15/10/2007 by leo.

Michel Platini was elected as UEFA President back in January, and it has taken him until the summer to make clear how he plans to revamp Europe’s club competitions. However, as the base premise of the plan had been part of his election campaign, his opponents have had time to prepare their opposition. While the plans look at first glance to be designed to please football supporters – the opposition comes from the big clubs, and it has not taken long for them to get their big guns out and shoot at Platini’s ideas.

Platini has started with one consideration, there is a lot of money in UEFA’s competitions at the moment and it is getting distributed very unevenly, with a small number of clubs from a small number of leagues getting the lions share. Even within the two UEFA competitions, the numbers are uneven – the 32 clubs in the UEFA Champions league last season shared €580 million rather unevenly between them. In UEFA’s second competition, the UEFA Cup, 40 teams made the group stage, but under €35 million was paid out. Even the big money was in no way evenly divided – over 20% was delivered to the four English clubs. Chelsea claimed €34.6 million despite being knocked out at the semi-final stage, a little more than Liverpool, and more than anyone except the Champions, Milan. By comparison, Levski Sofia, playing in the group with Chelsea got a mere €5.5 million.

The first phase of the Platini plan is to open up the Champions League to more actual champions – only 14 countries are represented in the Champions League group stage this season, and only 12 champions (the runners up have got through from Romania and the Czech Republic), 12 more are runners-up, 5 third placed teams, and four 4th placed sides. Under the Platini plan, most countries have one less place – although as a bribe to some, these are guaranteed. So Platini wants to guarantee 22 places without qualification, giving the top three countries 3 places (but no qualification match) instead of four places, with two facing qualification. Countries 4-6 have two direct places (as now) but lose the third chance via qualification. A further 7 champions get direct entry (although one of these can be the Champions League winners). Currently only three of these get direct qualification, but runners-up enter the qualifying competition down to the 15th ranked country. For a country like Scotland (current rank, 11th), this may be good for the Champions, who are excused the potentially awkward qualification match – but not for the runners-up, whose route to the group stage is removed. Under the Platini plan, all the remaining countries would play their champions in qualifying matches, with six of them (out of about 40) getting a place in the group stage. The more controversial move was a secondary qualifying competition for the cup winners of the top 16 countries – four cup winners would eventually reach the group stage. It is this part of the plan that has generated most criticism, and it makes on wonder what on earth possessed Platini to include it. Only one member association has even brought up the possibility of entering a Cup winner in the Champions league – England. Even then the FA had a milder suggestion – that the FA Cup winners could play the fourth of the Champions League qualifiers, with the winner entering the Champions League (at the 3Q stage) and the loser dropping to the UEFA Cup. There is no reason for UEFA to object to this, if formally requested by the FA – after all they already allow the Netherlands to play a series of play-offs at the end of the season which means any team finishing 2nd to 5th can get the second Champions League place (the country only has two).
The final plank of Platini’s re-arrangement of the competitions was to extend the group stage of the UEFA Cup from 40 teams to 48; this means re-arranging the groups from the current 8 groups of five teams, to a 12 groups of four – with only the top two going through from each. Currently with three going through from five teams groups, it is easy to feel that a club does not have to do well to get through. Platini has not stated how the qualification for the groups would look, but the most likely format is one where the total number of European teams for each country would be unchanged, no team is expected to reach the UEFA Cup group without at least one qualifying tie, but teams knocked out of the final round of Champions League qualifications (6 League champions and four cup winners) would not face any more matches.

Immediately Platini had started to propose his plans, the protests started. With so much money behind the current format of the Champions League; UEFA have found that the have created a beast which is not easily killed, or even tamed. The biggest opponents of the new plan are those who see themselves as missing out as their places in the Champions league get given to ‘smaller’ clubs.

The secret in the plan, certainly as far as the public is concerned, and maybe to the clubs themselves is how Platini intends to redistribute the money. UEFA has done terrifically well in selling the Champions League, and in doing so they have created a money pot from which over €600 million is delivered each season. The success of the Champions League, however had accentuated the position of the UEFA Cup as a secondary competition – only €35 million being distributed from this pot. Platini’s plan is almost certainly to take some of the money from the rich and pass it to the relatively poor – and if he has any sense, he will start to tie the two competitions together, so as the sponsors are supporting European Club football, rather than just the Champions League.

In England, four teams picked up €20 million or more from the Champions League last season, Spurs collected €4 million from their UEFA cup run, Blackburn €380,000 and Newcastle €450,000. This gives the big four a tremendous advantage over the rest of the league in financial terms – lesser payments to the big four, and higher ones to the rest (including the ‘solidarity’ payments to Premiership clubs not in European competition) would help to return the competitive edge that the league has lost in recent years. Across Europe, the share of the market pool given to English and Italian clubs was about 20% each, German, Spanish and French clubs also take large shares, leaving a pittance for countries like Bulgaria, Ukraine, Romania and Russia. A more even distribution across Europe would help the leagues in these countries to compete. The argument could then be that stronger local leagues would keep more local star players through higher wages. The flood of cheap foreign players to the big leagues would at least be partly stemmed, and local players would have to step up to the fore in their place. And so by taking money away from the big clubs in England and distributing it instead to small clubs in England, and clubs in the smaller European Leagues, Platini could actually help the English National team!

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04/09/2007 by leo.

Michel Platini presented his plans for the European Champions League and the UEFA Cup to the UEFA Congress meeting in Monaco. The plan makes good on his promises to open up the Champions League, by reducing the number of ‘big’ teams in it, but only just. In doing so, Platini has created more enemies than friends. However, the plan only details the mechanics – how many teams qualify and where they come from. It does not detail the financial package behind it, and it will be the financial package that will be the key to the plan’s success or failure.

