UEFA Champions League 2021/22

[stokeriño]

"Bayern/Salzburg are drawing on aggregate... maybe that will be a more interesting game than Liverpool/Inter."

*Bayern get two penalties in first 20-odd minutes*

Well, never mind.

[Colly]

 

[DavidMarrio]

Pretty dull game but it's the classic we're two up in the tie so can't really complain. 

Also there was a medical emergency which stopped the game for a few minutes so hoping the person is okay. It's weird how eerily it gets when you're stood there hoping it's not the worst 

[stokeriño]

Okay I'm glad I have the Liverpool game on now.

It may end the competitiveness of the tie but it was kind of funny how stupid Alexis' timing was on that.

[DavidMarrio]

That second half was weird. Inter started to play like they were winning the tie and we were chasing it. 

I mean we're through. I'm not really fussed we lost as we hit the woodwork three times and probably should have won but it's like meh. 

[gunnar hendershow]

Inter probably would've scored a 2nd Alexis not been a moron. Bad luck with Liverpool's shots just missing and Inter playing a really strong 2nd half, the recipe was there. Alexis definitely messed it all up though.

[Chris2K]

Poor Poch. He doesn't deserve the inevitable onslaught he's going to get from this defeat.

[Szumi]

There was drama after PSG/Madrid too with security having to intervene when president Nasser Al-Khelaifi and sporting director Leonardo went looking for the referee to complain about his performance, sources have told ESPN. They were shouting at the refs and using foul language, pretty much. Acted like a bunch of drunken fans, not club executives. 

I would say punishments are incoming, but we know UEFA never holds PSG accountable

[Lineker]

 

[stokeriño]

I like to think that Pulisic goal was directly inspired by the sheer embarrassment that was the Lille PA man getting involved in chants. Hideous.

[Colly]

Juve fucked that a bit.

[Benjamin]

Jesus, seeing some of the shit some United fans have been sending to Rashford, no wonder he's lost his temper that night. Vile stuff, some of them. 

[fourstarfizzle]

I don't think that draw could have gone any better for Liverpool. Happy days!

[gunnar hendershow]

Well that was a fun run for Villarreal and Benfica.

[Benjamin]

Waiting for the inevitable final between Unai Emery and Diego Simeone 💤

[Lineker]

Quote

Plans that would enable clubs to qualify for the Champions League based on historic performance and not their league position are back on the table, a year after the collapse of the European Super League.

Members of the European Club Association, an organisation which includes 10 Premier League sides, are to lobby Uefa to allow two teams to qualify for Europe’s elite club competition based in part on their coefficient, a metric calculated according to continental performance over the five previous seasons.

The Guardian understands that the proposals would see clubs who finish outside Champions League places in their domestic leagues, but qualify for the Europa League or win a domestic cup, compete for two places which would then be decided by coefficient ranking.

The proposals have been discussed within the Club Competitions Committee working group, which sees senior members of the ECA work on competition reforms with Uefa. They are also likely to be raised at the organisation’s General Assembly in Vienna this week.

Allowing clubs to qualify for the Champions League via club coefficient were part of original plans to expand the competition approved by Uefa last year. At the time they were seen as allowing big clubs to guarantee a place in the competition even if they failed to qualify on merit by league position.

Following the collapse of the European Super League and public concerns over preserving “sporting integrity”, Uefa said the reforms could be adjusted. Speaking earlier this month at the Financial Times Business of Football summit, the governing body’s president, Aleksander Ceferin, said that while the means of qualification for two additional sides had not been confirmed, it would mean “more places for smaller and mainly mid-sized leagues”.

Any reversion to using a coefficient as basis for qualification, however, is likely to benefit clubs from bigger European Leagues, where there are more qualifying spots to start with and where teams tend to dominate the latter stages of tournaments. A club in a big league can even see its own coefficient boosted if other clubs in their division are successful in Europe.

The proposals will prove divisive. The European Leagues organisation that represents domestic competitions across the continent is against qualification by coefficient, as are a number of fan organisations. One leading fan group, Football Supporters Europe, this weekend launched an initiative called Win it on the Pitch that calls for the reform of EU law which, among other things, would ensure “qualification to Europe via domestic success”.

