Red Rebels

67 European leagues

Champions League, UEFA Cup, Cup Winners' Cup, these are the three traditional European cup competitions.

However, at the end of the last century, the Cup Winners' Cup was reluctantly canceled by UEFA because the level of the cup at that time had fallen to the bottom, and the competition system was also criticized. In the end, UEFA decided to merge this event into the UEFA Cup.

But this time, after seeing the results achieved after the reform of the UEFA Cup, UEFA's thoughts on the Cup Winners' Cup have begun to revive. However, currently it is just a suggestion. The specific feasibility and whether it can be implemented remain to be determined. The unknown is unknown. After all, the re-hosting of the Cup Winners' Cup will have a huge impact and cannot be missed.

"According to UEFA's conception, if we put aside the leagues of various countries and simply divide it by the cups in Europe, the Champions League is undoubtedly the top of the pyramid of European competitions. UEFA must do everything it can to ensure that the Champions League continues to expand. Influence, after all, this is the leading European competition. If the Champions League cannot be held well, the other two competitions will also be finished."

Florentino’s words are easy to understand. For example, the reason why the UEFA Cup is so popular this season is because all the powerful teams are chasing tickets for the Champions League group stage, which is equivalent to the championship and runner-up of the league. Just imagine, who doesn’t want to want?

But if the Champions League one day becomes the useless role that the UEFA Cup has been in the past few years, will it still be able to allow teams such as Atletico Madrid and Arsenal to compete for blood?

The answer is obvious, impossible

Therefore, UEFA is not a fool. They clearly see that the Champions League is the source and core of everything.

In the past, the Champions League and the UEFA Cup were two distinct competitions, but now UEFA has changed its policy to build a communication bridge between the UEFA Cup and the Champions League. This immediately benefited both competitions, and the league Cup also changed from the tasteless role in the past.

Some people analyze that one of the reasons why the UEFA Cup is so popular this season is the quota for the Champions League group stage. This is equivalent to two pieces of fat, tempting the coveted wolves.

After careful analysis, it is not difficult to find that the relationship between the Champions League and the UEFA Cup is essentially equivalent to the promotion and relegation relationship between the English and English Championships. There is a connection between the group stage places, which makes all teams participating in the UEFA Cup. Saw a path to promotion to the Champions League.

The number of places in the group stage, say more or less, will not affect the quality of the Champions League, but at the same time it can increase the enthusiasm of the UEFA Cup teams. At this point, the reform can be said to be very successful.

At present, UEFA has begun to launch a series of policies to further strengthen the development of the UEFA Cup and strive to regain the glory of the three major European cup competitions in the last century.

This is not only related to the influence of European football, but also related to the distribution of benefits that UEFA can obtain.

"For the same reason, they plan to apply this system to the Cup Winners' Cup, but relatively speaking, the reform will go more in-depth. For example, teams that participate in the Champions League Qualifying Cup and are eliminated can be relegated to the league of that season. Cup and play with the teams from the UEFA Cup.”

"Once the Cup Winners' Cup is established, it will no longer be the cup champions of the past European countries. Instead, it will continue to maintain the current allocation of quotas for the Champions League and the UEFA Cup, and instead let the lower-ranked teams in each country's leagues participate in the winners' cup. cup."

For example, England, according to regulations, the former sixth place in the UEFA Cup, the League Cup and the FA Cup champions also participate in the UEFA Cup.

If the Cup Winners Cup is established, these quota allocations will remain unchanged, and then the 7th, 8th, and 9th teams of the league will participate in the Cup Winners Cup, and the Cup Winners Cup will also adopt a full knockout format for competition, and kill The teams that reach the semi-finals will be eligible to participate in the UEFA Cup next season or the qualifying rounds.

In other words, for the three teams ranked 7-9 in England, if they can reach the semi-finals of the Cup Winners' Cup, it is equivalent to winning a cup championship, or getting sixth in the league. Qualified for the UEFA Cup.

For the same reason, the eliminated teams in the first few rounds of the UEFA Cup will also participate in the Cup Winners' Cup. This is the same as the Champions League group participating in the UEFA Cup.

