Champions League, Europa League & Europa Conference League 24/25

[Winston Biscuit]

Hadn't realised UEFA had continued with the 2 extra CL spaces to whichever 2 leagues are the highest performing in the coefficient.

Premier League is top right now, with Portugal in 2nd place.

[Winston Biscuit]

24th placed Man City play away at 26th placed PSG tonight. whoever loses will have 1 game left to win just to try and avoid exiting the tournament

PSG's final game is away to Stuttgart and Mac City's is home to Club Brugge

[Sanguine]

24th placed Man City play away at 26th placed PSG tonight. whoever loses will have 1 game left to win just to try and avoid exiting the tournament

PSG's final game is away to Stuttgart and Mac City's is home to Club Brugge

Feels like a must win for PSG, albeit they only have a point less than City. City should beat Club Brugge but would still need results to go their way if they lose tonight.

Table is actually remarkably tight. Only Liverpool and Barca guaranteed a top eight spot with 1.5 rounds to go.

Celtic host Young Boys tonight, the visitors having lost all six matches so far. A Celtic win will guarantee them a play-off spot - unless both PSG and Dinamo Zagreb win too, in which case it goes to the final game, which for Celtic is at Villa.

[Sutekh]

24th placed Man City play away at 26th placed PSG tonight. whoever loses will have 1 game left to win just to try and avoid exiting the tournament

PSG's final game is away to Stuttgart and Mac City's is home to Club Brugge

Feels like a must win for PSG, albeit they only have a point less than City. City should beat Club Brugge but would still need results to go their way if they lose tonight.

Table is actually remarkably tight. Only Liverpool and Barca guaranteed a top eight spot with 1.5 rounds to go.

Celtic host Young Boys tonight, the visitors having lost all six matches so far. A Celtic win will guarantee them a play-off spot - unless both PSG and Dinamo Zagreb win too, in which case it goes to the final game, which for Celtic is at Villa.

Really hoping that, somehow, both PSG & Mancheater can contrive to finish in the bottom eight.

[Winston Biscuit]

just seen the highlights of the Benfica 4-5 Barcelona match. That goal that rebounded off of Raphinha's head 20 yards out. lol

[BRO_BOT]

24th placed Man City play away at 26th placed PSG tonight. whoever loses will have 1 game left to win just to try and avoid exiting the tournament

PSG's final game is away to Stuttgart and Mac City's is home to Club Brugge

Table is actually remarkably tight. Only Liverpool and Barca guaranteed a top eight spot with 1.5 rounds to go.

I'm not sure there is an advantage/incentive to being really good at this stage. Is a rest as good as the extra revenue from two games (against lesser opposition)

Also Barca and LFC not in the club world championship this summer but Chelsea are is an absolute LOL. I'm not sure I can take that comp seriously without the two best teams (vomit_emoji). Clubs get £50M which will be very nice for the FFP

[Sutekh]

It’s just FIFA attempting to get money from a tournament like UEFA get from the CL, trouble is the stupid thing is only every 4 years and qualifying is something like a couple of years before so it’s never the world’s best at the time so the whole thing is just a stinky over the top load of friendlies with a cup and the necessary bit of money to get teams interested. Think it’ll get treated with the same disdain that the yearly “final” version used to get - certainly in this country.

Also, I see the “oil Classico” went well for City.

[Sanguine]

24th placed Man City play away at 26th placed PSG tonight. whoever loses will have 1 game left to win just to try and avoid exiting the tournament

PSG's final game is away to Stuttgart and Mac City's is home to Club Brugge

Table is actually remarkably tight. Only Liverpool and Barca guaranteed a top eight spot with 1.5 rounds to go.

I'm not sure there is an advantage/incentive to being really good at this stage. Is a rest as good as the extra revenue from two games (against lesser opposition)

Also Barca and LFC not in the club world championship this summer but Chelsea are is an absolute LOL. I'm not sure I can take that comp seriously without the two best teams (vomit_emoji). Clubs get £50M which will be very nice for the FFP

The way it is playing out, Liverpool being top isn't proving to be much of an advantage anyway, on paper. Something I hadn't realised is that the 'brackets' for R16 are pre-determined. If Liverpool win the league phase, they will play one of the sides that finishes 15th-18th in the table. The team that finishes 7th, for example, will play one of the sides that finishes 9th-10th or 23rd-24th - so potentially 'harder' but also potentially an easier tie.

