and take this let's give lesser nations a chance to shine in CL crap with you as well.

UCL is the highest calibre of football in club level and it's painful to see teams like Otelul given a straight spot in last 32, or Zagreb, BATE, or Plazen, etc.

That's what EL is for....chuck all those lesser nations team in EL, and give EL winners a CL place for the year after.

Make CL a place for top 8 leagues (PL, La Liga, BL, Calcio, RPL, France, Portugal and Holland)....and increase their participants.

May sound bitter since I am a LFC fan...but I am sure 99% of ppl would prefer a Barca, Milan, Liverpool, PSV group to the current group H

/rant

couldn't agree more.

I disagree, CL shouldn't be elitist. Lesser leagues deserve a chance to get there and their champions deserve the reward of a direct CL spot.

To me it's perfect the way it is, I hope they don't change it one bit.

Art Morte wrote:I disagree, CL shouldn't be elitist. Lesser leagues deserve a chance to get there and their champions deserve the reward of a direct CL spot.

To me it's perfect the way it is, I hope they don't change it one bit.

whats the point of getting in CL?getting raped?

Wouldn't actually be the "Champions" league if only 8 of the 32 teams in the group are actually champions of their respective leagues.

Just sayin'.

Ganso wrote:

Art Morte wrote:I disagree, CL shouldn't be elitist. Lesser leagues deserve a chance to get there and their champions deserve the reward of a direct CL spot.

To me it's perfect the way it is, I hope they don't change it one bit.

whats the point of getting in CL?getting raped?

They are champions of their respective countries. That alone earns them the right to represent that country, for better or worse.

Ganso wrote:

Art Morte wrote:I disagree, CL shouldn't be elitist. Lesser leagues deserve a chance to get there and their champions deserve the reward of a direct CL spot.

To me it's perfect the way it is, I hope they don't change it one bit.

whats the point of getting in CL?getting raped?

Millions of cash and a helluva lot more exposure to your club? I hadn't heard of Otelul Galati before this season, but am happy to have heard of them now. Plus upsets can happen in football.

McLewis wrote:

Ganso wrote:

Art Morte wrote:I disagree, CL shouldn't be elitist. Lesser leagues deserve a chance to get there and their champions deserve the reward of a direct CL spot.

To me it's perfect the way it is, I hope they don't change it one bit.

whats the point of getting in CL?getting raped?

They are champions of their respective countries. That alone earns them the right to represent that country, for better or worse.

there is no point on representing their countries though,how many of these weaker teams got past the group stages?its more like a humiliation a la zagreb vs madrid today

Ganso wrote:

McLewis wrote:

Ganso wrote:

Art Morte wrote:I disagree, CL shouldn't be elitist. Lesser leagues deserve a chance to get there and their champions deserve the reward of a direct CL spot.

To me it's perfect the way it is, I hope they don't change it one bit.

whats the point of getting in CL?getting raped?

They are champions of their respective countries. That alone earns them the right to represent that country, for better or worse.

there is no point on representing their countries though,how many of these weaker teams got past the group stages?its more like a humiliation a la zagreb vs madrid today

Irrelevant.

I'll say it again. It's the CHAMPIONS league. These smaller sides are CHAMPIONS of their respective countries.

Doesn't matter how far they get. They have nothing to lose. They know they won't win the title, but they'll still play hard and try for an upset. It's happened before. FC Thun from a few years ago comes to mind. CFR Cluj also upset a few giants as well.

Look at APOEL this year. Thats a great side to watch. They are not hindered by expectations like Porto, whom they've upset just a few weeks ago.

Like I said. This comp is for Champions. Big AND Small.

Completely disagreed. If you want to watch more top league teams just watch the league. Small teams deserve a chance to shine.

I fully agree, if the "It is the CHAMPIONS" argument should be valid all champions should be automatically in the group stages, this is just a 50/50 format atm.
IMO there should be like 4 lesser teams in the competition.
Atm there are Trabzonspor, Otelul, Genk, FC Barcelona, Olympiakos, Bate, Plzen and basically all teams in Group G

I bet ManUtd will beg to differ that the "small teams" are just there for the raep.

lol.... this is so stupid
its better to show the world how good Europe is
why give a team that doesnt deserve a spot
so you are telling me that Liverpool deserve a spot in the UCL over a team that has been top of the league
shouldnt they get a better chance?
Zagreb, Bate, Plzen worked their asses off to reach the group stage show them some respect, cant help if your team cant make it but dont put down the teams that make the champions league unique

punkfusion1992 wrote:lol.... this is so stupid
its better to show the world how good Europe is
why give a team that doesnt deserve a spot
so you are telling me that Liverpool deserve a spot in the UCL over a team that has been top of the league
shouldnt they get a better chance?
Zagreb, Bate, Plzen worked their asses off to reach the group stage show them some respect, cant help if your team cant make it but dont put down the teams that make the champions league unique

If by unique you mean teams who lose by double digits every time, I can't see the logic. The team i follow in Denmark are 3 levels above any team other in Denmark, and I find to be aweful that team number 2 in Denmark gets a chance at CL rather than Liverpool, Juventus, Roma or Tottenham Etc.

