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Originally Posted by rahul.acm
The spots given to every country are perfect. These teams from east europe and scandinavia do not have that matches to play in their league or their cup. This will reduce the interest of the fans as not many people know Red Star, Dinamo Bucaresti...
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Yes, i do agree that the current UEFA countries standings look fair, and that way we have the best leagues on top which allows them to have 3-4 teams in CL.
But it's not like the "smaller" leagues don't stand a chance.
From next year Romania will have 1 team going directly into the CL, without qualifications, and they'll have the runner-up from their league playing Q matches. So, with the current system of counting points, where a win in UEFA Cup in 1st round against Partizani Tirana brings you the same points like the win in CL semifinal against Barcelona, it's not so hard for teams from some eastern european countries to gain many points, to be high on UEFA Country list, and to get the chance of playing in CL directly. ( if Steaua and Dinamo Bucaresti get 5 more wins in UEFA Cup this year, then they will take the 6th place in UEFA rankings from Portugal, and in season 2008/09 Romania will have 2 teams playing directly in CL and the third team will play Qualifications).
I wanna say that smaller teams are given their chance. It's not like the big teams are so much favoured. But apart from Romania, those teams from smaller leagues don't use their chances.
The question is why aren't they using their chances ?
I disagree with Gooner1886 and what he says.
It may be a shame to compare Red Star with Arsenal atm, but don't forget that 1991 wasn't so far away - the year when Red Star became European Champion. ( or 1986 when Steaua won Champions League/Cup)
And why did they become champions 15 years ago and they don't stand a chance now ?
Because back then all the champions were allowed to play in CL (Champions Cup) and they had money guaranteed for their participation. That way they weren't forced to sell their best players and they could make a team that was able to beat teams from Italy, England or Spain. They had Savicevic, Jugovic, Mihajlovic, Pancev, Prosinecki... They had the money to keep the best players from their country.
With the current situation even if Red Star makes a great team, they can't keep their players for more than 12 months because Inter or Manchester will buy them, Red Star can't compete with the giants, they can't make it to the CL, they don't get money, and they become weaker and weaker.
Dejan Stankovic, Nemanja Vidic, Nikola Zigic... they would all play for Red Star if UEFA didn't favour teams like Arsenal so much. And if they were in Red Star ( like they would have if we had the situation from 1991), then i guarantee you it wouldn't be a joke to compare them with Arsenal.
As a football fanatic, i'd really like to watch Arsenal-Roma, more than Levski-Red Star, but if Platini change smthg , maybe after 4-5 years Red Star and Levski will be able to compete with Arsenal, and Levski-Red Star will be as enjoyable and attractive as Arsenal-Roma match !