Can UEFA's Crazy New Format Save The Champions League?

[@josecipriano3048]

Nothing can save football from the profit motive.

[@paulberry2884]

That's been the case since Bob Lord bought Burnley and Manny Cuzzins bought Leeds. Single owners replacing local committees was the start of the slippery slope.

[@DrAnarchy69]

A socialist revolution will

[@ninjalectualx]

Government regulations can. Same as any other industry.

[@paulberry2884]

Not under EU competition laws.

[@ninjalectualx]

Then change the laws

[@BLOODSHO7]

The main thing that would help champions league viewership and exposure would be to bring a game a week back to free to air tv and a highlights show for all games through the week. The champions league was way better in mid 00s-early 10s when itv had rights to this in the uk.

[@ajfromcastlebar]

The highlights show is going to the BBC starting from this season, but I still would love to see them air live matches as well somewhere down the line

[@petersansgaming8783]

SRF (Swiss national TV) got a deal with UEFA for the next 2 CL years to air some games for free. Maybe it l'll happen in other countries too?

[@sirsurnamethefirstofhisnam7986]

Would be even nicer if English people could watch their own country’s football at 3pm on a Saturday on TV like everyone else on earth is allowed except the people who actually live in the country where the English league takes place

[@applecorera4]

​@@sirsurnamethefirstofhisnam7986 Historically the blackout is in place to protect attendances down the footballing pyramid.

[@alfredthegreat9543]

​@sirsurnamethefirstofhisnam7986 It's to protect the football pyramid by making sure there's no competition to go to games in the lower leagues. England has over 92 professional clubs (many are professional in the 5th tier too). Other countries just do not have that depth of professional football hence it doesn't matter. Think of it this way, many football fans lower down have that side as their "2nd team" and one they can go watch every other week without breaking the bank. Put PL games on TV in the UK and some, if not many, will miss those lower tier games causing a massive financial problem for those lower tier clubs. The downside of showing 3pm PL games is just too big.

[@julomirowski88]

Nothing better than a HITC sevens documentary at noon

[@stevencooke6451]

It's 9:00 here. But, indeed, a great start to the day. Alfie is on my list of KZbin presenters I would love to sit and happily listen to. Adrian of Rabona TV, Joe Devine of TIFO (though he has become a less frequent visitor to the platform, Pettar of Mentour Pilot (explains aviation, especially incidents and accidents), John of Plainly Difficult to name a select few of a small list.

[@TylerAven10]

Been watching Alfie on a regular basis for about 2 1/2 years now. I’ve never seen him upload a video later than 9

[@nabri-nfg3262]

Me watching it 4 hours later at 11 am almost noon ig

[@Blueflag04]

Evening for me

[@bernardwodoame9850]

I'm watching at noon.

[@arielayo]

Alfie, the benefit of finishing 9th is you get to play 24th. 10th play 23rd and so on. So in theory, the higher you finish, the easier fixture you should have.

[@RasenRendanX]

Ah so it's like the Nba playoffs

[@jamesvass737]

Yes, and the clubs finishing 9-16 also play the playoff return leg matches at home. Furthermore, UEFA says, "To strengthen the synergy between the league and knockout phases, and to provide more sporting incentive during the league phase, the pairings of the knockout phase will also be partly determined by the league phase rankings, with a draw which likewise determines and lays out the route for teams to reach the final". This means in practice: Playoff clubs are paired based on their positions at the end of the league phase to form four seeded pairs (clubs in positions 9 and 10, 11 and 12, 13 and 14, and 15 and 16) and four unseeded pairs (positions 17 and 18, 19 and 20, 21 and 22, and 23 and 24) with the clubs in each seeded pair drawn against the clubs in each unseeded pair,; R16 clubs are paired based on their positions at the end of the league phase to form four seeded pairs (clubs in positions 1 and 2, 3 and 4, 5 and 6, and 7 and 8) and are drawn against the relevant winner of the knockout phase play-offs, whose position is determined by the knockout phase play-off draw, again the seeded clubs play the return leg matches at home. Plenty of sporting incentive there to finish as high as possible in the league phase ranking.

[@thesuomi8550]

Yeah it's like saying there's no incentive to finish top in the old system

[@PazLeBon]

@@jamesvass737 its bs, weighted to the rich clubs no doubt

[@guta4202]

but its a knockout game. anything can happen.

[@thepeopleslibrary9345]

You’re spot on this. It’s a minor point, but you’re especially correct about the playoff game needing to be single elimination. If you’re going to play that many group games, you may as well seed things going forward. Single elimination is also just really fun, and would probably make it the best viewing of the competition for neutrals

[@John_Smith_101]

There is a slight advantage in finishing 9th Vs 24th: not only do the 9th-16th teams get to play at home last (giving them an advantage in case of extra time), teams are drawn like in tennis: 9th/10th Vs 23rd/24th, 11th/12th Vs 21st/22nd, etc. So, finishing higher will give you a theoretically easier draw in the playoff. Although I agree the one-legged version you suggested would have been better.

[@raducora7159]

There will also be no real room for complacency in the last match either. There's 36 teams, but a maximum of only 24 points. There will be a lot of goal difference, h2h and even deeper tie-breakers in play and a lot of things that can change from one matchday to another. Even if some teams will have a play-off spot guaranteed before the last match, those teams will most probably still keep chances for finishing in the top 8, so they will still have a high stake in the last matchday.

[@NUFCOfficial]

​@@raducora7159not with how this algorithm just makes the bigger teams vs bigger teams in the first few matches and then super easy teams play the bigger teams for 5-6 games straight. It's going to be a meaningless snoozefest past the first 2 games.

[@raducora7159]

@@NUFCOfficial That's totally NOT how it works. You've seen the pot 1 matches as first because that was the draw order...but that's not the actual schedule. We will have entertaining matches between pot 1 and pot 2 teams throughout all the 8 matchdays. And that wasn't even my point anyway. My point was that having so many teams congested into such a small point range is mathematically guaranteed to turn into tight standings and tie-breakers. Even one misstep from a top team might mean them dropping out of top 8.

[@АлександрВторый-р6ь]

One big problem for smaller clubs (particularly from Eastern Europe, Baltic and Nordic countries) is that some matches are forced to be played in January, which is questionable if we take into account two factors. One being that there is a pause in some domestic leagues. But what is more important is that one of these matches ought to be a home game for them (obviously no club would agree to play the two decisive matches away) and the weather conditions might be a bit too harsh for football

[@summer_kid]

Absolutely agree. And why do only European international season starts in autumn and not in spring? Football is not a winter sport anyway and not represented in Winter Olympics😂

[@alexojideagu]

@@summer_kid League Football is a Winter Sport in Europe. For example Spanish and English winter is December to March. The Olympics, World Cup and Euros are played when the football seasons have stopped.

[@idkwhattoputheresorry]

@@summer_kid football is a winter sport though.

[@TartanSamuraiGaming]

I really miss the old European Cup. Only the champions of each league, and you had a huge diversity of winners. Celtic, Steaua Bucharest, PSV, Ajax, Dynamo Kiev, Red Star Belgrade. All massive clubs in their own countries and all, sadly, bugger all chance of even getting close to winning this so called Champions league despite having more league championship titles to their names than most of the recent winners.

[@Lonestarr022]

unfortunately you would be a very small percentage of UEFA's viewers, many want to see big clubs play each other, and that is where the money is. So I really cant blame them for going in the direction they have gone. Going back to this concept would basically birth the Super League to dominate over it in every way shape or form.

[@TartanSamuraiGaming]

@@Lonestarr022 you're absolutely right. All the clubs I just mentioned are the proverbial big fish in small ponds. Sad but true.