They should simply get rid of the Champions and League qualification route. If you can't make the final hurdle against the likes of Udinese instead of Sturm Graz then you don't deserve to be in the Champions League. There aren't extra matches, simply a sterner test of their credentials.

Fairytale runs will still exist and teams who deserve to be in this competition will still be there, teams from "lesser" leagues will still make the group stage regularly.

Ridiculous.

Just because small countries are not as good as the bigger ones, they are permanently barred from being in the CL. Its the Champions league, the Champs of the smaller countries have more right to be there than the 4th placed of England or whatever. What an elitist point of view.

Freeza wrote:

punkfusion1992 wrote:lol.... this is so stupid
its better to show the world how good Europe is
why give a team that doesnt deserve a spot
so you are telling me that Liverpool deserve a spot in the UCL over a team that has been top of the league
shouldnt they get a better chance?
Zagreb, Bate, Plzen worked their asses off to reach the group stage show them some respect, cant help if your team cant make it but dont put down the teams that make the champions league unique

If by unique you mean teams who lose by double digits every time, I can't see the logic. The team i follow in Denmark are 3 levels above any team other in Denmark, and I find to be aweful that team number 2 in Denmark gets a chance at CL rather than Liverpool, Juventus, Roma or Tottenham Etc.

yeah but it is the UEFA CHAMPIONS League, the original European Cup was made up of only Champions
and i think it is unique because you will always have a team from a country like Cyprus, APOEL doing superbly

dont you want that?
soon you people will be asking for a WC without Asian teams and make it like cricket where you have teams that are mandatory entrants

Freeza wrote:

punkfusion1992 wrote:lol.... this is so stupid
its better to show the world how good Europe is
why give a team that doesnt deserve a spot
so you are telling me that Liverpool deserve a spot in the UCL over a team that has been top of the league
shouldnt they get a better chance?
Zagreb, Bate, Plzen worked their asses off to reach the group stage show them some respect, cant help if your team cant make it but dont put down the teams that make the champions league unique

If by unique you mean teams who lose by double digits every time, I can't see the logic. The team i follow in Denmark are 3 levels above any team other in Denmark, and I find to be aweful that team number 2 in Denmark gets a chance at CL rather than Liverpool, Juventus, Roma or Tottenham Etc.

Liverpool, Juventus, Roma, Tottenham etc were not good enough to be in Champions League. They did not play well enough in their respective league campaigns and there should not be a reward for that with endorsements and money they ultimately do not deserve. This entitlement/superiority complex among the bigger sides is highly annoying. Teams get to the CL with their hard work on and off the pitch, not because of their pedigree and reputation. The day that happens is the day I stop watching the Champions League.

McLewis wrote:
Liverpool, Juventus, Roma, Tottenham etc were not good enough to be in Champions League. They did not play well enough in their respective league campaigns and there should not be a reward for that with endorsements and money they ultimately do not deserve. This entitlement/superiority complex among the bigger sides is highly annoying. Teams get to the CL with their hard work on and off the pitch, not because of their pedigree and reputation. The day that happens is the day I stop watching the Champions League.

I am not saying this champions league format should be changed, but i am quite sure the likes of Liverpool put in lots of hardwork and in most cases more than the teams winning the leagues in lesser known countries. The bigger sides are the bigger sides because of the hard work they put in in the past.

I think a more appropriate argument is definitely the exposure and the chance to earn a lot of big bucks, keep trying to improve and perform better in the CL each year.

Beside the fact those smaller teams deserve to be in because they are actually champions, I see no reason we need more teams from the big leagues.

Villareal, Lyon and Valencia are not exactly setting the world alight.

Also, if this were to happen what about APOEL? Look how great they have done.

Disagree, I am actually for limiting number of teams in total and giving only 1st and 2nd places right to participate in CL. Good ol days

16 teams in 4 groups, with 1 and 2 places from leagues.

I think the problem of not enough strong matches can be solved by bringing back the second group stage.

Second group stage = win

I think it's fine just the way it is. There are enough exciting matches as it is, choosing one today was hard enough.

I like it Zeal, it would be much more fun.

But at the same time, it would mean more games per season for players who already play too many.

We were in the CL last time it was 2 group stages

Bring it back and we will qualify again, its a certainty