Platini has promised that his proposals will reduce the inequalities in the distribution of money from the Champions League, and send a greater share down to the grass routes of the game – but if he does this, then he will antagonise the biggest earners – who may find their income eroded, as well as those that miss out. If he does not support the lesser earners, then they will not have the wherewithal to compete in the Champions League anyway, and the result will be a weaker contest where the like of Liverpool and Valencia are replaced by Levski Sofia and Zaglebie Lubin. In order to keep almost everyone happy, Platini needs to keep the earnings up for the big clubs, distribute a better portion of the money to the others and improve the profile of the UEFA cup so as those that miss out on the Champions League riches have a decent second prize to go for. If he does not manage all of this, then he may find the big clubs pulling out of European competition and setting up a rival concern – and if this happens he will find that the sponsors and TV companies are linked by an umbilical cord to the big football clubs, and that UEFA is merely a knot in that cord – one that can be easily untied!

The current situation is that 32 teams qualify for the Champions League group stage. 16 of these have no preliminary matches to play – these are the Champions of the top nine ranked countries, the runners-up from the top six, and of course the holders. In addition, third placed clubs from the top six countries enter the final qualifying round, and fourth placed clubs from the top three, while countries down the ranking list as far as 15 have both their champions and runners-up in contention somewhere within the process. In the current season, from the top six countries with three of four entries, only a single club (Toulouse) has failed to make it through to the group stages. From the fifteen countries with dual entry, only Belgium have not got a team into the groups, while only one club – Rosenborg, champions of 19th ranked Norway have made it through from lower in the rankings. So the final 32 of the Champions League consists of just 14 champions (including Milan as holders, even though they finished fourth in their league), along with 11 runners up, 5 third and 2 fourth placed clubs.

The new proposal will mean that 19 Champions will play in the group stage, with only six runners up and three third placed teams, plus a special bonus group of four cup winners. This means that nine clubs who have finished runners-up of their domestic league, three that finish third and all three fourth placed clubs are not given an opportunity to qualify for the group stage. The carrot to make this prospect more palatable to the clubs from these leagues is that 22, rather than 16 clubs reach the group stage without playing a qualifying game – that is the champions of 12 countries instead of nine, and the three third placed teams still allowed to participate. So for the country that is placed 11th in the rankings (i.e. Scotland), the Champions have direct access to the group stage, while the runners-up do not get to play at all (while at present, both play in qualifying rounds), and similarly for the country 2nd in the rankings (England), there will be three direct places, whereas up to now there have been four, two direct and two through qualifying. The final team to directly qualify will be the current Champions, so there would be some adjustment if they are already in the list.

One of the oddities of the plan is to keep two groups of qualifiers separately. In one group, the champions of all the lower ranked teams will be involved – with six places to be won, (three knock out rounds, as now). The other group will have the cup winners of the 16 highest ranked nations, with two knock out rounds, and four places to be won in the groups. The detail has not yet been explained, so we will have to wait longer what happens when the cup winners have already qualified.

The new plan calls for a revamp of the UEFA Cup as well. The new competition will have 48 teams in 12 groups of four. The ten teams defeated in the last round of Champions League qualification will get into these groups as a consolation prize, while the only other team guaranteed a place in the groups will be the cup holder. That means 37 further places up for grabs in the qualification process, but the number of teams that will start the process and how it will work has not yet been stated. Of course, 12 groups of four means 24 teams to qualify, so as now – they expectation is that 8 third placed teams from the Champions League group stages will play in the knock out rounds of the UEFA Cup.

As I have said, finance will be a big part of the equation. In monetary terms, the UEFA Cup is not a second division to the Champions League, but a very poor cousin indeed, but there is no need for it to be so. I have heard it said that the sponsors only want to be associated with the big clubs, but the idea that there is a ‘big four’ in England has only come about since the Champions league has given four clubs an advantage over the rest each term. Apart from the fact that one of the big four drops to the UEFA Cup given this plan, there are a number of other English clubs that are equally, or near equally good for sponsors – Newcastle, Everton and Spurs immediately spring to mind. The same is equally true for most other major countries in Europe.

It is, however, already clear that many of the biggest clubs are going to be against the changes. The revised concept may threaten their access to the competition, or their earnings within it. It is these big clubs that have the best scope to brief against the plans, so the opposition is likely to be loud, while support for the plan may find it difficult to get an airing. If they act together, the biggest clubs can simply refuse to be part of the new competition, and branch out to create their own European League. UEFA may think they have powers to stop this – but UEFA may find they do not have the powers they think they have. If Manchester United, Milan and Real Madrid are all together in the alternative European League, then where are Ford, Mastercard and Amstel beer going to want their money to go? And who is Sky wanting to televise? Even disenfranchising the clubs is not a serious threat, as there is no way you can stop them going their own way.

Overall, I find myself in favour of the Platini plan, subject to some reservations, and the big question over money. Certain we need to reform the competition and create a more equal playing field. There is a danger that in each of the major countries a small and unchallengable elite will come to the fore, perpetuated by champions league money, while the same factors are preventing clubs from other countries challenging for the honours - showing to all and sundry that their leagues are second rate. We should want competitive leagues in as many countries as possible, and also for these leagues to be able to compete with each other

I am uncertain about the cup-winners idea. The FA wanted to have the option to give a place to the FA Cup winners in order to restore the cachet of the competition, but most countries are ambivalent about cup competitions and would prefer a place for league sides. While ten of the failed qualifying sides have been accounted for in the UEFA Cup, the fate of the remaining 46 odd clubs remains uncertain – would some (or all) also get to the consolation prize? Finally, if the UEFA Cup is the second division of European football, then should its champions win promotion and enter the Champions League in the following season?

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