[@No14210]

Would honestly love it if the UCL was just home and away knock-out football between national champions right off the bat. Man City slip up against Grasshopper in the first round? Too bad, you snooze you lose, gg, no re, have fun in the Europa League. You could even let the cup winners of the higher coefficient countries enter too. Then suddenly everyone would be scrambling to win the FA Cup instead of trying to finish 4th in the league. Then have the Europa League be between the 2nd- and 3rd-ranked teams (and maybe some smaller cups and League Cups) in the same format, and the Conference League at some further step down. Maybe you could have one qualification round for each. This isn't perfect, it would need some kind of system for "relegation" from the UCL to prevent a situation where the champions of smaller countries are almost automatically eliminated from Europe in the 1st round. Some countries might choose to have playoffs for Europa/Conference League spots, as many already do today. Anyway, I know I'm in the minority on this as well, since most fans (or rather TV viewers) just want to see the big clubs/stars playing against each other a lot. But personally I would rather see this kind of system, with fewer fixtures overall, so everyone could have more breaks. No more whining about fixture congestion. In those breaks, the rich clubs could do their own noncompetitive monopoly money league thing for all I care. Spend the winter break in Abu Dhabi for two more Clásicos, and have two more Manchester derbies in the pre-season or whatever. But the basis for continental competition should be, well, competition through qualification in the domestic leagues/cups. Even if Real Madrid run the 1% risk of getting eliminated by Jeunesse Esch in September lol. I mean this is all utopian and highly unrealistic in the modern TV environment, but a man can dream.

[@PazLeBon]

@@Lonestarr022 good, let them go

[@alexojideagu]

@@Lonestarr022 Not always. Nottingham Forest played Liverpool in the 1978 European Cup. League winners and the previous European Cup winners sometimes times ended up in the European Cup.

[@ezraezra2928]

What a very sad news for the world football regarding Sven Goran Eriksson's passing. RIP.

[@T.E.S.S.]

I would give my left arm for 1 season of an old style all knockout CL.

[@petersansgaming8783]

Would be so epix

[@osamsadsamir2848]

You will give your right arm for the New KO system when you see this one

[@maciejbala477]

with only the champions from each league, and the rest going to lower competitions.

[@JaivirSinghMalik-z2z]

I know its not the same, but I hope you follow all the UCL Qualifying Rounds atleast until R3, uptil where only League Champions participate.

[@Gonnie6969]

​@@osamsadsamir2848No one would

[@christophercopley6474]

Can i just say rip to sven sad news him passing

[@OfficialFingazMC]

Didn't realise it needed saving tbh...?

[@PaulBrudenell1990]

Exactly what I came to say lol

[@crxiqz]

No it didn't, it's a stupid editorialised title but group stages did need a bit of a rework even if you didn't want it this drastic. Every year you could predict the top 2 the moment it was drawn only for it to be overlooked because one 'group of death'. The last two game weeks would be useless for majority of teams

[@TheBrainSpecialist]

@@crxiqz Watch the fucking video.

[@T.E.S.S.]

you didn't watch the video before commenting either, lol

[@crxiqz]

​@@TheBrainSpecialistthe 30min video was only uploaded for 15mins when I commented you fool

[@TheAlbumGuy]

Video idea: the 7 biggest financial underachievements in football history (e.g. Chelsea 22/23, or QPR 12/13)

[@ChinonyeEkechikwe]

Thank you

[@eeeeewewew]

Good idea !

[@sifustan3210]

football is being ruined by greed, footballers are being drained by these schedule and fans are being priced out

[@NUFCOfficial]

and domestic cups are being forced to be rigged due to the extra european games that no clubs voted for other than the greedy big 6 that tried to join the super league. They got their Super League but it's UEFA so nobody bats an eye.

[@xyx4266]

USA enters the building! Financiers from US started implementing sports capitalism in EU simple as that.

[@houseofvenusMD]

​@@xyx4266Gulf states and Russians entered first. American billionaires were the last to join the party. Literally.

[@SenuraKumara-ii5rq]

@@sifustan3210 Football is growing in popularity rapidly

[@Alo4321]

Preferred it when only champions were allowed into the champions league. I'm old

[@NgolaNalane]

Nah

[@Lonestarr022]

but there's no money in this. no one will care about he champions of Sweden vs the champions of Hungary, and the rest of the big European clubs would from the super league that everyone seems to despise.

[@mrmeme5984]

you sure are.

[@soundscape26]

Then you'd have 4/5 super teams playing against the champions of Estonia, Slovakia, Macedonia, etc

[@jamesduffy7549]

​@@soundscape26 good

[@chrisguardiano6143]

Meanwhile over in CONCACAF, our Champions League has also been modified recently to become what the UEFA Champions League used to be prior to 1992 & being renamed the CONCACAF Champions Cup. In short, it has become a knockout competition with 27 teams instead of 16. However there is a disproportionate amount of teams from Liga MX & MLS in this new competition as both leagues have multiple ways for qualifying for it including the Leagues Cup. There is also the possibility of USL clubs entering the competition in this new format should they win the US Open Cup, though if MLS has their way & convinces the US Soccer Federation to do it (highly unlikely) the Open Cup would be abolished in a few years. Meanwhile Central American & Caribbean clubs have to go through regional qualifying tournaments just to qualify for the first round of the Champions Cup. I should point out that all of these changes were made to prevent Mexican & MLS clubs from entering the Copa Libertadores & the Copa Sudamericana though if they did so, it would be much more competitive for them.

[@Lonestarr022]

CONMEBOL does not want US & Mexican clubs in Copa Libertadores & the Copa Sudamericana. It takes spots away from clubs in their continent that rely on that money to be sustainable. Then Add the travel expense of going from South America to North America, South American clubs do not benefit from doing at all.

[@maxisosaperez1570]

​@@Lonestarr022 económicamente sí sería beneficioso, México y Estados Unidos son mercados televisivos enormes por lo que los ingresos para repartir serían mayores. Actualmente solo la TV de Brasil sostiene la Copa y en menor medida la de Argentina que está en una crisis económica hace años.

[@FlamingBasketballClub]

Liga MX and MLS clubs used to compete in Copa Libertadores and Sudamericana. 😭😭😭

[@趙祖睿]

​@FlamingBasketballClub What are you talking about when MLS play with them? The only time they play with Conmebol is the inter-confederation cup

[@hullcityafc72]

BREAKING NEWS: shock horror, before the CL, the participants of the European Cup were actually the CHAMPIONS of their respective countries.

[@soundscape26]

Yep but that model is outdated.

[@peterfighter]

Champions of countries were the only Champions League participants as well until 1997.

[@siddyfisher1765]

Yeah ... the shit outdated format

[@GNMbg]

@@siddyfisher1765 true, it was boring fest

[@lilbaz8073]

Guess you' prefer to see your team play the winners of the maltese league rather than barca or juve?

[@DrZaius3141]

Most crucially, the draw in the new system has a much lower variance. Meaning that in the old days you drew 3 opponents - get unlucky and they're all the toughest of the bunch. Now you draw 8 opponents which makes it much harder to have a horrible draw (or on the other side of the spectrum a cheap one). Instead of rolling 3 dice, you now roll 8 which will lead to a tighter grouping.

[@samuelmelnik7722]

There was still a pot system right?

[@Kuddochan]

@@samuelmelnik7722 There is yes, everyone gets 2 opponents from each pot. But larger sample size in general means less volatility. Same reason why it's so much more unlikely for an underdog to win a 38-game league season than a domestic cup competition.

[@lilbaz8073]

It doesn't matter which pot you are in. You get 2 teams from each pot regardless.

[@PazLeBon]

@@Kuddochan and same with no fa cup replays too

[@russellward4624]

​@lilbaz8073 well it does. If your a pot 1 team you only face 1 pot 1 team instead of 2.

[@karlfroberg520]

Documentary of Sven Göran Eriksson is needed!! From Torsby to England via Gothenburg!!!

