Rule changes in football

[elltrev]

No. the second in the group played the extra round against a CL drop in that finished third in their CL group. The winners then joined the 8 group winners to form Rnd 16.

Apologies you’re of course correct - I forgot my original point was about the Europa League, and was thinking about the Champions League when responding!

(I already fudging hated that rule about playing CL castoffs to be fair though, haha)

 

[ricky2tricky4city]

Apologies you’re of course correct - I forgot my original point was about the Europa League, and was thinking about the Champions League when responding!

(I already fudging hated that rule about playing CL castoffs to be fair though, haha)

All the comps have no teams dropping down into to the lower competition from next season. Which is a good thing.

(They might do in the very early qualification rounds...that hopefully we'll never be part of)

 

[jts1882]

I’ve only just discovered that the Europa League has the same changes next season as the Champions League - 36 teams, all in one big league, play 8 games rather than 6, and have to play a play-off game to get into the last 16 (if you don’t finish in top 8).

Does anyone like these changes?

I don’t like: 36 teams means an extra 8 bricky teams in the Europa League; there’s potentially 4 extra matches to play in total; a big league where 2/3s of teams go through to next stage is less tense and exciting than the old group format.

So they play eight matches each to eliminate 12 teams from 36 team pseudo-league. Then 16 have play-offs for the round of 16.

Better to skip that play-off round. 16 qualifiers from 36 would add more jeopardy to the group stage and make more games matter.

 

[elltrev]

So they play eight matches each to eliminate 12 teams from 36 team pseudo-league. Then 16 have play-offs for the round of 16.

Better to skip that play-off round. 16 qualifiers from 36 would add more jeopardy to the group stage and make more games matter.

Couldn’t agree more