Should Scotland & other countries boycott UEFA events over Champions League plans?

[Davie Bhoy]

Then these Countries would be slitting their own throats.

I disagree. I think UEFA would then have to turn round to these clubs/countries and tell them the deal is off. The Champions League should only be for league winners. Fine they have changed it to add more glamour, but they are still not happy and are now taking the proverbial. It's gone way too far in their favour now and very soon clubs from smaller countries will no longer feature in the CL. This will have a knock on effect to clubs currently playing in the EL.

[sjc]

Just now, Davie Bhoy said:

 

I disagree. I think UEFA would then have to turn round to these clubs/countries and tell them the deal is off. The Champions League should only be for league winners. Fine they have changed it to add more glamour, but they are still not happy and are now taking the proverbial. It's gone way too far in their favour now and very soon clubs from smaller countries will no longer feature in the CL. This will have a knock on effect to clubs currently playing in the EL.
 

I think you're wrong for reasons I've raised previously. Fairness and sporting integrity left football a long, long time ago.

[TheCelt67]

7 hours ago, Davie Bhoy said:

 

You're still thinking of club football. I'm talking of the Euro's. I get that if it was just the clubs taking the stance then UEFA could well call their bluff as it'd be manageable. However if the countries they have shat on refuse to take part in the Euro's or World Cup, then I'm sure UEFA would need to have a rethink.

 

For the sake of arguement, the Netherlands and Belgium decide to take the plunge and tell UEFA that they are not going to enter the Euros in protest as to how Ajax/PSV/Anderlecht have been treated by the major club sides, you can pretty much guarantee that nations who never qualify/hardly ever qualify would be raising their hands to take the place of both nations....and UEFA would most likely accept their offers.  As long as England, Germany, France, Italy and Spain are looked after then who else matters?

[Clyde01]

However if the countries they have shat on refuse to take part in the Euro's or World Cup, then I'm sure UEFA would need to have a rethink.

Boycotting the World Cup would be pointless as it is run by FIFA not UEFA.

[Raidernation]

Frankly, World Soccer Inc will soon exist and take the place of EUFA, FIFA, CONMENBOL, CONCACAF and the others in terms of organizing football and those of us who support "small" clubs or nations will be like your local basketball team looking in on the NBA, basically of no relevance.

Hopefully, because I'm an auld c**t, I'll either be deid or too riddled with dementia to care.

 

Goodbye football..................

[Davie Bhoy]

Boycotting the World Cup would be pointless as it is run by FIFA not UEFA.

I get that but surely UEFA would want as many of it's better nations represented as possible. It'd draw the attention of FIFA as to why they are protesting. Could it add extra pressure. Would UEFA think, wait a min here, we might lose a few spaces to other continents who already want more places?

[Davie Bhoy]

For the sake of arguement, the Netherlands and Belgium decide to take the plunge and tell UEFA that they are not going to enter the Euros in protest as to how Ajax/PSV/Anderlecht have been treated by the major club sides, you can pretty much guarantee that nations who never qualify/hardly ever qualify would be raising their hands to take the place of both nations....and UEFA would most likely accept their offers.  As long as England, Germany, France, Italy and Spain are looked after then who else matters?

Can't see it mate. I think if they couldn't run a tournament with enough decent countries in it, then they'd lose a lot of sponsorship. Think of how many millions of viewers they'd be losing. It'd hit them in the pocket. Plus you say nations who never/seldom qualify would take the place...maybe some would but I can't see it being appealing to UEFA or neutrals. Plus most countries these days have at least one or more club who are starting to make inroads in European football so they'd be taking part at the detriment of their clubs.

[TheCelt67]

2 minutes ago, Davie Bhoy said:

 

Can't see it mate. I think if they couldn't run a tournament with enough decent countries in it, then they'd lose a lot of sponsorship. Think of how many millions of viewers they'd be losing. It'd hit them in the pocket. Plus you say nations who never/seldom qualify would take the place...maybe some would but I can't see it being appealing to UEFA or neutrals. Plus most countries these days have at least one or more club who are starting to make inroads in European football so they'd be taking part at the detriment of their clubs.

 

Nah mate, as long as England, Germany, Spain, Italy and France qualify then UEFA will be happy.  The number of people watching the tournament wouldn't change that dramatically.  Dutch and Belgians would still watch a tournament their nations were boycotting purely because your average football fan can be fickle.

[Nowhereman]

I presume the OP just can't see the irony of complaining about the football authorities organising things in such a way that the big clubs hoover up most of the money

[PauloPerth]

3 hours ago, Nowhereman said:

I presume the OP just can't see the irony of complaining about the football authorities organising things in such a way that the big clubs hoover up most of the money

I was just about to type similar.  Celtic fans have never once complained about the UEFA Cup (Europa league) being turned into a consolation cup, or moaned about being entitled to take part in it once they get papped out of the champions league.