[@harryt2322]

It’s astonishing how little the people in charge of football actually care about the sport.

[@NotImportantPersonNumber2]

Or players health

[@khy6330]

The UEFA Champion's League is supposed to be "the most prestigious competition in European club football"; adding more teams just makes it that much LESS special. Increasing the pool of teams for the Euros made sense since there were more European nations than slots in the Euros, same for expanding the pool of teams for World Cups; also both of these are NATIONAL competitions whereas UEFA CL is a CLUB competition.

[@PazLeBon]

a 1/4 of the prem be in ucl soon, what achievement is it actually? mehh

[@idkwhattoputheresorry]

"the champions league" yet half aren't champions. And yes expanding the euros made sense because there was more countries in europe than ever before and expanding the euros didn't make it less competitive as the chances of you qualifying for the euros was more or less the same. In the champions league there is more slots, but not more teams competing for those spots (if I am correct).

[@cdanerz3677]

In my opinion the champions league should only contain league champions of the country Like man city, psg, inter and real Madrid should be in the champions league But atleti, braça and aston villa, Stuttgart should be Europa league or something like that. They should keep the same numbers of teams in the UCL and add champions of countries like finland, Slovakia, moldova and Albania Now that's what I call a better method

[@captainfalconmain6576]

i like that idea but it will won’t happen because of money boys are in charge of uefa

[@Kyleterp1]

The only thing I do like is the bracket style of the knockout round instead of draws after every round

[@totsh2056]

How are the knockout fixtures determined. I can't find any information on this.

[@Kyleterp1]

@@totsh2056 it’s on Urfa’s website. Espn has a good run down but 9 vs 24, 10vs 23, etc

[@JH11717]

I like that you play 8 diifrrent teams at the start

[@schobaxt.8781]

11:30 Im calling it. Austrian football clubs are on the rise. RedBull Salzburg isn't the favorite anymore even thought they stil are the same talent generator as they have been the last years.

[@thejulinks]

Austrian here - I'm not so sure about that. Salzburg look super scary this year, especially with the attacking talents from Yeo, Nene, Bidstrup, Gloukh, Simic and Ratkov. They look shakey defensively but damn do they have a lot of firepower up front. My club, Sturm Graz, so far has looked kinda shakey. A lot of players seem to lack the hunger and motivation now that we've finally dethroned Salzburg. Still, the quality is largely there with the likes of Kiteshvili, Wüthrich, Biereth and Lavalée, but so far out matches haven't really been convincing. LASK are in crisis and honestly fuck them for signing the woman beating pos Jerome Boateng. Rapid looked to be in the ascendency but got humbled yesterday, losing 0:3 to one of our smallest clubs (Blau- Weiß Linz). Salzburg this year are definitely the team to beat, the way to do so is by capitalizing on their defensive weakness while trying not to get overrun by their offensive.

[@weavilexd6465]

​​@@thejulinksAustria Wien was eliminated by Ilves from Finland in the Conference and Rapid probably will be eliminated by Braga wich is perfectly normal Braga is a very good team. And Lask also has a high chance of being eliminated by FCSB from Romenia

[@thejulinks]

@@weavilexd6465 Austria have become so irrelevant, I don't even mention them. The club is in shambles and debt, a whole lot of debt. as for both Europa League playoff teams, I'm not entirely negative. LASK should still have enough quality to beat Stenua, if they manage to get it onto the pitch. Rapid's position is looking quite decent, going into the home game only one goal down. And even if both teams were eliminated, they'd most likely have better chances of success in the ECL anyways. In that sense our Bundesliga is looking the best internationally in a long time. If now somehow Sturm and Salzburg manage to sneak a couple of points in the CL (which is undoubtedly going to be difficult), we might actually not lose our guaranteed CL spot.

[@nicolasdressler9793]

May I ask do you guys know how Salzburg managed to qualify for the club World Cup?

[@weavilexd6465]

@@nicolasdressler9793 For acumulating many points in Champions League Qualifiers and decent performances in european competitions

[@LucasEspindolaMeloSilva]

I'm Brazilian and love your videos! Great content with profound research, perfect for who loves football to beyond the matches. Chears from a São Paulo supporter (3x Club World Cup Champions, the last in 2005 against Gerrard's Liverpool)

[@freshdragon2076]

Honestly I couldn't care less about the Fifa club world cup

[@guguy00]

I may or may not have renamed it the "Complete Waste of F***ing Time" on Football Manager. I hate it that much.

[@freshdragon2076]

@@guguy00 Just great

[@EliasRoy]

Most clubs does

[@bengreenbank]

It will be great. Summer tournaments are amazing. This the fun of the world cup but with club teams, it will be great.

[@JGL98]

@@bengreenbank people like you is why football is the way it is now. you consume any garbage thrown at u

[@DavidMayOnline]

Who knew that algebra would be an asset in understanding competitive formats for the ONCE beautiful game. Excellent review. Thankyou.

[@guguy00]

In terms of how it works I do like it more than the old system, having been playing the new one in Football Manager. Still more fixtures is a real concern.

[@chelseacomps829]

Yep exactly. The format creates a lot of randomness and fun in FM. So that’s a decent start

[@christiansimbarashe]

thanks for the comprehensive video yorkshire man, i have been unclear about the format change for several months

[@derekdwaah5839]

I still dont overally get it 🤷🏾

[@jekanyika]

I must admit I have been enjoying the new format in FM

[@maciejbala477]

Yeah, same. I thought I'd dislike it, but it is actually more entertaining to compete in, and I grew to prefer it

[@kev.d]

Same fr

[@clickbait3753]

​@maciejbala477 at its core it does a good job of keeping more teams without confirmed qualification or elimination for longer, that's a big plus imo

[@The_Eray]

Football fans will always think "new thing bad cuz they want money" before they expereince the change themselves

[@frånz_é]

​@@The_Eraysure but the 48 team world cup expansion will always be shit

[@YesOkayButWhy]

You absolutely smashed it with this one, Alf. You had me captivated, compelled, transfixed and amused. And just when I thought it couldn't get any better, you absolutely knocked it out of the park with the very last word: "goolies" Well done.

[@F1Krazy]

tbf regarding the UEFA Conference League, there actually used to be four UEFA competitions, with the Cup Winners' Cup and the Intertoto Cup on top of the European Cup and UEFA Cup. They scrapped the Cup Winners' Cup in 1999 and the Intertoto Cup a few years later, probably because nobody cared about them, but they did provide extra chances for European football. IMO reintroducing a third-tier European tournament isn't as much of a transparent cash-grab as the other changes you mentioned.

[@joshbhoy]

Wasnt the inter toto just a qualification for the Uefa cup basically with multiple finals played out really early in the season/pre season? I just about remember it think i was around 12 or 13 when they stopped it.

[@simonpeyton-n3h]

yes the intertoto was basically a preseason entry to the uefa cup type thing not even based on league position or anything,just anyone brave enough to take on so many games

[@PazLeBon]

inter toto wasnt exactly major trophy

[@julianpinto2895]

@@PazLeBon I don't even think you got a trophy. Didn't they get a certificate instead?

[@FlamingBasketballClub]

@@F1Krazy Why do you support false accusations? 🤔

[@raducora7159]

The incentive to finish higher within the 9-24 range might not be too big. HOWEVER, there will be a maximum of 24 points with 36 teams in the standings. So there will be A LOT of ties broken by goal difference, h2h or even deeper tie-breakers. The difference between 9th and 24th might as well end up being 3 or less points. Cases where a team will afford to treat the last match more lightly will be quite rare.

[@totsh2056]

Perhaps. But I really doubt that after 6 or 7 rounds you'll have 16 teams separated by 3 or less points. Just look at any league table for comparison. In fact I think you're likely to have about 8 teams (13th to 19th) with no jeopardy after 6 rounds - no realistic chance of getting into the top 8 and no real risk of dropping out of the top 24. Can't wait to find out though.

