James Maw reckons he’s cracked how to bring joy to Europe’s much-ignored second competition…
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Said it last season and will say again, Premier League isn’t the league it was.
The standing of Europe’s secondary competition is arguably at an all-time low.
The potential competition could also benefit teams eliminated from the group stage of the Europa League.
Simon Green, head of BT Sport, said: “We have some really exciting games coming up on BT Sport Showcase both in the UEFA Champions League and the UEFA Europa League“. Me neither. Not until recently, anyway, after they defeated Cypriot club APOEL to advance to the Champions League group stage for the first time in their history.
“I had some great experiences in the Champions League as a player”, he was quoted as saying by the Manchester United website.
Juventus has claimed just a single point from their opening three fixtures in Serie A, while Chelsea has just one win from its first five Premier League matches.
Trouble is, the fans aren’t buying it - literally. Which other teams are most likely to raise the trophy in Milan on May 28?
Luis Enrique’s side were unstoppable in last year’s tournament, with Juventus running them close in the final. Tweak too much and risk angering their main stakeholders. Speaking of which…
Back them, keeping control became more important for UEFA than seeing what the market would support.
“We’ve finally made some money!” A STRIKING DECLINE There is a growing concern that goal scorers are an endangered species in Europe after a campaign in which six of the eight leading Champions League scorers came from South America. If there really is a market for a breakaway super league, all UEFA has done is try to pause the clock.
The solution is simple - switch the Europa League games to Tuesday evening and have the Champions League spread over Wednesday and Thursday. The quick fix is as obvious as it was when UEFA originally announced the Champions League.
Sony’s partnership with the UEFA Champions League – the biggest club football competition on the planet, Americans – has been running for years now, but this season it’s chose to create a pretty nifty app for the PlayStation 4.
The Europa isn’t that tough of a ticket in most markets for obvious reasons. “Nooooo!!!!” “This provides an increased sense of occasion, while also spreading the wealth, and indeed love, across the “UEFA Family”.
The ESPN FC crew look ahead to the return of the Champions League and discuss the matches they are most looking forward to.
Perhaps the victors could gain an automatic Europa League group-stage berth, the way the latter competition’s winners go into the lucrative Champions League.
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Of course, if we’re losing the ‘league’ element of the competition, it makes flawless sense to revert back to a cup-based moniker.
