Michel Platini

http://www.channel4.com/sport/footba...ia/jan26j.html

He was elected as the new President of UEFA.
But i wanna open another discussion connected to his election. Before the elections he promised he would deduct a champions league spot from Spain Italy and England and give more chances to "smaller" football leagues champions.
Did he do it just to get the votes from those countries or you think he'll really do it ?
And if ESP, ITA and ENG really get only 3 CL spots, do you think it's better for the CL because teams like Dinamo Zagreb, Red Star, Levski etc will get more chances or it isn't good for the CL ?

Ideologically i think that's fair, but I'd rather see Roma taking on Liverpool than Vardar beating Tirana no matter where they ended up in their respective leagues.

P.S : And he's Juve legend
P.S 2 : Now if Juve wins the CL during his reign, all the conspiracy theorists will have their answers on How Come They Won It and Why did they win ?

Originally Posted by Tony29.

http://www.channel4.com/sport/footba...ia/jan26j.html

He was elected as the new President of UEFA.
But i wanna open another discussion connected to his election. Before the elections he promised he would deduct a champions league spot from Spain Italy and England and give more chances to "smaller" football leagues champions.
Did he do it just to get the votes from those countries or you think he'll really do it ?
And if ESP, ITA and ENG really get only 3 CL spots, do you think it's better for the CL because teams like Dinamo Zagreb, Red Star, Levski etc will get more chances or it isn't good for the CL ?

Ideologically i think that's fair, but I'd rather see Roma taking on Liverpool than Vardar beating Tirana no matter where they ended up in their respective leagues.

I agree with you Tony - The teams from those leagues simply aren't stog enough to compete in the CL, at least at this point in time. With the current system, if a team does gain some momentum, they are given the chance to qualify in CL and if they are good enough, they will get there (like Levski, Steaua, Dynamo, etc).
There is no denying that even the best teams from the smaller championships aren't as good as the teams that make it to 4,5,and even 6th place in the bigger leagues ... not counting Serie A's currnet crisis moment due to calciopoli, of course.

But then again, with more teams from those smaller leagues participating in the CL, those teams will get a substantial financial injection from merely taking part in the tournament, and this, in time, would allow them to become stronger and stronger and rival other teams from the bigger leagues as the "gap" in quality will get smaller over time. So, If Platini really means what he said and wasn't just doing to get more votes, his plan does make sense and has a future in a sense.

Of course, this is how things could work in an ideal world. In the real world, however, we both know that the management/owners of the bigger clubs in Eastern Europe (and a big portion of the smaller leagues are right there) are closely connected with rather shady business dealings and there is a good chance that the extra money from participating in CL won't be invested into the club to make it stronger but will simply disappear without a trace into someone's pockets.

So, all in all, mabe a plan like his is worth a try but I would be surprised if it works and, should he go ahead and realizes it, I would expect things to get back as they are now ... especially when you consider that tv rating for CL would most probably fall down too.

Originally Posted by Tony29.

P.S : And he's Juve legend

well, I hope he does keep fond memories of his years in Italy and will be a little less ignorant in treating the Italians like a bunch of cheats, although what's been going on in Serie A isn't exactly helping

Originally Posted by Tony29.

P.S 2 : Now if Juve wins the CL during his reign, all the conspiracy theorists will have their answers on How Come They Won It and Why did they win ?

Don't worry, that's not gonna happen

His thought of cutting down the 4 teams to 3 is really useless and you have give the answer to it. It was just his tactics to get votes from the other federations by giving their teams a spot in the UCL.

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...

Sepp Blatter had recently criticized Johansson to sway the voters in Platini's direction. They both were rivals for the Fifa presidency in the last elections. Johansson was also preparing for the next Fifa election. Blatter and Platini are friends forever.

I am always scared about the new presidents. They always want to make a point to the world and make wrong decisions.

Johansson was a big Barca/Ronaldinho fan and he hated Italy and Italian teams but wasn't he fair?

Well he had the backing of Blatter, French teams must be happy from 2 to 3. Its a joke how can you compare other low classed leagues against the italian, spanish and the english league.