[@raducora7159]

@@totsh2056 League tables look in a certain way with 18-20 teams in it. In the UCL we'll have 36 teams. I don't see a way teams placed 15-18th to be able to slack off in the last 2 matchdays...6 points will be a lot. Same for teams placed 13-14th when it comes to a chance (slim as it may be) to get top 8.

[@totsh2056]

@@raducora7159 Ok, I see your point. It makes sense. How many points do you predict will be enough to get into the top 8? I suspect 15 or 16 points should get you over the line. (Four wins and a draw, or three wins and 3or4 draws)

[@raducora7159]

@@totsh2056 8 and maybe 16-17 are probably the most likely thresholds. But that also depends on some factors. If the very top teams like Real and City happen to drop points here and there (spilling those points into the top 8 candidates) and there are also a lot of decisive results (fewer draws), the top 8 threshold might as well increase to 18-19 points. If there are a lot of draws and the top 2-3 teams sweep the competition leaving no points to other top 8 candidates, the threshold might go as low as 16 points. Even 15 points could end up being enough in theory, but the chances of such an outcome are very slim.

[@WayneW3st]

Idk sounds like more football but hope all the players get enough rest

[@RasenRendanX]

More football equals less rest but thankfully we got 5 subs now too

[@hamza.kavkaz]

​@@RasenRendanX those 5 subs aint gonna help. Teams wont take these small tourneys serious

[@One.Zero.One101]

Yeah with so many games added to the calendar, what will happen is teams will just play bench warmers more often. It's already a problem now and it's gonna be even more of a problem the more games they have.

[@C-Valentine97]

The old format was fine and it didnt need changing that was the main issue, the best thing about this format is that teams dont get a second chance of going in to the europa league which ive always disagreed with

[@phillipnoetzel7637]

The original European cup format was the best; and only the best team from each league competed against the best team from each other league. Non of this dilution of quality for financial means. Sick of modern football; and I have been supporting it since 1982.

[@hugoumero9723]

and dont forget UEFA Cup and Cup Winners Cup

[@fi_k2732]

Old format is not fair. Do you really think San Marino club is better than 2. Premier League club(may be Arsenal)? Champions League is not league of champions of countries, but leagues of best clubs.

[@TheBarbahaba]

great timing i was looking for an explanation .. very well done sir

[@efr2033]

You should make a vid on Bodø/Glimt, who were in the Norwegian second tier six years ago, now on the brink of getting into UCL

[@BALHAM69]

They definitely Last well Last few years 😊

[@weekendroady2060]

They are solid. If they can get to group play they definitely have a non-zero chance of getting to knockout eventually.

[@ezraezra2928]

I think this club will be a major dark horse. A foreign team playing at Bodø/Glimt ground had always struggled to beat this team. Roma were beaten twice by this team (including a devastating 1-6 loss) just before they won the Conference League that season, while Arsenal only managed to beat this team with a single goal.

[@The_Steampunk_Fox]

Eyy thanks for making a video on this!

[@MichalBrat]

Hey everyone, Slovan Bratislava is back in the game! You might also remember them from the 1969 win over some Barcelona club in the final of UEFA Cup Winners' Cup 😛

[@Deni-nl1ce]

No we do not remember that. Was it last year?

[@TemiAbiola]

Would love to see an update on this video after the conclusion of the first group phase of the new format. Seeing how much uncertainty it has added (aka struggles of Real Madrid and PSG), I think it has certainly been a breath of fresh air overall.

[@ristoravela652]

I really feel like football leadership doesn’t understand a really basic thing about sports: stakes. Just as basic fact, the more games you have, the less stakes there are per game, making each game less interesting for most fans. Additionally, the stakes needs to be easily understood by the casual fan. The Champions league qualification and euro league qualifiers in general already suffer from the fact that most fans have only a vague idea how it works, besides the best teams basivally always being there. Stakes is about rarity, but also about simplicity. If a tournament format is overly complicated, it lessens interest because a casual fan will struggle to understand what the teams are playing for. (IIHF world championship have been greatly improved by moving to format most fans can actually understand, and they didn't have to have fewer teams to do that.) One of the main attractions of UEFA Cup and Wold Cup used to be that the stakes for each game were extremely high, and so they were all worth watching. Now half the tournament is kind of meaningless, as you can mostly tell by just looking at the matchups how things are going to go... and even if there is an occasional upset somewhere, it all evens out soon enough. When it comes to sports, less definitely is more, and simple is better.

[@hottakehylas]

Well put. But unfortunately it's money over logic.

[@firestarter1888]

Interesting take.

[@hugolouessard3914]

I originally thought SuperLeague teams wanted to leave their domestic championship. They'd have to, otherwise it would be a ludacrous amount of matches, they'd need 35 players minimum, and 2 head coaches The new UCL format is 15 matches (potentially 17 with the playoff round) instead of the former 13 for a team reaching the final, but A22's proposal is even more with 19 games ! Add the new club world cup and the best teams would play close to 80 games per season with their national league and cup(s). And contrary to you, I think that the fact that some draws are potentially way harder than others is not a bad thing. That was the case back then, when pots didn't work like that or didn't exist, and it worked. I think it makes it less predictable, which is the opposite of what modern football tends towards nowadays, so I'm happy about it. Actually, the new format surprisingly makes things more equal. Because until now, pot 1 teams didn't have to play other pot 1 teams, just pot 2 3 4. And pot 4 teams only face pot 1 2 3 teams, whereas now they'll have some accessible fixtures aswell. Under this format, a team that does as well as Copenhagen last year could really hope to reach the round of 16 regularly, or at least the playoff round. Same for those champions of tier 3 european championships like Austria, Greece, Switzerland or Poland, they'll stand a chance for the playoffs. And teams from Scotland, Belgium, Portugal, France, the Netherlands or Turkey (tier 2) are the biggest winners I think, because they'll all be represented in the playoffs pretty much each year, and even more. No, I think that's THE big problem, because otherwise I like the new UCL format. I've played it many times in Football Manager and not having the same game twice is nice, also there's more suspense until the end. Example : Take a team from the Premier League that is on top of Europe and just won the Premier League and SuperLeague. They have the 38 PL games. In the EFL Cup, if they go to the end, they have the 3rd round, 4th round, 1/4, 1/2 and final, that's 5 more In the FA Cup, 4th R, 5th R, 6th R, 1/4, 1/2, F that's 6 more The SuperLeague in groups of 8 with home and anway against everyone else in the group makes it 14 more, then 1/4 and 1/2 home and away again, and final, that's 19. Add the club world cup if that's that year, 8 groups of 3 so that's 2 games, then 1/4 1/2 and final 5 more games Now add the community shield and the Supercup if it still exists in some form, that's 75 games without friendlies. International players play 2 games in september with their national team, then 2 in october, 2 in november, 2 in march, and 1 year out of two (more for south americans) have a big tournament that is 7 games to the end for the Euro, 8 for the world cup. And national teams generally have 2 friendlies in june every year, tournament or not. That 10 years in a non Euro/WC year, 13-18 with a competition... Now yes, the Euro and world cup and the FIFA Club world cup won't be in the same year, but that's still a potential of about 85 games for some players. And if there's a Copa America the same year as a club world cup, more than 90 ! Maybe you think no team play all the possible games, but it does happen sometimes, and every year a few teams come close. In 2022 Liverpool for example played all the possible game reaching EFL Cup, FA CUp and UCL finals. Maybe countries with 2 cups will have to stop 1 of them, like France did in 2020. France also reduced Ligue 1 from 20 to 18 teams. I think that's a good thing for players. Yes on one side that's one fewer possible trophy for the non dominant teams who aim for the league cup, but there are just too many games right now. And it's getting worse fast. For once the french football world did something smart lol they usually suck at everything. An 18 teams league means 4 fewer games, and a league cup can reach 5 or 6 games for some teams. So that's not an insignificant decrease. But then, I understand that it's not ideal to have less domestic football for more european football, but I fear that it is inevitable, european football between the big teams is what sells best, both in Europe but especially in North America and Asia. Ideally, I'd have a 18 team league (34 games), the new UCL format (8-17 games), and a cup (1-6 games). That's 57 games max without international football, which is already a big number for teams that don't rotate a lot. Although the Premier League probably couldn't reduce the number of team even if they wanted to, since so many teams want it like the holy grail.

