Friday 2 October 2009

What's the Europa League all about?

The bloated new Europa League limps on. Starting with an unbelievable 162 clubs from every corner of Europe, it has now been reduced to 48 clubs, grouped in 12 groups of four. Only two games into the six-game groups, it's already tiring even the most avid football-watchers.

After the group stages the 12 winners and 12 runners-up will be joined by the eight third-placed teams from the Champions League to create a final 32. This farce of adding some form of "best losers" from another competition only serves to devalue the Europa Cup further. Why stop at the third-placed teams from the Champions League groups? Surely the losers from the round of 16, the quarter-finals or semi-finals are more deserving of a place? Why not just put the losing Champions League finalists straight into the Europa League final? I'm being silly? Hey, UEFA started it!

Nor do I quite understand the apparent obsessive desire of English clubs to get into Europe when many of them then do their best to get straight out again! Aston Villa managed it in the qualifying rounds this year, having frustratingly qualified out of their group last season (luckily, they got knocked out in the first knock-out stage by playing a weakened team in Moscow!).

Last night Fulham made five changes and Everton were "without" 10 first-teamers.

What's the point?

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