is the champions league becoming easy to predict?

[artursgloves]

the last 16 you could say is a lottery but the last 8 is becoming the same teams every year.the rich are getting richer and to me thats totally unfair.the tournament should be for champions only and not teams who finish 3rd/4th in their leagues.how can the other teams(champions) in europe compete if they are not getting a fair crack at the tournament?surely the big wigs in FIFA can come up with some way of making this tournament more competative for the smaller clubs?, this thread may cause friction but teams like chelsea and arsenal who have never done anything EVER in europe have a chance of winning the greatest prize in europe purely through getting financed by tournaments like this.the reason i did not mention liverpool is because they have a tremendous history in the european cup and they are capable of beating any team in the world(apart from celtic)

[Benitaur]

the last 16 you could say is a lottery but the last 8 is becoming the same teams every year.the rich are getting richer and to me thats totally unfair.the tournament should be for champions only and not teams who finish 3rd/4th in their leagues.how can the other teams(champions) in europe compete if they are not getting a fair crack at the tournament?surely the big wigs in FIFA can come up with some way of making this tournament more competative for the smaller clubs?, this thread may cause friction but teams like chelsea and arsenal who have never done anything EVER in europe have a chance of winning the greatest prize in europe purely through getting financed by tournaments like this.the reason i did not mention liverpool is because they have a tremendous history in the european cup and they are capable of beating any team in the world(apart from celtic)

 

How would simply letting in only the champions let others "have a fair crack at the title"?

 

Wouldn't the semis mostly be the Premiership champion, the La Liga Champion, the Serie A champion and lastly the champion of either the German, Dutch, Portuguese or French Champion?

 

The fact that the top 4 teams in the Premiership dominate the quarter finals and semi finals the last several years only proves that the other leagues are weaker, and champions of those leagues can't even match our second, third or fourth best teams.

 

Arguably being in the Champions League allows for those other teams to have the same financial rewards and resources as the 4 from the Premiership, so how is it unfair?

[Fugitive]

It's also unfair that yourselves and Rangers keep getting Richer and bigger than the rest of the teams in your league.

 

You're annual profit would fall massively if the European Cup was to revert back to Champions only because the prize money would fall, sponsorship money fall, and TV money would also fall.

 

The reason why you don't ever come near to winning it, is because you play in a pretty crap league and the top players just have no interest in joining it.

 

Sorry to be blunt but I doubt I'll see any Scottish team win the European Cup in my lifetime regardless of the format.

[SpeedyG]

I'd get rid of the "home country protection" rule that would spice things up a bit.

[Unrighteous]

I'd get rid of the "home country protection" rule that would spice things up a bit.

 

UEFA would always make the four top premiership clubs meet each other in the round of 16 if that was the case.

[Scott_M]

It's been the same for years.

 

The richest clubs get to the latter stages.

 

Now the German teams & Italian teams have fallen away a bit & the English clubs have taken their mantle.

 

It'll be the same for a few years and then there will be another shift again.

[SpeedyG]

UEFA would always make the four top premiership clubs meet each other in the round of 16 if that was the case.

 

So what. When a league is clearly way ahead of the rest as the english league is those rules guarantee your place way too far into the competition.

[Bob]

I'd get rid of the "home country protection" rule that would spice things up a bit.

 

it wouldnt spice it up at all, its bad enough having to play english opposition in the latter stages, but having to play them in the groups as well? boring.

[SpeedyG]

it wouldnt spice it up at all, its bad enough having to play english opposition in the latter stages, but having to play them in the groups as well? boring.

 

Boring for the english fans maybe, but it would be better for the competition I think. This procession of the english teams into the last 8 is as the OP says predictable.

[zimmie]

Been that way for about a decade. I would prefer it in principal that the European Cup be for Champions only, but the balance of power has shifted so monumentally because of the money involved that nobody would take such a competition seriously now. Big teams in some of the medium sized leagues such as Portugal, The Netherlands, Belgium and Scotland, who would have provided strong teams 10/15 years ago, it's now practically impossible for teams from these countries to sustain a challenge. What's more worrying though is that even sides from France, Germany, and possibly even Italy now, are becoming minnows in the competition.

[Hermes]

The break up of eastern Europe also made it easier. Although they didn't win many European Cups you could always rely on them to produce strong teams such as Red Star Belgrade, Dinamo Bucharest and CSKA Sofia. They were well capable of beating Europe's best. Since 1989 their players have been allowed out of the country and their teams have weakened as a consequence.

[Fugitive]

If it went back to Champions only, I think that European Super League idea may actually be realised.

[RedKnight]

I'm just sick of English clubs dominating it, not to diminish 2005 but every year since then has had at least one English team in the final, it makes it seem, I dunno, less special. That the Mancs have finally got their act together in it makes it hard to take plus we really, really should be on 6 by now.

[philyhamann]

So what. When a league is clearly way ahead of the rest as the english league is those rules guarantee your place way too far into the competition.

 

Cause its called fixing and thats illegal.

[SpeedyG]

Cause its called fixing and thats illegal.

 

hahahaha.