[@vinceely2906]

I think Alan Partridge also covered the new format in 1994

[@virtualstatman]

I acknowledge your Day Today / 1994 World Cup reference :)

[@Frankfootball2006]

Do a video looking at seven players who would have played a different position in another era. E.g T.A Arnold, CM, in 1980s Marcelo, outside left in the 1920s

[@stevencooke6451]

I honestly think players should be consulted about the number of matches. In terms of viewership, we are playing a role as we just can't stop watching matches, and thus it creates the idea of the more the better.

[@PazLeBon]

no way

[@TimboMacDW]

Very much agree with your playoff - home/away idea. That really should be the case.

[@Willzxrp]

RIP Sven

[@tommyschmid5831]

A strange change is that being a better seeded team does not mean anymore you get easier opponents unlike it did before. For instance Real Madrid would have gotten one one team from Tier 2, 3, and 4. A weaker seeder team from Tier 4 would have gotten oponents from Tier 1, 2 and 3. Now they all get two opponents from each of the four tiers, regardless of their own tier.

[@HamzaInCali]

It baffles me that Leverkusen, who went through the entire German season unbeaten, couldn’t land themselves in pot 1.

[@michaelbrown6501]

That's because it's based on Uefa coefficent rankings. Leverkusen hasn't done enough in UEFA competitions. This is the reason for the pots.

[@hamzaazakaye3549]

IT DOESNT MATTER ANYMORE YOU GONNA PLAY 2 TEAMS FROM EACH POT SO ITS THE SAME

[@superstrongr]

It doesn’t matter what pot you’re in … you get the same teams… I don’t know what he’s saying…..

[@raducora7159]

@@superstrongr Actually, what pot you're in does matter...but for your potential opponents.

[@Evemeister12]

Reminds me of that david mitchell sketch that lampooned sky sports' football coverage.

[@JoeMercersWay]

My biggest gripe is there's no reason for playoff eliminations with the new format. Every team that qualifies for Europe should play in at least the group stage to Christmas. If you need a 4th tournament so be it. If we're going to have more greed at the top, there needs to be more give back at the bottom.

[@FoggyD]

Agree with 3 of those 4 sentences but the second makes no sense: under the new format, every team that qualifies for the Conference League plays in the group stage until Christmas, while in the two more senior competitions they're guaranteed European matches until the end of January.

[@JoeMercersWay]

​@@FoggyDI mean every club that qualifies for Europe should play in a group stage. There should be no more qualifiers that eliminate teams from Europe before the Group Stage.

[@FoggyD]

@@JoeMercersWay Ah right, I see now. Makes sense with the new format. Why arbitrarily limit it to 3 competitions of 36 teams apiece when they could have a single group of 120 teams in each?

[@JoeMercersWay]

​@@FoggyDWell, I understand the CL and Europa being limited numbers, but the Conference League could have retained the old format with say 64 or 72 teams and then have a 4th tier competition with regional group stages. I just don't like the concept that a team that finishes 7th in a rich league can play all season in Europe because they have money, but a minnow that gives everything to win their national title gets knocked out in July.

[@potatoplayer5956]

26:27 quick correction - Slavia play 35 league matches and not 30 (this is because similarly to the Belgian league the Czech league after the 30 matches are over splits up into 3 groups - championship group, conference league group and relegation group, which means that most teams will play 5 additional matches against opponents from their group at the end of the season)

[@NgolaNalane]

Not gonna lie but Im actually looking forward to the new system

[@NotImportantPersonNumber2]

Do you have any idea how many injuries we are going to have after all of these matches?

[@vladtepes2473]

Champions league was the best when it had two group stages. That second group stage had some fantastic groups.

[@oskarnedbal8990]

Actually Slavia Prague plays 35 games pre season and yes Slavia will go to the championes league

[@philj4574]

I enjoy the qualifying process more than the actual champions league. Give me a load of complete random teams playing through july and august rather than real madrid v man city again any day

[@obsidianmoon6089]

After playing a lot of FM, i can say that i like this format WAY MORE than the group stages.This new format gives the smaller clubs a chance to play against clubs their own level "pot 4" and big clubs "pot 1". I am very excited to see this new format, and i think it will be better than the group stages

[@adrian225]

That is one good thing about the new format. The downside is the higher amount of fixtures per club, as well as the fact that with more teams advancing, bigger teams can afford much more in terms of failure, which will lead to situations such as france or england playing as they did in the euroes and still both making the semis. This will also lead to less attacking and less exciting football in each match as teams will now have to rest their players more, leading to them not wanting to play that intensely. I myself also enjoy the new format quite a lot in FM, but what is fun in a video game does not necessarily translate to real life, as ingame, unlike real life, teams will not be making such detailed adjustments such as playing less intensely due to more matches or deciding that once they have enough points to advance to the playoff they can just play their B-XI or C-XI

[@obsidianmoon6089]

@@adrian225 Im not basing everything of my experience in FM, and i dont say that if it works in FM it will work irl. But it gives me some sort of understanding of how it works. And currently some teams play their B team in the late games of the group stages, because they are already through, while in the league there will always be fighting over places, and especially the top 8. But i cant see the future so we have to see how it goes. It might be good, and it might totally flop. The only thing i want is that people give the new system a chance, and doesnt judge it before they have even seen it, just because its a new adddition.

[@raducora7159]

@@adrian225 There's actually less room for failure in the new system. 36 teams will fight for a maximum of just 24 points, meaning there will be A LOT of tiebreakers in play, such as goal difference, h2h, yellow cards and so on. And since each pot 1 team will also have to play 2 other pot 1 teams, even one misstep against lower seeded opponents can ruin a top 8 finish, while 2-3 of those might even mean direct elimination.

[@adrian225]

​@@raducora7159 More room for failure, actually. Out of those 24 points teams only need between 8 and 10 in order to advance as the total of teams advancing past the league stage is also 24, meaning that they only need to get 2-3 wins and maybe 1 or 2 draws, meaning that out of those 8 games they play only 3 or 4 will actually matter to them. That is actually worse than the current format, because while in the current format the amount of "relevant" games is the same, the amount of "irrelevant" games was only 2 or 3 instead of 4 or 5. Not to mention that due to the higher amount of teams advancing, smaller teams that just got lucky in 2 or 3 games will be rewarded far more, which means that just about everyone is collectively less punished for failure. A system which punishes failure is one with as little games as possible with half or less than half of the teams advancing past the league phase. Also: as the euroes and the amount of big teams that did not even care about finishing second or third instead of first have proven: the likelyhood that teams will actually try to finish top 8 is extremely slim. They'd actually much rather play the extra round, and take that harder draw in the play off round or the round of 16 if it means not having to try as much in the league phase, as has been shown in this euro where teams would much rather finish second or third and take that harder draw that comes with it rather than try to do as well as possible. The only places where tie-breakers will get into play are places close to 8th, where teams won't care if they finish 8th, 7th, or 12th, as long as they get to advance. The only place where tie-breakers will have an actual, significant impact are places close to 24th, though even then most of it will be decided by goal difference, which most bigger clubs should have plenty of without a problem. Or, in the worst case scenario, a bigger team will have to get one more draw or one more win than the numbers I mentioned so that they don't have to put up with that, but even then that makes little difference. As for matches between pot 1 teams: Most of those clubs will either not care, because all that matters to them will be not finishing below 24th place. As a result, they won't really try to win them, instead resting their players for more important league matches or for farming points and goal difference against pots 3 and 4. BTW, you do know that besides direct qualification for the last 16, and better seeding, places 1-8 aren't actually more rewarding? They might even be a bit of a downgrade, as participation in the playoff round means more ticket revenue and an extra participation reward from UEFA. So, for clubs that care about money (most of them do), finishing below 8th will actually be better than finishing 8th or above. Even if you take into account the extra money you'd get from winning enough matches to finish top 8, that won't compensate for the money given to participants of the playoff round For context: a win in the UCL earns a team a reward of 2.8 million € from UEFA, participation in the play-off round earns about 9.6 million €, so to maximise profit from the UCL its best to finish slightly below 8th, winning only as many matches as are needed for places just slightly below 8th, and instead take that extra 9.6 million € from the playoff participation reward + whatever ticket and/or TV revenue you might get from the extra matches. So, if anything, UEFA actively punishes teams that try to do well by paying them less.

