3rd is the new 2nd: the major flaw in UEFA’s otherwise flawless new system
Unlike many people around the European landscape, including the likes of my Dad, I think that the new UEFA system of European football has been changed and moulded quite well. Whilst the new league system was hard to get our heads around, the real convincing came at the end of the league phase in which the massive every team for themselves attitude combined to make an enthralling final matchday.
Furthermore, aside from the shock early exit from Liverpool, who topped the league phase, every other team in the top 4 made it to the semi-finals. And let’s not forget that Liverpool did lose to the eventual UCL winners, showing that football is a game of peaking at the right time in the season, as PSG have abundantly shown us. So, with that out the way, I believe I am now entitled to tell you a major flaw within the new system that I think we are not addressing. In fact, this is an issue that has now happened twice – one in each season. And indeed, this is a flaw that begins right at the end of each season.
Let me explain. 2 seasons ago Partizan Belgrade finished the season in 2nd place meaning they qualified for the champions league 2nd round qualification. They were placed up against a strong Dynamo Kyiv side who they were, in all honesty, obliterated with a scoreline on aggregate of 9-2. Oh well, they still had the Europa League third qualifying round to be drawn into. But there they faced Swiss outfit Lugano who narrowly beat them 3-2 on aggregate in extra time.
However, this wasn’t the end of the road as they still had the conference league play off round to win. Well, I think you know where this is going…they of course lost it to Belgian side Gent 2-0. So that was that. You know what they say, 3rd times the charm – except it actually wasn’t. But my argument today is that it really should’ve been. And no I’m not saying that Gent didn’t beat Partizan fairly (although in fairness I never watched either leg), but rather that Partizan should’ve never even have played that game. You see, 2 seasons ago the team that finished in third place was a team called TSC from a small town of just 11,000 in the north of Serbia.
Of course, this is a club that have massively overachieved and should be celebrated for their efforts. But, the big caveat is that they only played one qualifying round – a tie in which they lost heavily to Maccabi Tel Aviv. But what’s this? They then automatically qualified for the conference league. But they finished 3rd, how can a team that finished below Partizan be guaranteed European football but the team in 2nd have no safety net. And here is exactly where our problem lies.
Yes Partizan Belgrade lost all 3 play off rounds and of course some of the blame should be put of them. They had 3 chances to play in Europe and lost every one of them. However, are we forgetting the level of opposition that they faced? These are 3 very well-established clubs that play in Europe regularly and so Partizan can be somewhat forgiven for these losses. Instead, I would like to focus on UEFA’s clear lack of understanding of supporters and teams as a whole. I believe that if you asked most big and small fanbases across Europe (and yes Partizan are one of the biggest clubs in all of Europe in terms of fanbases) if they would rather European football of any level until at least January or the chance to have none of it after August I’m pretty confident that I know my answer. Yes, obviously every team wants a chance to play in the Champions League and even making it to the group stage brings life changing money to some teams.
But conference league football still gets you a large chunk of money. In fact, Partizan Belgrade’s squad market value combined is just 500,000 euros, but to make it to the conference league group stage is almost 3 million euros. And making it further than that such as the quarter finals another 1.1 million just like that. Now obviously in comparison to the Champions League that is pennies on the dollar, but the point is why couldn’t Partizan have a shot at the champions league whilst also maintaining their safety net of the conference league if qualifying went tits up.
This was last season and now the same thing may happen all over again. But not in Serbia, its in Switzerland. The case is the exact same but instead of Partizan it is Servette and instead of TSC it is Young Boys. Now earlier on this year I made an article extensively covering the shifting of hands away from Young Boys and how Servette were potentially going to be crowned champions. Unfortunately for them as we know now Basel won the league and they will play for a chance of champions league qualification, and if they lose the playoff round, they will seamlessly enter the Europa league phase. But for Servette, a potential disaster awaits. You see, they have just lost the 2nd round of champions league qualifying to underdogs Viktoria Plzen from Czechia and now face an even tougher opponent in Utrecht for Europa league qualification. Now, if they win this round then perhaps this article may be forgotten, and we won’t have to worry about this conundrum until the start of next season when it inevitably happens again.
But, if they lose and then go on and lose again like Partizan did, well then that may really raise some unwanted eyebrows. Because that will mean in 2 separate seasons the team in 2nd place will be worse off than the team in 3rd. And the biggest problem with this one, unlike in Serbia, is that it seemed as if the Young Boys dominance was finally waning. Finally, the team that had won 6 titles since 2018 were beginning to crumble to the strength of those around them. Servette is by all accounts a rather small club in Switzerland, having won the Super League just once in their existence. And the Swiss game needs these types of clubs to grow.
An unlockable fan base right there with an impressive stadium. But, without the attraction and money that European football brings we could be back to square one again. And there we have it; this is my biggest gripe with an otherwise brilliant system that UEFA have introduced. But it is no small problem, in fact it represents a much larger problem that European football is facing right now.
The gap between the bigger leagues and smaller leagues (such as the 2 aforementioned) is growing. And the gap between those bigger clubs within those smaller leagues and the others is going as well. More and more are we seeing the team in first place consistently maintaining a stronger position because of the advantages they receive in Europe.
The qualifying stage only enhances that and so this flaw must be fixed as a first step in the attempts to reverse this growing gap.