After listening to Florentino's introduction, Xiao Yu immediately realized that this was equivalent to improving the promotion and relegation system of a major European league.

The Champions League is equivalent to the first-level league, the UEFA Cup is equivalent to the second-level league, and the Cup Winners' Cup is equivalent to the third-level league. There is a third-level gap between the first and second levels. , in order to attract more attention and improve competitiveness, the number of places was expanded to 4. However, the champion and runner-up can directly participate in the main competition, while the third and fourth place have to participate in the qualifying competition.

With the Champions League as the top of the pyramid, UEFA is slowly starting to spread its base downwards. Obviously, after seeing the popularity of the UEFA Cup, they want to further tap the potential of European competitions.

It can be foreseen that the Champions League is undoubtedly the most important thing. Participating in the Champions League is still the pursuit of all teams. The UEFA Cup will also become more popular because of the popularity of the Champions League. The Cup Winners' Cup will also benefit accordingly. These three major cup competitions Although its influence is decreasing, it is a European competition after all. As long as it is done properly, it can completely reproduce the scenery of the three major European cup competitions at the end of the last century.

"It seems that UEFA wants to further block the European leagues' access," Xiao Yu said with a wry smile.

Florentino nodded immediately, "Yeah, I was a little confused at first, but slowly thinking about it, they are treating the Champions League as a European-level league, and then move down to the second level and the third level. As for other European competitions, once these three competitions are really stabilized, then even if our club wants to form its own European-level league, the possibility will be very small."

Each country has its own league system, and now Europe will have a three-pole cup system of Champions League, UEFA Cup and Winners Cup. It can be said that European club competitions will become saturated as a result, and it will be difficult to accommodate other cups and competitions. league.

UEFA is not stupid and will not hand over the initiative to these clubs for no reason. They also want to gain more chips for themselves, so re-organizing the Cup Winners' Cup is undoubtedly one of the steps. It can be foreseen that if the winners If the Cup is really re-organized, UEFA will definitely strengthen and consolidate the connection between the three major cup competitions, and use it as a bargaining chip to share interests with the clubs, instead of allowing the clubs to dictate and exploit them.

Of course, this does not mean that if the three major cup competitions are established, the clubs will have to go back to the era of living under the instructions of UEFA. After all, it is really deadlocked. The wealthy teams can still form their own European-level leagues, but it is a dead end. As a result, no one wants to see it.

"Johansson is also a ruthless character. He probably saw that the European Professional Club League has expanded rapidly and its influence has increased faster and faster in the past few years. He is a little worried that we are out of control, so he came up with this method. , strive for more bargaining chips in order to obtain more benefits for them." Xiao Yu said with some admiration.

In the final analysis, FIFA, UEFA and the club alliances are all for profit. Whoever has the most say will be able to get the most benefits, and Johansson’s approach is to ensure that UEFA He has enough voice, otherwise, he is worried that one day he will be struck out by the club.

"The current situation is very interesting. FIFA and UEFA are at odds. We and UEFA have the same goal and get along well with each other, but in fact we are secretly wary of each other. FIFA regards us as a thorn in their side, but at the same time Don't dare to offend us." Florentino had never thought before that one day the club would be able to achieve an equal status with FIFA and UEFA. It can be said that Xiao Yu gave him this direction.

Now it seems that the possibility of achieving this goal is very high

"This is just the beginning. I hope that one day, the European Professional Club League can remove Europe and become the World Professional Club League. By then, we will have the strength to truly compete with UEFA and FIFA. For us Strive for the benefits you deserve”

Under the current situation, UEFA and FIFA check and balance each other, but it is difficult to guarantee that one day they will not reach a consensus, especially when one thinks that the interiors of these two major organizations are equally full of darkness, it is outrageous. Don't worry, once they join forces, the club will return to the weak side.

Xiao Yu's idea is that it is not good for any party to be dominant. The best thing is to compete with each other. Therefore, he has proposed at the meeting of the European Professional Club League that the next goal should be set all over the world, attracting South America, North America, and South America. Professional clubs from the Americas, Asia and other parts of the world participate to increase the voice of the professional club alliance.