[@adrian225]

@@raducora7159 actually, there will be more room for failure, as with 24 teams advancing you only have to finish 24th or above, meaning you need to only be in the top 66% of all teams. Which translates to earning about 9 or 10 points, translating to 3 wins and maybe 1 draw, meaning that half the games teams play will be irrelevant to them. Before that you needed to finish in the top 50% in your individual group. That leaves room for a total of 4-5 defeats, so actually 4-5 missteps, rather than just 2 or 3. Not to mention that a lot of teams won't care about finishing top 8, similar to how teams in the euroes didn't care about finishing 2nd or 3rd in their groups, as long as they do not get knocked out. That's the thing: you assume teams will be trying to win. What teams actually prefer, as that delivers more results in such competitions, is the "don't get knocked out" mentality, because as long as you do not get knocked out, you have a chance to win the whole thing. Doesn't matter if you advance on penalties in every knockout game and only won 3 of your 8 league stage matches, as long as you don't lose in the knockouts and earn just enough points in the league stage, you can very well try to win the whole thing. Clubs might actually try even less than national teams did in the euroes, because unlike national teams, clubs still have their leagues and cup matches to play. I can easily imagine PSG, City or Real playing their B-Squad or even C-Squad, just to rest players like bellingham, haaland, etc. for a more important league match or to try and farm easy points and goal difference against lower seeded teams. And for matches against fellow pot 1 or pot 2 teams I can easily see teams deciding to drop those matches and/or park the bus instead of actively trying to win in order to rest their players for reasons already mentioned. And those tiebreakers only matter for places close to 8th, which mostly won't care where they finish, possibly even preferring to finish lower as participation in the playoff round means a participation bonus of 9.6 million, as well as potential extra TV revenue and more ticket revenue. Meanwhile finishing top 8 does not come with an additional money bonus, instead only rewarding you with better seeding in the round of 16 and direct qualification to the round of 16, which is hardly a reward as teams would much rather take a harder draw and worse seeding much more than they'd risk reducing profit or risk having to actually try in all of their matches. And for places close to 24th, where big teams, as I said, will most likely try to farm goal difference for the tiebreakers, or in the absolute best case scenario try to get an extra draw or win an extra match to avoid putting up with it, still meaning they can comfortably, actively ignore 3-4 games, similar to the current format (if not worse, because the percentage of matches they can elect to ignore is higher, before the change you needed to finish at least second, top 50% of your group, so you could only ever afford to ignore the last 1-2 games, so a maximum of a third of all matches). A system with little room to fail would have as little matches as necessary, and as little teams advancing as necessary as well as granting massive rewards for those who perform better to encourage them doing that. The Conference league is actually closer to that than the UCL, with only 6 matches played in the league stage instead of 8, and the reward for getting into the playoff being extremely small (just like all money rewards from the conference league tbf), on top of the fact teams finishing 1st and 2nd in the league stage receive a reward as well.

[@buggytheprophet1017]

UEFA heard about the Super League plans and were like: Hold my beer

[@AuntieTrichome]

Money, money, money. Did I mention money?

[@ForkCandle123]

Do you think it's about the money then?

[@bhobg]

Rousing stuff as always, APH!

[@nickwall2497]

R.I.P Sven

[@jekanyika]

I hadn't heard until I saw this. I saw him at Anfield a few moths ago. RIP

[@mikeoxlong442]

R.I.P

[@stevencooke6451]

I just watched his video from the winter. It was heartbreaking. I know people sadly die of cancer all the time, but when it's a public figure, and a generally likable one it seems deeper. Especially, when the create a video and you know they are staring at a short narrowing tunnel. I hope if it comes like that for me, I can behave with a certain amount of dignity, and also be able to think about those who will still be around.

[@siler22]

I love modern football honestly, it made me watch other sports that i neglected like: (volleyball,handball, athletics,judo) because of watching football non stop, well no longer

[@ifan_1234]

Alfie, in your last video you talked about the champions of the Welsh prem, TNS. now they have one foot in the Europa conference league stage, they have a 3-0 aggregate lead against the team currently last in the Lithuanian top flight. if TNS qualify, it could change people's attitudes about the Welsh league and bring in lots of new fans and lots of money. please make a video about our league, it's history and the situation it's in

[@Hourani95]

why do they even play in the welsh prem when the EFL ladder system is a thing?

[@ifan_1234]

@@Hourani95 because they were a merger between Oswestry town and Llansantffraid fc. Llansantffraid are in Wales, but also Oswestry is a kind of Welsh town

[@hottakehylas]

​@@ifan_1234 That was not answering his question 😂 he means why aren't they trying to get into the EFL like Cardiff & Swansea etc... especially since half of the club is technically in England anyway...

[@ifan_1234]

@@hottakehylas because they wouldn't be qualifying for the Europa conference if they were in the efl would they? and I think the question is a bit disrespectful to the Welsh league

[@hottakehylas]

@@ifan_1234 I get what you're saying but don't they dominate that league every year? Surely they would be aiming to progress to what is respectfully a more competitive arena. But the European qualification thing is a point I didn't consider. I guess it's a rock and a hard place.

[@ra-ge]

Don't compare things with the pre 92 Champions league where only 3 foreign players per team were allowed. This made smaller clubs to keep a lot of their talent and competition was greater

[@ACSR17]

UEFA's european football is beyond saving. It will make it more interesting for a while, but that's it

[@ACSR17]

@Hadc577 But it won't for much longer, US and Canada are the only countries in the northern hemisphere, where football isn't among the top3 most popular sports, and even when they are "colonized" by football, there will be more fans in new markets, but the old fans are gonna struggle to enjoy anything. I struggle to watch football these days, except for my team's matches. Also even the mainstream clubs like Juventus, Inter, Barcelona or even PSG are longshot away from winning the Champions League, it's not competitive at all, while Real Madrid and Man City are casually putting together superteams, and I bet there are hundreds of thousands who feel the same way, just have a look at the "game's gone" memes. And so these people will eventually look for more entertaining sports to watch and as it turns out there's plenty of those and that will be the trend until the inevitable happens and the rich boys create the superleague. The system let us down, when UEFA started allowing several teams from the same league into the UCL, they scrapped the Cup Winmers' Cup to make the UEFA Cup the UCL 2.0. The growth of the game is not good for the game itself, it kills it and we see it right in front of our eyes. More money in the game is also not good for entertainment. Notice how the most competitive leagues among the so called "top5" are Serie A where everybody is (relatively) poor and the Premier League, where everybody is (again relatively) rich. So to finish this way-too-long clusterfuck of a comment I quote "game's gone" (and there's nothing we can do about it)

[@ACSR17]