The issue remains a sore point within the Premier League, too. While the league’s biggest clubs are ECA members, including all six of the breakaway Super League sides, other clubs are increasingly vocal about competitive imbalance within the division, one they see as being furthered by Uefa reforms.

Last year’s plans for a Super League were led by the then-chairman of the ECA, Andrea Agnelli, who subsequently resigned from his role. Juventus, where Agnelli is chairperson, have also left the organisation, alongside fellow Super League clubs Real Madrid and Barcelona, with the chairman of the ECA now Paris Saint-Germain president Nasser Al-Khelaifi.

Sources close to the ECA confirmed that discussions with Uefa over Champions League reform remained ongoing, but insisted any final decision would be made by the governing body.

 

[Colly]

And now they're off the table.

 

[Bobfoc]

It would have been more interesting if they included performances before the Champions League. Seeing the likes of Nottingham Forest, Aston Villa, Reims, Hamburger, Steaua Bucharest and Red Star Belgrade qualify ahead of Manchester City and PSG would have been enjoyable.

[Lineker]

5 hours ago, Colly said:

And now they're off the table.

 

Quote

Plans to allow teams to qualify for the Champions League based on historical performance have received the backing of Europe’s top clubs as the best way to ensure the competition remains “premium” and “inclusive”. The changes are all but certain to be implemented by Uefa for the 2024-25 season.

The influential European Club Association has developed the system – as exclusively revealed by the Guardian – as part of a process of reforming Uefa’s competitions from 2024 and on Tuesday also gave its backing at its congress in Vienna to new rules regarding Financial Fair Play (FFP).

The reforms, originated in a working group of ECA members and Uefa officials, will include reserving two of the 36 Champions League group places for teams who would otherwise have played in the Europa League but have a high-ranking coefficient based on previous continental performance. These two places would be awarded in addition to those based on league performance, with a maximum of six clubs entering the Champions League from any one national association.

Speaking at the congress the ECA vice-president, Aki Riihilahti, said he was “very happy” with the proposals, which will be taken on by Uefa. More countries than ever will be guaranteed group-stage places across Uefa’s three men’s club competitions.

“When we’re talking about the European performance spots, we added domestic performance because you have to look at the whole picture,” said Riihilahti, who is the CEO of HJK Helsinki and sat on the working group. “How do we have quality premium competitions which are also inclusive? When we add the domestic performance [that means] the next best is there. There’s no leapfrogging. It’s fair, it adds value, and overall when you look at the total picture it makes sense. As a smaller country’s champion, I was very happy with the whole thing.”

Also agreed in principle are new FFP rules which would see clubs competing in European football adhere to an annual cap on the money they can spend on transfers and wages. That figure is understood to be 70% of annual revenue, with the potential for fines or docked points should the level be exceeded. The previous method of calculation for FFP looked retrospectively at a club’s spending and set a limit on the money any club could lose. Again, these rules are to be finalised by Uefa.

The two-day meeting in Vienna showed a united front among the 247 men’s clubs who are members, with plans also announced to create a membership structure for women’s clubs. ECA members committed an initial €1m to assist Ukrainian refugees.

Three clubs missing from the list are the remaining European Super League-supporting clubs, Juventus, Barcelona and Real Madrid. This was the first in-person gathering of the ECA since the attempted launch of the ESL last year, and the ECA’s new chairman, Nasser al-Khelaifi of Paris Saint-Germain, said he did not expect a recurrence of any such breakaway.

“Today we are proving that there is a big potential in the Uefa club competitions and we don’t need another system,” Khelaifi said. “Everyone is against it, from the fans and the media to the clubs – big and small – and [the breakaway clubs] are three only. The strange thing is that they are now enjoying playing in Uefa competitions; they are playing in the best competition. There is no potential they can do something like [revive the Super League]: we are united. In the ECA we found our unity in 2021.”

 

[Naitch]

Between this and the World Cup expanding to 48 teams, can we just agree that football will finally end after the 2023/24 season. Doesn't seem much point continuing after that.