Only by competing with each other, cooperating with each other, and achieving a win-win situation can we avoid shady transactions as much as possible and ensure fairness in the football field.

Of course, there is undoubtedly still a long way to go to achieve this goal

At least for now, the European Professional Club League does not yet have the strength to compete with FIFA. It can only rely on alliances with UEFA to strive for more benefits and living space for itself.

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The draw ceremony officially began at 0:00. The person responsible for this draw was UEFA Secretary General Olsen, and the representative of the venue for this Champions League final, former Russian goalkeeper Dasayev, presided over it.

Of the 8 teams in the top 8 of the Champions League, all 4 teams from England have advanced. This also allows people to see the prosperity of England. Both teams from La Liga have also successfully advanced. Real Madrid, with the support of the Red Rebels in recent years, There is no top 6 for many consecutive years like in the previous life, and the performance last season and this season was also good.

Serie A is more unlucky. Inter Milan was eliminated by Valencia, leaving a total of 8 teams in La Liga, second only to the 4 teams in England. The only remaining Italian team is AC Milan, but AC Milan Milan's performance this season is not as good as in previous seasons.

Since the top 8 knockouts and semi-finals are drawn together, the 8 teams will be divided into 4 matches in the upper and lower halves, and according to the rules, these 8 teams will be completely broken up for the draw, so there are many The media predicts that according to the current trends in La Liga and England, a showdown between teams from the same country is almost inevitable.

The first half of the draw was conducted, and the first team to be drawn was Manchester United of the English League. When the TV cameras swept over, David Gill immediately laughed, but he could not hide his nervousness. After all, the other seven teams are not fuel-efficient, and no one is sure of victory.

Dasayev once again pulled out a small ball, took out the paper from it, turned it over, showed it to the guests present, and read loudly: "; Galliani's face obviously darkened, these days the British draw All teams can be considered bad picks. If drawing Chelsea is a bad draw, then drawing Manchester United is a bad draw, because the Red Devils are very powerful.

Soon Olsen made the next draw and immediately drew Valencia. At this time, all the teams in the field were eager. They couldn't wait for the name of their club to be in the next small ball drawn.

Looking at the top 8, the easiest persimmons to pinch are Valencia and Droisden, especially Valencia. The strength of this team has dropped a lot compared to Xiao Yu's previous life, and it can reach the top 8. It was already considered a minor accident.

But Dasayev could only grab a small ball with his hands, and there was only one club's name in the ball. It was impossible to satisfy the wishes of the five teams present, so when he called out the name of Real Madrid, the others All can only be disappointed.

Florentino breathed a sigh of relief. After all, it was almost certain that his team would pass Valencia in advance. In La Liga, Valencia was no match for Real Madrid.

In the first half of the top eight knockout rounds, the Spanish Derby was staged, which also made many people present applaud excitedly, and the remaining four teams were the Red Rebels, Chelsea, Barcelona and Droylsden. , it can already be determined in advance that there will be an English derby, and this half of the area is undoubtedly the most watched.

After the top eight were announced, England occupied 4 seats. Among the other four teams, although Real Madrid is not weak, its record with the English teams is not ideal. Moreover, Real Madrid still has a big flaw, which lies in the latter. The waist and defense make it difficult for Real Madrid to pose a threat to English teams.

The recent state of AC Milan and Valencia is not very ideal. The Rossoneri's state has declined rapidly. Silvio Berlusconi has begun to tighten his trouser pockets. This is already known to everyone, and Valencia is still in a state of decline for the time being. There is no possibility of competing with the British powerhouses, especially the Red Rebels and Manchester United.

Barcelona has naturally become the team recognized by everyone as the team that poses the greatest threat to England.

Now, Barcelona and three English teams have been placed in the bottom half. This not only proves that UEFA does not want England to continue to monopolize the top four of the Champions League, but also makes people see the intensity of the bottom half.

But the biggest suspense is still between the Red Rebels and Barcelona. Will these two teams really meet as they wish?