The inaugral Europa Conference League kicks off next season, and teams are falling over each other to get into it.
The third tier European tournament is meant to give more chance to those leagues whose clubs struggle to progress in the two bigger competitions. However, there will still be representation from the "big leagues".
For England, it is the EFL Cup winners who get the honour of representing England. As such Tottenham Hotspur are getting the first shot at winning a place. If Manchester City win it, or Spurs win and finish in the top 5 - or 6 if the FA Cup winners qualify for Europe through the league - then it will go to 6th or 7th (if FA Cup winners qualify for Europe through league position) in the league. That means the likes of Aston Villa, Arsenal and current 6th and 7th sides Liverpool and Everton are very much in the fight for the place.
The English qualifier will join in a play off round, along with the teams finishing 6th in Spain (currently Real Betis), 6th in Germany (Leverkusen), 7th in Italy (Lazio), 5th in France (Metz), 4th in Portugal (Benfica), and those who have progressed through earlier qualifiers plus some drop downs from the Europa. Drop downs from the Champions League will also be involved.
Other teams pencilled in to be involved in the first Conference are Club Brugges, Molde, BATE Borisov, Dundalk, Rosenborg, Elfsborg and numerous teams from the likes of Kazakhstan, Faroe Islands, Finland, Wales and Macedonia.
The Europa already gets looked down on, so this tournament will definitely be mocked. The title certainly belittles the competition for English fans, with the association to our non-league. But there is some prestige in winning the inaugral running of any tournament.
How will you feel if your team are Englands representatives in the first European Conference League.
Race to the Europa Conference.
posted on 3/3/21
Hang on! Does this mean that if by some miracle we end up beating Man City in the EFL final, we'll only get a place in this shiiiity Conference thing? WTF?
posted on 3/3/21
Yes, unless you finish top 5 (or 6 if FA Cup winners finish top 5).
posted on 3/3/21
That's not good. For us and for your club, Arsenal. I can't see either making top 5 or 6. I think Chelsea and Liverpool will both overhaul Leicester and West Ham and take the top 4, leaving, at best, two positions for anyone looking to qualify for the EL. That requires Leicester, West Ham and Everton to all fall away for us to have a chance. They're not all going to stumble.
posted on 4/3/21
Doesn't much matter what we think. Won't be winning the League Cup ( City will pass us into submission, whilst sending the viewers to sleep ) and won't be finishing in the top 6,7 or 8 for that matter.
Sorry to be negative, but that's the reality of things with Spurs right now.
posted on 4/3/21
Bring back the European competitions as they ere in the 70s and 80s
European Cup - Champions Only
UEFA Cup
Cup Winners Cup
Once you are eliminated from a European competition you stay eliminated. None of this have another go in a lesser competition you probably didnt want to be in anyway
posted on 4/3/21
We need a Europa Combination for clubs that drop out of the Europa Conference
posted on 4/3/21
This new competition sounds like something you play your U21's in and hope to get knocked out asap.
Like a lot of people, I agree with bringing back the old competitions.
European Cup - for teams that actually win their leagues. Open draw, with knockout games straight from the first round. None of this seeding privileged teams, and countless uninteresting group games. And NO drop down to lesser competitions if you get knocked out rubbish.
ECWC - for teams that actually win their countries main cup competition. For us FA Cup. Again no seedings and straight knockout from the off.
Uefa Cup - for teams finishing second down to fourth.
( scrap the league cup for the top divisions
to reduce fixture ) and give to the
Championship downwards, as just a cup to
play for, with a day out at Wembley.
posted on 4/3/21
The idea of champions only may sound good for those reminiscing, but it will be an absolutely awful competition these days. 55 champions, 46 of them league 1 or lower standard.
CWC sounds nice, but so many teams do the double these days it will be more like CRUC.
All eyes on the UEFA where there will be some actual quality games.
posted on 4/3/21
I think its a good idea to have the competition but I don't agree with drop downs.
Get knocked out of CL you should stay in CL.
Next year CL drop to EL and EL drop to ECL.
So a team could get knocked out of the CL qualifiers, come 3rd in the EL group and then win the ECL. Takes away another team who actually qualified and did well in that tournament from winning. A team will be rewarded for being knocked out twice.
posted on 4/3/21
Gonna be an epic battle