Something UEFA have lucked into is a pretty open state of play with one round left. Only two teams guaranteed top 8 (although Arsenal and Inter could lose their last match and still likely get there), and with nine teams fighting for six playoff spots.

Fwiw, if the league phase ended today, Liverpool would expect to play Bayern or Real in R16 on the basis that they would beat Juventus and Celtic in their playoff games. Atalanta meanwhile, in 7th, would face one of Villa, Monaco, Stuttgart or Sporting.

[Winston Biscuit]

Something UEFA have lucked into is a pretty open state of play with one round left. Only two teams guaranteed top 8 (although Arsenal and Inter could lose their last match and still likely get there), and with nine teams fighting for six playoff spots.

in fairness to UEFA (just sicked in my mouth saying that) this was part of the point of the new structure. All the talk from those ITK before it started, when everyone was getting confused at how this would work and why they would do it, was basically 'just wait for the last 2 rounds of matches in the first big group stage'. It was said that with more matches being played, everyone having more tough games in those first 8 compared to the old 6, that there would be more to play for as the big group was coming to an end and less dud games. It does seem to have worked quite well in that regard

[Winston Biscuit]

I don't understand why they have structed the knockout playoff with another draw in there. does the idea of making it a draw out of which of the 2 teams you play really help to avoid people 'settling' for a fixture they think they have? I may be wrong but the cynic in me thinks its maybe only being done so that there is another draw to be made, and UEFA love a draw!

I personally would have just gone with 9th Vs 24th etc as that is the earned fixture. If the first stage of the new league structure was a success then there is no need to have that silly extra draw bit as the last group games would have enough unknown riding on them anyway

[Sutekh]

I don't understand why they have structed the knockout playoff with another draw in there. does the idea of making it a draw out of which of the 2 teams you play really help to avoid people 'settling' for a fixture they think they have? I may be wrong but the cynic in me thinks its maybe only being done so that there is another draw to be made, and UEFA love a draw!

I personally would have just gone with 9th Vs 24th etc as that is the earned fixture. If the first stage of the new league structure was a success then there is no need to have that silly extra draw bit as the last group games would have enough unknown riding on them anyway

Sponsorship €€€€. More draws mean more or larger sponsorship deals. And of course they get 3 of them with their other two “no one cares” competitions doing the same thing.

[Winston Biscuit]

one thing I will say, and this is more of a 'borrowed' opinion as I hear it said a lot from football journalists, the Europa Conference League is seen as a real success. Apparently if you look beyond the big leagues with their oodles of money, this competition has done a lot of good for other leagues where its given lesser clubs access to a competition where get a number of games in europe, they do play 1 or 2 big names in that, and its helped within those countries leagues as its a competition that teams are really fighting to get into.

When West Ham won it, all i heard from the euro journalists was that it was a little bit of a disappointing end, as it had been such a good competition for all these lesser leagues and clubs across europe who have really embraced it, then moneybags West Ham won it.

[Sanguine]

one thing I will say, and this is more of a 'borrowed' opinion as I hear it said a lot from football journalists, the Europa Conference League is seen as a real success. Apparently if you look beyond the big leagues with their oodles of money, this competition has done a lot of good for other leagues where its given lesser clubs access to a competition where get a number of games in europe, they do play 1 or 2 big names in that, and its helped within those countries leagues as its a competition that teams are really fighting to get into.

When West Ham won it, all i heard from the euro journalists was that it was a little bit of a disappointing end, as it had been such a good competition for all these lesser leagues and clubs across europe who have really embraced it, then moneybags West Ham won it.

Yeah, can see that being a positive effect.