​@Hadc577 Champions League is by far less competitive than the NHL, the NBA, the NFL and even the MLB. Three of the four have salary caps, and none of the four have had the same team win 6 out of the last 10 titles. Instead in football we have LaLiga executives playing along with all the fuckery that Barcelona is performing just to keep their fans watching the games, Manchester City haven't gone a full season without being accused of cheating since like 2019, fuck loads of corrupt officials who are getting away with it, FIFA is basically a puppet organisation for all the middle-eastern countries that are trying their best at sportswashing. Football as a product off the field is fucking disgusting, and on the field we see the same thing every week, everybody is playing the same, Sean Dyche is literally the most exciting coach in the game, cause he gives absolutely no fucks about any strategy, just simple "play the game" approach, but for obvious reasons we will not see him coaching a Champions League team. Champions League isn't even for champions. It should be a tournament for the european domestic football champions, but it's not. this season we'll see only 15 actual champions in it. 15 out of 36 teams in the Champions League are the actual champions, which means that 40 clubs that are actually champions of their countries can go fuck themselves, cause they need spots for teams that barely finished 4th in a more popular league. 16 out of the 36 teams are from just the four biggest leagues. 29 teams that are automatically qualified are from just the top10 leagues. The Champions League is a joke, the modern football is a joke, and I wish more people could look at it that way.

[@Lonestarr022]

@Hadc577 but the NBA is still making more money than they ever have. Sport is making more money now than it has at any time in it's history, because of it's ability maximize it's ability to make revenue from all possible avenues.

[@jakab174]

Champions league is not about European Club football anymore, Its a Global Entertainment Reality Franchise with investors from all around the world.

[@bronxblues9382]

You should look into Leagues Cup over in North America. Around 2018, FIFA had announced the 2026 World Cup and CONCACAF had revamped our Champions League so Liga MX and MLS came together to create Leagues Cup. By 2022, MLS had made a deal with Apple TV for exclusive tv rights that would guarantee them 1 billion dollars a year. Realizing they could profit off Leagues Cup too, Liga MX and MLS opted to use the Leagues Cup to break away from Concacaf, FMF and USSF but obviously there was backlash to the point where players and coaches have been find tens of thousands of dollars if they “criticize” the tournament. Then MLS tried pulling their teams out of the Open Cup earlier this year (it’s our version of the FA Cup) which faced severe backlash. MLS cited poor attendances of the Open Cup so fans boycotted Leagues cup. If you compare the attendances of MLS, Playoffs, the Open Cup, Leagues Cup, and Champions League, Leagues Cup is regular getting roughly 10k people a game, then the occasional 15-18k. Open Cup also has pretty weak attendances too.

[@sorawitai4076]

Another example of LigaMX desperately wanting to become like the MLS…

[@_mde_88_]

the AFC top tier is also using the swiss model as well

[@michaelcovington9047]

In reference to the draw. I was doing a Welsh save in Football Manager. My first time getting Bala Town to the Champions League I drew Man City, Arsenal, Barcelona, Real Madrid, Ludogorets, Bayern, and PSG. It was a trial by fire, for certain.

[@Mallrat8391]

I've played the new format in Football Manager, and to be honest, I actually like it. However I'll reserve judgement for how it works in real life until the final when we've seen how it plays out. However I'm looking forward to seeing how the smaller clubs fare now they have a better chance of progressing to the next stage than they've ever had before.

[@johndickson3364]

I like it, there should be lots of teams with something to play for in the last game, trying to make top 24 or top 8 etc.

[@PazLeBon]

clearly they have less chance with far less variance

[@andresenriquezramirez398]

Great content!!

[@juraggight]

Older format is perfect.They changed it just to get more teams(more matches and revenue). To be fair this new format isnt even bad,its just that UEFA is greedy. If it werent for money,than in this format we will see 32 teams like before and the number of matches would stay at 6. 1-8 directly to round of 16 and then 9-24 play off for spots. I dont mind 36 teams,but 8 matches in group stage is too much.

[@MrMultichris234]

Older format was not perfect. As mentioned by the time groups were drawn, you could guess which 2 teams would go through. There were groups of death like PSG, BVB and Milan last year and occasional upset like Man United crashing out but more often group stage was a snooze fest done by MD 4 or 5

[@juraggight]

@@MrMultichris234 that is just difference between quality of big 5 league teams and outside big 5 teams.Format itself is perfect as it was showed in a world cup from 98 to 22. And third place still gets you through to another competition(UEL).

[@segafreak2000]

I do think there isn't really much of a way around 8 matches if you stock up to 36 teams. The general rule of thumb for a system like this is that if you want a clear winner, the minimum amount of matches you will need is the n-th power of 2. So if you have 2 participants, you need 1 match, if you have 4 participants or below, you need 2 matches, 3 for 8 or below, 4 for 16 or below, 5 for 32 and below, and 6 for 64 or below. The issue is - that's just for determining a clear cut winner. As soon as the spots below start to matter as well, that might not be enough anymore either. And since strictly speaking, everything up until #24 matters as far as the qualification for the next round is concerned, you do need a few more matches to get those ranks sorted out too. 7 might have been enough already, but then you have an unequal number of home and away games for each team, which will not do either.

[@ninjalectualx]

It was perfect 🤡

[@AlbertoFolres]

Seeing the matches, it's interesting. I'm on board with this model

[@MarcEricLaneGlobal]

The closest non-big club to come close to winning the Champions League was Roma in 2017, who made the semi-final. It took a) a uniquely bad season from the favorites in Roma’s group (Chelsea and Atletico) b) a “golden generation” in Rome hitting their prime at the same time c) an “even” draw in the round of 16, pitting Roma v. Shakhtar, and famously d) the most famous upset the Champions League has had in recent years in the Romantada. A quite literal handball on the line from TAA kept Roma out of the final that year. Yes I’m still bitter.

[@crxiqz]

Lyon was more surprising

[@a.k8069]

You can also throw in Villarreal 2 years ago, RB Leipzig & Lyon the year before that.

[@ezraezra2928]

@@a.k8069 Monaco in 2004 was such an iconic. They did this amid financial troubles with the likes of Evra, Morientes, and Giuly, having infamously knocked Real Madrid after being 3-5 down on aggregate during the 2nd leg of quarterfinals, which consigned Real Madrid's historic bottlejobs in 2003/04 season. And they only lost to fellow outsiders Porto with Jose Mourinho.

[@sirsurnamethefirstofhisnam7986]

There’s a tiny club with hardly any fans in France called PSG that made a final once

[@ninjalectualx]

If Roma isn't a big club, then you gotta include Ajax's semi run

[@jopearson6321]

I played FM's interpretation of the new system a few times with different level clubs, and I personally like the new format quite a bit more. Its definitely not perfect, but its better than the old system. There is more scope for upsets, and it is more fun to be competing againat everybody else at once, rather than against three other teams. The main downside is probably that it is a slightly less intuitive and more opaque for newcomers.

[@thenameisphoenix]

1: The UCL needed no fixing.... 2: We know they are money hungry 3: but let's just see and hope it's good 💀 4: praying that it's good, starts now 👀 5: rip Sven u Gentleman ❤️ 6: thank you HITC Sevens for ur hard work

[@Lonestarr022]

Saying "The UCL needed no fixing" is an opinion, not a fact.

[@thenameisphoenix]

@@Lonestarr022 I never said it's a fact tho, i just wrote down my thoughts during the video, you do not have to agree with any of my thoughts

[@liborkundrat185]

26:11 Slight correction: Slavia Prague plays 35 matches in the league, not 30. After the double-round-robin among all 16 clubs, top 6 play additional single-round-robin to determine the champion. Not that it matters a lot, as the point you're making there stands strong.

