Really? 4 is more than enough but if they give a 5th they need to give it to cup winners. a quarter of the league in it would be a joke
UEFA European Cup and the UEFA Cup winners cup. Top 4 for the European Cup and FA cup winners for the Cup winners cup
It was a hell of a lot more meaningful than the Europa. 1. They should drop the Europa Cup altogether. 2. Rename the Champions League the European Cup because it's not just for Champions anymore. 3. Create a playoff system where 5th placed teams from Italy, Germany, Spain and England fight it out for an extra place in the European Cup. 4. Bring back the Cup Winners Cup for the FA Cup winners.
Best way to spice up the Europa League, I think, would be to stop teams finishing 3rd in the CL group stage entering. Why should they get two bites of the apple?
I've got very mixed feelings about this. The CL is a very exciting competition because it allows the best clubs in Europe to compete against each other. However it is so obviously the pinnacle of the sport that it soaks up lots of sponsorship and TV cash and effectively leads to a self-perpetuating group of clubs who have more money and resources than the others. The same thing happens in a smaller scale in the PL, La Liga, etc. It used to be the case that the money was split a lot more evenly which meant smaller clubs had a chance of being national champions and bigger clubs sometimes got relegated. Now the chance of anyone like Man Utd being relegated is effectively zero. This is not a good outcome but the genie can't be put back in the bottle now. The next logical step is a proper European league. Actually I suppose they could replace the CL and the EL with, say 8 groups of 9 teams who each play four home and away matches with the top 2 going through to the 'Champions' Knockout and the next four going through to a 'Europa' knockout. This would spread the money around a bit more at least.
I think a European league is definitely on the cards. David Dein was pushing for one 15 years ago. For better or for worse, I think that will be the logical next step for football at the top level.
I agree with getting rid of the Eurodisney Cup and replacing it with a Cup Winners Cup as a straightforward knock out competition. Id even say the Mickey mouse CUp winners and other European equivalent competition winners could go in to bolster numbers. Then have the CL as the European Cup as someone said, its not just for champions and in this format never really has been.