The disparity between leagues is such that you probably won't avoid 'big' clubs winning it. Finals so far being Roma v Feyenoord, West Ham v Fiorentina, Olympiakos v Fiorentina. And Chelsea and Fiorentina (again!) clear favourites to make the final this time around. But good exposure for smaller sides.

This season Shamrock Rovers still have a shot at a top eight finish and guaranteed R16.
Poland's Jagiellonia Białystok won the national league for the first time last season and are in European competition for only the second time in their history.

[stealthpapes]

Given it was designed to give teams from smaller/less monied leagues a better route into more European games ...

Having a repechage from the UEFA cup does mean it gets a bit stacked towards then end - in West Ham's year, both semis and quarter finals were full of teams from the bigger leagues.

I went to the Leicester games in 2021-22 - Randers, Rennes and PSV - couldn't get tickets for Roma - great days out.

[Sanguine]

Given it was designed to give teams from smaller/less monied leagues a better route into more European games ...

Having a repechage from the UEFA cup does mean it gets a bit stacked towards then end - in West Ham's year, both semis and quarter finals were full of teams from the bigger leagues.

I went to the Leicester games in 2021-22 - Randers, Rennes and PSV - couldn't get tickets for Roma - great days out.

I think the Europa League entry route has stopped as part of the new format (likewise CL losers to Europa League later stages).

[Stranded]

Given it was designed to give teams from smaller/less monied leagues a better route into more European games ...

Having a repechage from the UEFA cup does mean it gets a bit stacked towards then end - in West Ham's year, both semis and quarter finals were full of teams from the bigger leagues.

I went to the Leicester games in 2021-22 - Randers, Rennes and PSV - couldn't get tickets for Roma - great days out.

I think the Europa League entry route has stopped as part of the new format (likewise CL losers to Europa League later stages).

Yeah the new format across all cups means that teams do not drop down - once you are out, you are out.

In the Conference league, there are only 6 games in the league stage so we already know the play-offs

Gent v Real Betis
TSC Backa Topola v Jagiellonia Białystok
Nk Celje v APOEL
Vikingur Reykjavik v Panathanikos
Copenhagen v Heidenheim
Molde v Shamrock Rovers
Omonia Nicosia v Pafos
FK Borac Banja Luka v NK Olimpija Ljubljana

3 Cypriot clubs including an all-Cypriot tie. A first Icelandic club in post group stage knock-outs and a first Irish club too.

Winners will go to the last 16 to face one of:

Chelsea
Vitoria SC
Fiorentina
SK Rapid
Djurgarden
Lugano
Legia Warsaw
Cercle Brugge

It really is a fun competition.

In terms of seeding across the competitions, I don't understand why they don't just say the team that finishes 1st plays the lowest ranked qualifier from the play-offs. So if 24th beats 9th they play them but if 9th win, they face the 8th seed.

[stealthpapes]

Cheers, I missed all that because there's still repechages from Champions League and UEFA Cup in the qualifiers (Larne, for example).

[From Despair To Where?]

I've said it before but I think the new format is brilliant. Yes it's probably more difficult for the big clubs to really oxf*rd up but the expanded knock out rounds give more smaller clubs a better chance to progress and I like the fact that clubs can't drop down a competition. When you're out, you're out.

Given the demands placed on UEFA from the smaller FAs for better representation coupled with the threat of a breakaway superleague, I think it's a more than decent compromise.

[Stranded]

I've said it before but I think the new format is brilliant. Yes it's probably more difficult for the big clubs to really oxf*rd up but the expanded knock out rounds give more smaller clubs a better chance to progress and I like the fact that clubs can't drop down a competition. When you're out, you're out.

Given the demands placed on UEFA from the smaller FAs for better representation coupled with the threat of a breakaway superleague, I think it's a more than decent compromise.

It's great and thrown up some lovely last day fixtures - the fact that all 16 games start at the same time is a lovely touch too.

Biggest game is probably Stuttgart hosting PSG - the loser probably goes if the expected home win for Man City comes to pass. PSG probably just need a point.

[RG30]

I think I like the new format and enjoyed PSG Man City last night although it feels like going from 36 to 24 is still not big enough in losing just 12 teams.