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...

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 !

Also, the reduction in the numbers = reduction in fans from asia (which is an explosive market for UCL) = lesser revenue to the UEFA = lesser amount of money given to the participants(clubs) = more abramowitches as the club owners.

Does anyone think abramovic is doing good for the sport by setting new and absurd wage caps as well as higher transfer fees.

Platini says that Football is a sport before a soap opera but without it being a soap, it would warn money.

my point exactly, Tony - with more money coming from CL participation, smaller teams will be given the chance to get stronger in time and will close that enourmous gap there is right now between G14 and everyone else.
It's not enough to just brand as "weak" when they simply aren't given the chance to change because to become "strong" in modern football, you need money ... at the same time, however, UEFA is denying you that money because you are "weak" ... it's one vicious circle for those teams.

At the same time, however, I also agree that smaller teams do have their chances even now - limited chances but still they have them.
As for why few of them take advantage of this, well, I think it again comes down to proper management of those clubs because most of them, whenever they produce a good player or two, they don't use them as a base to build on but are quick to sell them to other teams for quick return of the investment without any regard of a much bigger benefit in the long run ... and this is true even for teams with rich businessmen as their owners, who however seem to be lacking prospective of the real possibilites of the future and all the money/success they could make with a little more patience on their side.

Another problem also is the poorly managed youth programs, which, if well taken care of, are a source of quality and cheap players who could be used to constantly improve the level of quality within the teams rather than pay dearly for expensive foreign players ... Romania did exactly that - they took care of their youth sector and now are reaping the results of all that with Romanian clubs doing great in Europe and the Romanian NT also benefittng from that.

Strictly speaking I have no problem having a champions league with 'only' the champions participating. I don't see how a fourth placed team from a big (or small) country playing is necessarily a good thing except for a few million extra in some coffers and the fans of that team. If the champion of a minnow is allowed to play thats not as different as it is now, group stages already has many 4-0, 5-1 scores.

From theGuardian:

Discuss....

Platini elected Uefa president


Former French international takes over from Swede

Paolo Bandini
Friday January 26, 2007
Guardian Unlimited


Platini replaces Swede Lennart Johansson. Photograph: Volker Hartmann/AFP/Getty Images

Michel Platini has been elected the new president of Uefa, ending Lennart Johansson's 17-year tenure and striking a potentially major blow against Europe's biggest clubs in the process.
Platini, who has promised to limit the maximum number of clubs each country can have in the Champions League to three, won by 27 votes to 23, with two ballots deemed invalid. He will serve as Uefa president for the next four years and will also be a Fifa vice-president.

"This is just the beginning of an adventure," said Platini. "I'm happy today to be able to represent European football, I'm very moved and very happy. When I was a footballer, when you won a great victory you received a cup and went on a lap of honour. This is a great victory for me but I'm not going to do a lap of honour because now the work starts."

Platini has argued throughout his campaign that the presence of four teams from each of England, Spain, Germany and Italy restricts smaller countries' opportunities in the Champions League, stating that "there are not enough champions taking part in the competition". He has suggested that limiting their number could also help restore the prestige of the Uefa Cup, through the presence of bigger teams in that tournament.

The move undoubtedly helped his election hopes, winning support among smaller nations and in particular a number of the new Eastern European members that emerged from the break-up of the Soviet Union. It will be far less popular among the wealthy club elite, however, and it remains to be seen how G14 - a lobby group made up of 18 of Europe's most influential sides, many of whom rely heavily on Champions League television revenue - will react to any attempts to alter the current format of European club football.

Otherwise the candidates both ran with largely similar manifestos, identifying racism, agents, match-fixing and doping as problems that need solving, arguing that football should have greater control over its own governance - rather than be dictated to by European law - and promising to look after all levels of football, not just the professional game. Both also hinted that they would consider backing Scotland's proposals to extend the European Championship from 16 teams to 24, and Uefa confirmed this morning that it will conduct a feasibility study into the matter.

