The True Value of The “Champions” League
“Ceux sont les meilleurs equips”
“Die Meister, die Besten, les meilleurs equipes, the champions.”
What UEFA has tried to do in the infamous CL anthem played before European nights, during European nights, and even during those new god-awful commercials played during half-time is instill in all viewers the sense that the teams that participate in its glory competition, the UEFA Champions League, are truly “die besten”.
There are 3 different style of teams that make the champions league this year:
1. Big League Champions (Man Utd, Inter, Barcelona)
2. The Runners up (Chelsea, Liverpool, Real Madrid, Juventus)
3. The Champions of Minor Leagues (Cluj, Donetsk, Zenit)
I know that whatever the CL Anthem says is not a prerequisite to be allowed into the CL, as there are clear rules and regulations into which teams qualify. But when arguing that the CL is a more important and essentially “better” competition than the Premier League or any national league for that matter, most people would say that these are the best teams in the world.
For me, this is where the competition loses its value. For example, Arsenal made it all the way to the semi-finals of this year’s competition, an honor that most clubs would love to achieve. Domestically though, Arsenal were anything but champions. At one point in serious danger of finishing 5th behind a plucky Aston Villa side, Arsenal was in serious trouble. Even though they did manage to rescue their season, the fact remains. Arsenal finished 4th, did not make a domestic cup final, and on their way to becoming one of the top 4 teams in Europe this season by making the semifinals, they beat equally underachieving AS Roma and a good but unspectacular Villarreal.
Next you have the champions of minor leagues, bless their souls. These relatively tiny clubs (compared to the giants Man Utd, Barca, Chelsea, Inter) like Zenit and Shahtar, Basel and Cluj, are far from European super-powers. But they achieved the right to compete in Europe’s premier club competition by winning their respective leagues, and rightly so. These clubs DO deserve a chance to play in the CL, and I have no problem with that.
And finally, there is no disputing the right of the major league winners to participate in the Champions League. These clubs beat out other major sides to be the best in some of the most difficult leagues in the world, and for that obviously deserve to play in a “Champions League”.
As we have seen though, clubs like Chelsea have been able to challenge strongly for the title of European Champion, both in years when we were not champions of England and when we were. Should we have that right, seeing that we are not “champions”?
As a Chelsea fan, I say yes. We have consistently shown for a number of years that despite us not winning the CL title yet, we are one of Europe’s premier teams. But if you take in account staying true to the basic tenets of a “Champions League”, then no, we do not deserve to participate. Just some food for thought. Whatever your opinion is at the end of the day all us Chelsea fans can agree on one thing though, UEFA is a disgrace! A **** disgrace!
Topics: Arsenal, Barcelona, English Premier League, La Liga, Manchester United, UEFA Champions League
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so youve written an article differentiating between the prerequisites for playing in the old european cup and champions league?
May 27th, 2009 @ 13:31“1. Big League Champions (Man Utd, Inter, Real Madrid)”
??? Give respect where it is due, Barca is the Champion of La Liga, not madrid. I hope everyone already knows that but for the saps that don’t, please don’t give them the impression that Barca is a runner up to Madrid.
May 27th, 2009 @ 21:10I’m not sure where you’re going with this. If you’re talking about the discrepancy between the fact that the Champions League is called the “Champions” League and the fact that Arsenal are not champions in any of their domestic competitions, and therefore the Champions League doesn’t deserve to be called the Champions League (but Chelsea should be allowed to play because they’re one of the best clubs in Europe) -
then fine, let’s change the name of the Champions League to “Liga der Besten” or something (someone come up with something better, please).
Let’s also point out that if *only* league champions went through, regardless of the strength of the league, then Barcelona wouldn’t have played in this final. 2008… 2007: Milan weren’t Serie A champions in either 06 or 07. 2006… 2005: Liverpool weren’t EPL champions in either 04 or 05. et cetera.
May 27th, 2009 @ 21:19Was? Ich habe keine Idea. Gesundheit!
May 27th, 2009 @ 22:53Are Arsenal champions of anything this year?
No.
Do they deserve to be in the Champions League?
Yes, especially when they defeat teams that “obviously deserve” to be in the competition handedly say whatever inferior league champion they will crush on their way to qualifying for the group stages. To deny the fact that teams such as Arsenal, Liverpool, or Barcelona (according to your system as Madridista pointed out) deserve to be in this competition less than a BATE or a Bohemians is ludicrous.
Yes, these lesser league champions deserve to be in the competition, but when the third and fourth teams in the EPL, La Liga, or Serie A could run rampant in many of these lower leagues I, and any reasonable (non-Chelski) fan, would have to admit them into the competition as well.
I think you are just bitter about the loss and want to find something wrong with the competition rather than reflect on a reasonably good year.
May 27th, 2009 @ 23:13I think UEFA should go back to the old system. 1 team (The Title winners) from each country Plus the League cup winners. The rest play in Europa. Good job Barca!
May 28th, 2009 @ 00:56This is obviously a biased piece. I see flaw in your opinion in the sense that if a team like Arsenal were not present in the format, then Teams like Barca, Man U, Inter, Real Madrid, Chelski would always win, Always, I think the name of the competition should chnage, like how they changed the Uefa Cup to Europa..if anything, it should have chnage it to Europa Championship League or something..not Champions League..if anything at all. Now excluding an exciting team like Arsenal would make no sense..Put Arsenal and Chelsea head to head a hundred times and you might not get a clear winner.
June 2nd, 2009 @ 15:36@Dale,
regarding that last point, you would get a clear winner – Arsenal would take the lead in the first two dozen games but surely and slowly Chelsea would beat them in the end, 60-40, or 30-20 with 50 draws thrown in between.
A 10-game margin, or a 1-goal margin, is clear enough for me mate.
June 2nd, 2009 @ 16:00