A new euro club competition for associations losing euro entrants in p

[Guest DAVIDB69]

http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/uefa-considering-third-european-club-6456216

Naturally the SFA are interested in it as I suppose it would give non Celtic clubs more European game time

Might prove a costly exercise with a group stage to lots of far flung outposts, tv money I imagine would be low as well.

If it had an end prize of say a place in group stages in the following years euro league it might have a purpose.

However down side would be probably Scottish sides being bounced twice by clubs from the likes of the Russian outposts

[kerrdavidson95]

Intertoto Cup anyone?

[Guest DAVIDB69]

Intertoto Cup anyone?

Yes it just seems to be that in reverse doesn't it

[ebbes20silkcut]

Didn't the cup winners cup mean we had three comps.

[HibeeJibee]

Also here: http://www.theguardian.com/football/2015/sep/16/uefa-third-competition-europa-champions-league

In the past I've felt there should be a third level - I think I used the phrase 'UEFA Shield', suppose it would be 'Europa Shield' or 'Europa Cup' now - for the teams which lost in the qualifying stages. You could award direct slots too, not necessarily just for league positions but League Cups, fair play rankings, etc. I'd play it on a straight knockout basis - and with an element of regionalisation early on to avoid trips from one side of the continent to the other.

However ideas about putting 'smaller' countries into their own cup outside of CL/EL doesn't look a fair prospect, while making a third level optional would presumably mean no 'big clubs' and minimal prestige/finance.

It wouldn't really be like the Intertoto Cup... it was a multi-winner qualifying competition for the UEFA Cup. In effect the first 1/2 qualifying rounds of EL replaced it.

[SlipperyP]

Didn't the cup winners cup mean we had three comps.

No it meant we had 4 cups.

[the jambo-rocker]

I think a lot of teams would be more than happy as long as cost doesn't become a thorn in the side, because they'd be happy with the prestige of playing in Europe. Sure the mainstream wouldn't give a toss, but I'd certainly find myself completely caught up in any non-OF team run in Europe regardless.

[Ross.]

From a development point of view I think it would be a good thing for the diddy leagues, but it would need to include a few mid table efforts from some of the decent leagues to give it any kind of real coverage. Regionalise the early rounds to keep costs down and I think it could work.

Might mean the Champions League being moved to 7pm & 9pm kick offs on the same night though, unless they play it at the same time as the Europa League.

[vikingTON]

It would need decent incentives to make it worthwhile - automatic entry to the EL group stage for however many teams (all semi-finalists perhaps} in the following season would be a good option. Those spots can be made available easily and for a diddy club by European standards would still represent a fairly large sum of money and profile against some big names. Marseille, Tottenham etc. home and away.

One of the problems with the Intertoto is that it only earned a pass to be papped out again before reaching the proper stages of the UEFA Cup.

[Doonhamer doon south]

I think if this went ahead to make it any kind of worthwhile the winner gets direct entry into the europa group stage. This compition though should perhaps only be open to coefficient rankings 30ish to 54th as either direct entry with seedings and knockouts but sacrifice europa league slots or as safety net and depending what round of CL or EL knocked out of is what round into third comp they would slot into and again knockouts. I say limit to 30ish for no real reason other than it should be a cup for the minnows to win and use to get into the bigger stages of euro football I would like to see this happen but I doubt much profit for both compition and the club's can be made good luck to uefa