[@DomenBremecXCVI]

On top of getting the best teams, the conference league now has the most sensible of the three formats. Not just that, it's also the only UEFA men's club competition on any reasonable level of satisfaction proven by the fact that no one ever said: "I expected a lot more from this game between Estonian champions and Slovenia's runner-ups."

[@FoggyD]

*runners-up

[@shahzebhasan9995]

To be fair, the success of clubs outside the traditional powerhouses in Europe pre 1995 had a lot to do with the lack of free agency, something that can't be changed (rightly), not just a more equitable financial structure

[@MichalT_03]

The Group Stage has been very boring for many years now. Only the last gameweek is intersting, that is the we don't know the teams that are through

[@jimbob-robob]

Nice one Alfie! 👍🖖✊️

[@tlawal7]

Give us a fully knockout Champions League similar to the FA cup, starting from the preliminarily qualifying rounds

[@Lonestarr022]

no money in this.

[@seandelap8587]

It's becoming a superleague in all but name and it's obvious that the only reason why UEFA was opposed to the Superleague was because they wouldn't be getting the biggest slice of the pie it was nothing to do about the good of football only how much profit that UEFA can make

[@crxiqz]

So cynical, because Stade Brest and Bologna definitely would have been involved in that super league right?

[@deborahluck539]

Sometimes you sound incredibly intelligent and other times like a comedian😅 Best videos around! Hello from Las Vegas!!!!!

[@RyuzakiTaiyou]

Best German players in the premier league of all time. (Day 670) Alternativly you could do "Best German players who played outside the Bundesliga" or something like that if you prefer. I will not give up until the video is made or Alfie himself tells me to stop. Everyone else telling me that will be ignored. If you don't believe my number, just go back to the previous videos. I'm at the bottom most of the time, but I'm there.

[@antoinesilva1527]

You’re surely one of the craziest nuts I’ve seen in these comment sections. Have a good day!

[@josecipriano3048]

Day 670 of having a sad life and having nothing to do.

[@georgehicks4565]

Do all of these not add massive fixture congestion… like the FIFA Club World Cup sounds good in concept but for it to be held in one place it either takes time from the season, meaning games with few days between or means taking time out of preseason leading to burn out, I don’t really see how it works but happy to be educated

[@michaelward5370]

For years I have had a major issue with it still being called the "Champions League"! It is literally a joke considering that teams that finish as low as fourth in certain leagues qualify for the competition!!

[@T.E.S.S.]

wow

[@skoczek777]

at least now it's a "league", as all teams are gathered into one table

[@michaelward5370]

@@skoczek777, I still feel that it's not a fair system especially as now there is the possibility of a team that finishes fifth in their league could qualify! The fact that so many teams from the top five leagues can qualify has totally decimated the so called lesser leagues champions the chance to compete! The money that flows into the top five leagues from the "Champions League" has totally affected teams from the Scandinavian leagues, Scottish league, the Czech Republic, Austria, just to name a few! All these leagues have teams that used to be able to reach the latter stages of European competitions!!

[@F1Krazy]

To be fair, when it was first rebranded in 1992, it was only the league champions from each country that qualified. Then in 1997 they decided to expand it with a qualifying round, and I guess they figured that rebranding it for the second time in 5 years to remove the "Champions" bit would just confuse people.

[@stevencooke6451]

Get ready for fifth. And, for Europa Champions, possibly even lower.

[@Legeden]

tbf ... in the example around @26:00 lower rated leagues have to do qualifiers which adds additional 6-8 games just to make any of the euqopean competitions as a fan of Slovan Bratislava that does usually full league season, national cup up to finale and european competition from qualifiers to group stage (of conference league last two seasons) we've been 1st or 2nd club in europe in number of games played despite having only single national cup competition 2022 - 2023 32 league matches 8 slovak cup 4 champions league qualifiers 2 europa league qualifiers 10 conference league 56 games in total

[@saint-antoinelaurent]

This format is great, y'all just hate anything and always point to "greedy UEFA/FIFA", now a Pot 1 team will play 2 other Pot 1 teams giving us more "higher" quality games Play on FM and you'll see how normal this format is, it's basically the same thing except now there will be more "high" quality matches

[@EzeBall1710]

Been saying this

[@whatanoob96]

No more games where the incentives are massively different for both teams (i.e. games where 1 team is already qualified and resting players vs a team fighting for qualification), which ends up being unfair for whoever had to face the strong team in games 3 and 4. Yet so many people are so keen on brainlessly shitting on the new thing because "UEFA bad". I'm so confident in my stance because I've been watching esports where round robin isn't the standard format, and, whenever there's a tournament with round robin, most people dislike it, and literally everyone hates it when scenarios like what I mentioned above occur, which is not that uncommon. Yet football fans are confused about what needs improving about the format because "there never was a problem". People just learn to live with what they've been fed to the point of ignoring some very obvious flaws.

[@6038am]

I would say it's a bit premature to say that Slovan Bratislava is going to the cl, the first playoff game ended 1-1.

[@Burt.Reynolds]

Then again, isn't it kind of pointless? Teams with lower footballing prowess getting more points in the knockouts just to gaslight themselves to get beaten up brutally by "super teams" in the end.. Feels like if anything the more you progress to the final, the more boring it's gonna get.

[@tehduffman]

meh anything can happen. No one expected Dortmund to make the finals and most didnt have them getting out of the group.

[@brunopinheiro1632]

Go Sporting CP ❤ excelent video. Watching from Portugal

[@enffootballlab2022]

Everyone should stop watching the champions league until they get rid of this nonsense and go back to last season format

[@ShawnGitahi]

This is significantly more interesting though😭😂😂😂all 8 games will be high stakes even goal difference

[@EzeBall1710]

​@@ShawnGitahispot on

[@Tijnvdzanden]

A solution for the new draw could be that the draw is made at the beginning of the season prior. So for example the champion of England will play against the 2nd placed team from the Netherlands. That ofcourse defeats the whole club coefficients in UEFA competitions, but it makes the draws more transparent, and will make the matchups more relevant

[@stevencooke6451]

I definitely think that the team's performance in the domestic league should largely determine that pot they are placed in. Bayer Leverkusen should be pot one for having won one of the major leagues. And the nature of their winning the league should be also be factored in.

[@simonpeyton-n3h]

@@stevencooke6451 its not as simple as that,the more variants you put into a draw it just gets impossibly complicated just how he explained,have u heard of the 3 body problem? it basically aludes to the orbits of two planetary bodies around each other,pretty easy to calculate and model for years to come,just by adding one more planet into the system it becomes virtually impossible to predict and basically falls into chaos,so there is already enough limitations and constraints on these draws like seeding and not playing teams from same country,taking the nature of all the teams league performances is an almost impossible variant to add into a draw as its totally subjective

[@virtualstatman]

That sounds quite interesting!

[@Gilad-M]

What UEFA should have do: 32 teams - 4 groups of 8 teams 7 games for each team 3 best teams from every group advance to round of 16 Then places 4 and 5 have 2 leg playoff match (group 1 against group 4 group 2 against group 3)

[@fnansjy456]

8 groups of 4 is much better

[@gm2407]

Or they can just remove seeding, do a live draw for the first games of the competition, then finally do a traditional swiss system of pairing the same records together for the next tie until the desired number of ties are completed for the league stage, and do the rest of the tournament they way they have proposed. It is seeding which makes the tournament a joke. Rest of it is fine, bar the number of places for the top leagues.

[@PasOdMater]

As a Football Manager player, I've been involved in this format for years now. It's been weird to look at real football and see them still doing the group thing.

[@gregoriuspascalis500]

The predictability of the match is because of inequality of big team and small team and the gap is widening over time

[@simonjones7396]

I am surprised you didn't mention Forest in the list of clubs that won the European Cup in the 80's

[@bobbybecht8119]

I would love to see a top 7 strangest European qualifications, whether it was the way the qualified or the actual team itself.