The result follows a tense election campaign which descended into bitterness in the days leading up to the vote. Several national associations have been angered by Johansson's refusal to step aside after such a long presidency, and senior figures in the organisation have already begun debating whether to set a maximum limit for future terms of office.

Fifa president Sepp Blatter also became involved when he publicly backed Platini's candidature, and Johansson was unhappy at his involvement. "I appreciate the Fifa president's words about what we have achieved in the 17 years of my presidency but I cannot appreciate it when the Fifa president interferes in an election process here in Uefa," blasted Johansson in his final address before the election. "It's not the Fifa president, it is you the Congress taking the decision."

But Platini was quick to extend the olive branch today, immediately inviting Johansson to become an honorary president. "This is a great victory," he continued. "But I have huge admiration for Lennart and I would ask for Lennart Johansson to become an honorary president of Uefa."

The Football Association refused to say who it planned to vote for in the election, fearing that it could harm their bid to host the 2018 World Cup if it publicly backed the losing candidate

Originally Posted by Warro Bantan

Discuss....

http://www.milanmania.com/forums/sho...190#post412190
We allready started discussin' it Warro

Thanks Tony! I merged....

My 5 cents:

Well, in essence, this may be a good thing for the teams from weaker leagues, but to me, it may negatively impact the tournament, as there will be several blow outs, though, when one thinks about it, it also increases the chances for upsets...

I kind of like the idea, but for something like 2010...not this season, and surely not next season...

I prefer the current format, no doubt about it. The qualifiers and group stages weed out the weak and if the champions of Slovakia, Estonia etc are good enough to beat the 4th best Italian or English sides then they will get through, if they arent good enough then to let them through at others expense serves only to drop the overall quality.

The alternative i would happily accept would be a more even distribution of the CL TV revenue and prize money, if more of that filtered through to the weaker leagues then they would be able to hold onto more talent and build squads strong enough to progress further, which in turn would lead to increased exposure/prestige and the ablilty to buy even better players.

Originally Posted by Tony29.

http://www.channel4.com/sport/footba...ia/jan26j.html


And if ESP, ITA and ENG really get only 3 CL spots, do you think it's better for the CL because teams like Dinamo Zagreb, Red Star, Levski etc will get more chances or it isn't good for the CL ?

Oh my god, Tony just admitted that even he thinks that Dinamo Zagreb is better than Hajduk Split... and implying that Dinamo will be the Champion this year... ,couldnt get better than this???

Originally Posted by kastriot

Oh my god, Tony just admitted that even he thinks that Dinamo Zagreb is better than Hajduk Split... and implying that Dinamo will be the Champion this year... ,couldnt get better than this???

Err...i just mentioned last year's champions of CRO-SER-BUL leagues. Wasn't implying anything

Originally Posted by Stazegud

I prefer the current format, no doubt about it. The qualifiers and group stages weed out the weak and if the champions of Slovakia, Estonia etc are good enough to beat the 4th best Italian or English sides then they will get through, if they arent good enough then to let them through at others expense serves only to drop the overall quality.

The alternative i would happily accept would be a more even distribution of the CL TV revenue and prize money, if more of that filtered through to the weaker leagues then they would be able to hold onto more talent and build squads strong enough to progress further, which in turn would lead to increased exposure/prestige and the ablilty to buy even better players.

Lets not push it with Estonian champion, they'll never make it anyway .
But champions of Bulgaria, Romania, Croatia and Serbia ( these leagues produce extra talents and top class players year after year) deserve the CL, but their financial situation won't allow them to be there every year. They have to sell 3-4 players every year in best european teams. If they participate in CL they will 100% be a real competition, if not to Milan or Chelsea, then certanly to Olimpiacos, Fenerbahce, Celtic.

I like your alternative thou. It's will be a great start.

Originally Posted by Warro Bantan

I kind of like the idea, but for something like 2010...not this season, and surely not next season

Platini said only 3 teams from Italy will play CL next season !!!


I'm not telling the truth in 1 of the 3 replies i gave above :shameonme:

Originally Posted by Tony29.

I'm not telling the truth in 1 of the 3 replies i gave above :shameonme:

1st one or 3d one?