In a power shift toward Europe’s wealthiest clubs, UEFA has agreed to give more guaranteed Champions League group-stage places to the four highest-ranked leagues.
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It is likely they will change the format from 2018/2019 to allow four guaranteed places for England, Spain, Italy and Germany.
“I was never sure if it would be my last game at that level because football is such a fickle business, fortunes can change in a second, through injury or a transfer to a club that won’t compete at that level”.
Group-stage first-timers Dundalk of Ireland meet AZ Alkmaar, Maccabi Tel Aviv and Zenit St Petersburg, who reached the Champions League round of 16 last season.
Guardiola has enjoyed a 100 percent record at City, seeing off Steaua Bucharest 6-0 on aggregate in the Champions League playoff and dispatching Sunderland and Stoke City in the Premier League. Zorya qualified as Ukraine’s fourth-placed team. Then all four get one additional team in the playoff round.
Apart from two-time victor Porto, Group G is devoid of Champions League pedigree.
Arsenal’s Mesut Ozil leaves the pitch after the UEFA Champions League Group F soccer match between Arsenal FC and SSC Napoli at Emirates Stadium.
Now the team that finishes fourth in the Premier League must come through a play-off round to reach the group stages of the Champions League, but from the 2018-19 season the top four ranked associations – England, Spain, Italy and Germany – will receive four automatic spots.
As Italy falls in that category, it means they will automatically get four teams directly in the Champions League groups starting from 2018.
Now the top three leagues receive three guaranteed spots plus a chance for an additional team to qualify through playoffs – the fourth league has two guaranteed spots with an additional two teams qualifying through the playoffs.
UEFA uses a complicated coefficient system to rank the leagues, based on the results of their clubs during the previous five seasons.
UEFA has bowed to their demands saying “financial distribution to clubs will be increased significantly for both competitions”, though detail has yet to be released.
Uefa stopped short of guaranteeing captive places for certain big clubs, another possibility which, sources said, was privately discussed in meetings over the past few months.
All of these moves make for a major change to to the competition.
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For the most part, there’s a good spread of power teams from group to group and there should be exciting battles for the top two spots in some of said groups. Keeping the super league at bay and the Champions League intact not something to be sneezed at.
