Motherwell Manager Stuart McCall recently brought up a very valid point in an interview regarding the Europa League. McCall’s side will be competing in the competition this year and have been stuck with a tough qualifying round out in Russia.
The Scottish manager highlighted a change that really should be made not only to the Europa League, but something that should be looked at for the early qualification rounds of the Champions League too.
For most sides playing in a top division, qualification to a European competition is the main goal at the start of any season. If you look at a money rich league like the EPL, outside of the top 5 or 6 clubs who will be competing for the Champions League spots, there are at least 8 more teams who will be aiming to grab a Europa League berth.
To these teams that make it through, there is no real care about the teams they face. Sure some may fancy a glamour tie, while others may fancy an easy passage through to the group stages. None the less, cost isn’t a problem for the sides.
Cost, however, is a major problem for many of the other teams who manage to get into the qualification rounds. Most of the teams in question need to arrange for charter flights to get to the away games. For small sides this is a cost that actually makes European qualification a bad thing.
The opportunity of making it to the big stage is clearly only worth it if you can make it through the qualification rounds. If they fall at the first few hurdles it can leave the club with a hefty bill on their hands.
This is when Platini and company really need to look at the other side of Financial Fair Play. The whole idea behind Fair Play was to ensure sides didn’t spend more than they bring in, which would stop sides with billionaire owners from buying a winning side.
If you look at the premise of the rule it’s effectively there to stop teams spending above their means. Which if you break it down to the bare-bones it implies sides that don’t have much money shouldn’t have to spend a small fortune sending a team to all corners of Europe to play.
A regional approach to qualification would certainly reduce the financial burden of trips for these sides as well as the time implications of the travel. Sides from Ireland or Scotland would face off against other sides within a certain distance of each other.
UEFA could then split the territory up into zones, based on distance. This would allow for the governing body to set up a simple controlled approach to the system allowing for clubs to have a more local method of qualification. It would seem on paper a fair and easy option to split Europe into three zones of East, Central and West. Teams would then only meet teams from outside their zone once they get to the group stage of the Europa League or perhaps the 3rd qualification round if it’s the Champions League.
A move like this would only be a good thing for clubs throughout Europe, it would help those smaller sides make the tough journey through qualification a little easier and make qualification a little more interesting for the travel supporters who could also make the trip abroad a lot easier. Surely it’s time for a change?
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