Van der Sar: “We won the league, we won the cup, and we were very close to the final of the Champions League. Yet we still have to play 2 qualification rounds to qualify for the CL. This can’t be good. Someone needs to explain why number 4 of La Liga does qualify."
Van der Sar: “The champions of Holland, Turkey, Portugal, etc. They deserve to automatically qualify for the Champions League. It’s a European Tournament."
I honestly had no idea that teams from those leagues don't qualify for the knockout stages of the CL if they finish the season as champions.
How can a side that was on the cusp of winning a historic treble have to still play a qualifying match for the CL despite finishing 1st in their league? Yet a side that finishes 4th in this country and Spain don't need to anymore?
UEFA are a joke..
posted on 10/6/19
Spurs and Liverpool are now two of the top ten richest clubs in the world. Given that they qualified, we should expect to see them in the knockout stages of the CL with its current bias.
Outside the PL, only PSG (just), Bayern, Barca and Real are wealthier.
Ajax were the only really huge surprise.
posted on 10/6/19
Celtic got to play Alashkert and Suduva last season. Must have been very exciting. Shame we dont get teams like that in CL semi finals.
posted on 11/6/19
comment by D'Jeezus Mackaroni (U1137)
posted 14 hours, 34 minutes ago
Celtic got to play Alashkert and Suduva last season. Must have been very exciting. Shame we dont get teams like that in CL semi finals.
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The snobbery of the entitled in one post.
Soulless.
posted on 11/6/19
Dj can never understand on this one. Which is surprising being an arsenal fan who have has much chance as Celtic of winning it.
posted on 11/6/19
DJ’s points about the CL are usually spot on.
posted on 11/6/19
Nothing to do with snobbery. There is a massive gap in quality, and while the CL has to be representative of a Europe wide competition, it also has to be competitive.
The system in use does that, it gives clubs from "smaller" leagues the chance to prove themselves against other clubs from "smaller" leagues. If a team is good enough it will progress and get the rewards.
posted on 11/6/19
The funny thing is, I get slagged off on here - what is mainly a forum for football fans - for watching too much football. I go to non-league games, I go to League 2, League 1 and Championship games. I will be watching the AFCON, I will be watching Copa America.
I am one of the most likely to watch Alashkert vs Suduva if it happened.
Yet I am the 'snob'
posted on 13/6/19
It's the snobbery of 'elite' when that 'elite' is a closed shop. There is no opportunity for evolution when money is the deciding factor.
The pleasure neutrals get when, for example, Leicester win the league or Ajax get to the CL semi, is delightful but they are anomalies.
Share the wealth in a more equitable fashion and the opportunity to see alternatives to the usual suspects from the TV audience leagues/state sponsored teams will grow. Change is good.
posted on 13/6/19
Real Madrid are state sponsored.
posted on 13/6/19
Exactly, I wasn't being specific.