You reap the seeds you sow.  

[HibeeJibee]

As I said in another thread - if they want to give 16 CL automatic groupstage places to the top 4 leagues, they need to increase the number of groups. You could have 12 groups, and cut EL from 12 groups to 10 groups, and the knockout stages would still work (CL group winners would skip R2); you'd have 16 more CL slots to hand-out; and 88 clubs in groups not 80.

[realmadrid]

On ‎17‎/‎08‎/‎2016 at 23:35, HibeeJibee said:

As I said in another thread - if they want to give 16 CL automatic groupstage places to the top 4 leagues, they need to increase the number of groups. You could have 12 groups, and cut EL from 12 groups to 10 groups, and the knockout stages would still work (CL group winners would skip R2); you'd have 16 more CL slots to hand-out; and 88 clubs in groups not 80.

I'm not 100% sure I understand that system, would it be the 12 winners into R2 and then the best 8 runners up in R1 playing for 4 places in round 2?

its looking more likely that they will stick with 32 but the non champions route will be killed off. Top 4 associations get 4 places and then 2 to the next 3. then a number getting 1 with the remaining 5 places open to the Champions of the lower ranked nations as it is just now via qualifying.

However this will result in more Champions playing in the Europa league than the Champions league most season.

[craigkillie]

On 16/08/2016 at 23:52, Davie Bhoy said:

Well what if the FA's of places like Scotland, Portugal, Wales, N.I, Sweden, Holland, Portugal, Rep of Ireland, Norway, Denmark, Croatia, Russia, Ukraine etc all got together & put their own pressure on UEFA to tell them that if these proposals go ahead then they will boycott any Euro Championship's & club competitions? Surely FIFA would then have to stop pandering to the big countries.

Opinions on this or what else can be done in your view?

 

They could just, you know, group together and vote against it.

[The DA]

Maybe we should just start now - watch Celtic getting kicked out for our misbehaviour.  Suffering for our morale stand, if you will. They like to stand up for good causes, apparently.

[Ira Gaines]

The bigots.

We've had to put up with the pandering to your lot for years. You're the wee team in UEFA terms to shut the f**k up.

[Swello]

I saw on Twitter that this new "4 places for the big leagues" is actually going to be announced this morning. Like plenty of people with diddy club sensibilities, I think it's a total joke but given that the CL has been (for me) a borefest for years, with by and large the same teams appearing all the time, I'm not surprised or particularly angry about it. The CL was custom designed to do exactly what it has done - ie, to maximise TV money and give most of said TV money to the biggest clubs - so why should we be surprised as it goes towards it's logical conclusion, an invite-only tournament where the size of the TV market and not sporting merit decide who's "in".

One thing that would annoy me, was if clubs from the "mid sized" leagues in Holland, Belgium, Scotland, etc were to complain after 20 years of reaping financial rewards that were utterly out of proportion to their domestic leagues. The CL has been massively beneficial to the "pot 3 & 4" clubs and has allowed already strong clubs domestically to become unassailable. You'd need a heart of stone not to laugh at the irony of Celtic being disadvantaged by the votes of like-minded big clubs looking after themselves to the detriment of the diddy clubs*...

 

*and fans of teams further along the diddy club spectrum can think back to stadium and pitch criteria for the SPL and laugh at a supporter of a founder member talking about "sporting merit"  

[realmadrid]

They have announced it but have yet to say (or work out) how the other 16 places are going to be distributed.

The UEFA questions and answers section can be found here

[Davie Bhoy]

[10menwent2mow]

The whole game is a bogey with the champion league. Just need to look at the seeding pots to see that. Not a single champion of a country in pot two, yet 6 of the 8 teams in pot 4 were champions, 5 of those 6 had come through the champion route of qualifying. 

 

Basically if Celtic or any of the other teams do manage to scrape through the champions qualifying route, they'll be dumped in pot 4 and given a stinker of a group like Celtic got. 

 

I take the points about it being hilarious that Celtic get crapped on but it's not just them. The dons have made Europe three years in a row and beaten a seeded team in QR 2 every year, only now do we have enough points to be seeded for QR 2 and still nowhere near being seeded for QR 3, if we are to make Europe next season. It seems the rewards are minimal for slight progress but massive for one freak season. 

[HibeeJibee]

So 18 of 32 places will be taken by 'Big 4' and CL & EL title holders.

Country performance will no longer contribute to club coefficients. Undefined "historic success" will now contribute to club coefficients.

Clubs with bigger coefficients will receive more money.

It's a capitulation.