being the annoying interruptions they are now.
The domestic season wouldn't have to deal with the annoying breaks every couple of months. Club games could be spread more evenly and more importantly, there would be set months put aside for an end of year break and a proper pre-season, unaffected by international tournaments or cup finals.
