Hi all:
There are a lot of good questions lately in here about how qualifying for Champions League soccer works. Here's some background from UEFA.com:
Competition info
The UEFA Champions League is UEFA's most prestigious club competition. Originally created as the European Champion Clubs' Cup prior to the 1955/56 season, the competition changed format and name in time for the 1992/93 season.
Eligibility
The UEFA Champions League is open to each national association's domestic champions, as well as clubs who finish just behind them in the domestic championship table. The number of clubs that can be entered by an association and their entry point in the competition depends on the association's position in UEFA's coefficient ranking list.
Evolution
Since then, the competition has continued to evolve, maintaining a mixture of round-robin group matches together with the traditional knock-out format. For the 2003/04 season, following the three qualifying rounds, a new format for the 32-team group stage (eight groups with four teams each) will be implemented. The group winners and runners-up will advance to the knock-out stage of the competition, with the eight third-placed teams moving to the UEFA Cup third round, while the eight fourth-placed teams will be eliminated.
Extended knock-out element
The 16 clubs that advance to the knock-out stage will play two matches against each other on a home and away basis, with the club scoring the greater aggregate of goals qualifying for the next round. In the event of both teams scoring the same number of goals, the team which scores more goals away qualifies. The two teams that advance from the knock-out round contest the final, held as a single match.
And here's an EXCELLENT site that gives a detailed breakdown of qualifying and the format for the Champions League and UEFA Cup:
http://www.xs4all.nl/~kassiesa/bert/uefa/
Finally, here's a list of the teams that made the Champions League for 2003-04 from each domestic league:
http://www.xs4all.nl/~kassiesa/bert/uefa/qual2003.html
Enjoy!
PK
Champions League, UEFA Cup eligibility information
Moderators: Bill_Abner, ScoopBrady
Thanks.
Doesn't UEFA also run the Euro. Cup? I would think that would be a more competitive tourney since it's the national teams. But then that means no South Americans, I guess.
You also wonder if monetary considerations play into which teams get in, the "coefficient ranking."
Which clubs fill up the stadium and kick up money to the UEFA, maybe?
Doesn't UEFA also run the Euro. Cup? I would think that would be a more competitive tourney since it's the national teams. But then that means no South Americans, I guess.
You also wonder if monetary considerations play into which teams get in, the "coefficient ranking."
Which clubs fill up the stadium and kick up money to the UEFA, maybe?
From one of PK's links:
<b>UEFA Country Ranking</b>
The basis for the UEFA rankings is the performance of teams in the European Cups during a five year period. During that period each team gets two points for a win and one point for a draw. From 1999 on these points are halved for qualification matches: one point for a win and half a point for a draw. One bonus point is allocated for reaching the quarter final, the semi final and the final. Reaching the first round of the Champions League yields one bonus point. The so-called UEFA coefficients are calculated by taking an average, based on the total number of points divided by the total number of teams of each country. See the country coefficients of 2003 for an example of such a calculation.
Because the UEFA changed the calculation of the yearly coefficients suddenly with the calculation of the rankings of 1999, there are two sets of coefficients for 1995-1998. Also for this reason I split my archive in 2 sections: a current database and an old archive.
The UEFA country ranking is computed by the sum of 5 coefficients in the last 5 years. See the country ranking of 2003 for an example of such a ranking list. To determine the participants in the Champions League and the UEFA Cup the last year ranking is used, because each country should know at the start of the season how many places it disposes.
And a link to the country coefficients. Nothing about monetary considerations here.
<b>UEFA Country Ranking</b>
The basis for the UEFA rankings is the performance of teams in the European Cups during a five year period. During that period each team gets two points for a win and one point for a draw. From 1999 on these points are halved for qualification matches: one point for a win and half a point for a draw. One bonus point is allocated for reaching the quarter final, the semi final and the final. Reaching the first round of the Champions League yields one bonus point. The so-called UEFA coefficients are calculated by taking an average, based on the total number of points divided by the total number of teams of each country. See the country coefficients of 2003 for an example of such a calculation.
Because the UEFA changed the calculation of the yearly coefficients suddenly with the calculation of the rankings of 1999, there are two sets of coefficients for 1995-1998. Also for this reason I split my archive in 2 sections: a current database and an old archive.
The UEFA country ranking is computed by the sum of 5 coefficients in the last 5 years. See the country ranking of 2003 for an example of such a ranking list. To determine the participants in the Champions League and the UEFA Cup the last year ranking is used, because each country should know at the start of the season how many places it disposes.
And a link to the country coefficients. Nothing about monetary considerations here.
Hmm, that system just seems to keep the strong teams/countries strong and make it harder for other countries to rise up.
How much turnover is there over that 5-year period? Could some clubs be benefitting from the accomplishments of others?
I would think clubs which are in the Champions League regularly are going to draw better, sell more merchandise, make more money overall. Which of course enables them to field better clubs.
The current system is no doubt very popular and successful, however. A win-win situation for everyone involved.
BTW, that bigsoccer.com site has some interesting threads. There was one about the 120 best soccer players of all time and the two best Americans were Mia Hamm and Michelle Akers, which some people thought was a real slap at American soccer (i.e. no American male soccer player deserved to be on any best list).
How much turnover is there over that 5-year period? Could some clubs be benefitting from the accomplishments of others?
I would think clubs which are in the Champions League regularly are going to draw better, sell more merchandise, make more money overall. Which of course enables them to field better clubs.
The current system is no doubt very popular and successful, however. A win-win situation for everyone involved.
BTW, that bigsoccer.com site has some interesting threads. There was one about the 120 best soccer players of all time and the two best Americans were Mia Hamm and Michelle Akers, which some people thought was a real slap at American soccer (i.e. no American male soccer player deserved to be on any best list).
-
davet010
- DSP-Funk All-Star
- Posts: 3563
- Joined: Tue Aug 20, 2002 3:00 am
- Location: Manchester, England
To be honest, SF, most people wish that the so-called G14 would wander off to their European League.
1. It would leave the leagues more competitive (particularly the EPL, Scotland and Germany)
2. I think they seriously overestimate the interest level of week-in, week-out in meeting each other. The atmosphere at games will drop, as no fans will do the away trips on a regular basis.
3. Promotion and relegation would need to be introduced to make the games toward the end of the season purposeful, but which teams in the G14 will vote for that.
4. If the league is a breakaway from UEFA, then technically players in unsanctioned leagues will not be eligible to play in FIFA/UEFA national competitions, such as the European Championship and World Cup.
1. It would leave the leagues more competitive (particularly the EPL, Scotland and Germany)
2. I think they seriously overestimate the interest level of week-in, week-out in meeting each other. The atmosphere at games will drop, as no fans will do the away trips on a regular basis.
3. Promotion and relegation would need to be introduced to make the games toward the end of the season purposeful, but which teams in the G14 will vote for that.
4. If the league is a breakaway from UEFA, then technically players in unsanctioned leagues will not be eligible to play in FIFA/UEFA national competitions, such as the European Championship and World Cup.
"The players come from all over the world, the money from deep underneath the Persian Gulf, but, as another, older City poster campaign put it, this is their city. They may now exist in the global spotlight, but they intend to keep it that way."