lol we'll need to get rid of Fraudseca and the deadweight Monchi bought (Nzonzi still has another year, Pastore another 2, among others) while praying UEFA bans those 12 clubs from buying our players, plus another few years before we even have a chance to become CL contenders.
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2020-21 Football/Soccer Thread
- Thread starter Kanburi
- Start date
So let's see the list of guaranteed teams:
- Atlético de Madrid
- Liverpool
- Manchester United (outside of that lone Europa League with Mourinho, in inconsistent form after Ferguson left)
- Manchester City (while it's otherwise okay because of their form during the last few years, it speaks volumes of how badly thought this is as they would have never been allowed to join this "elite league" 10 years ago)
- Chelsea (who where in a similar situation to Manchester City 15 years ago)
- Tottenham (who I've never seen winning any relevant competition)
- Arsenal (who have not been relevant since that Champions League final in 2006)
- Juventus (that might have dominated locally but has a much worse continental record, making to the semifinals only thrice in 25 years)
- Barcelona
- Real Madrid
- Milan (that hasn't won anything at a continental level since 2007)
- Inter (that is only about to break a major silverware drought that spans from 2010)
So much for a "Super" league.
- Atlético de Madrid
- Liverpool
- Manchester United (outside of that lone Europa League with Mourinho, in inconsistent form after Ferguson left)
- Manchester City (while it's otherwise okay because of their form during the last few years, it speaks volumes of how badly thought this is as they would have never been allowed to join this "elite league" 10 years ago)
- Chelsea (who where in a similar situation to Manchester City 15 years ago)
- Tottenham (who I've never seen winning any relevant competition)
- Arsenal (who have not been relevant since that Champions League final in 2006)
- Juventus (that might have dominated locally but has a much worse continental record, making to the semifinals only thrice in 25 years)
- Barcelona
- Real Madrid
- Milan (that hasn't won anything at a continental level since 2007)
- Inter (that is only about to break a major silverware drought that spans from 2010)
So much for a "Super" league.
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Diophantine
Banned deucer.
RE: European Super League
The idea of European Super League is absolutely disgusting and goes against what football stands for. It sounds like the sort of shit you come up with playing FIFA as a 12 year old. 15 clubs are protected from being relegated no matter how badly they perform while earning more money than if they had won both the PL and the UCL together twice over? Competitiveness has just gone out the window!
There are 5 free spaces for "lucky ones" who manage to shine bright outside of the ESL, but how are they decided? Even if they win it, because of the protection the founding clubs have, they will have to qualify again, blocking other smaller clubs from even getting a chance to compete, no matter how they perform domestically. There are so many leagues across Europe that are just getting neglected. Even if you think these teams would never win a UCL, at least they have the chance to. Porto have won it, despite all odds, and haven't been the only underdog winners. Chelsea and Liverpool have both won it in years where everyone and their mother would have bet against them.
Let's not even get into how these teams were chosen. Tottenham bottled the ROUND OF 16 OF THE EUROPA LEAGUE 3-0 to Dynamo Zigreb and may not even get into Europa League next year; Arsenal are 11th in the Premier League and haven't won it since 2003/04; City, like the previous two (while they probably are deserving) have never won the UCL. United haven't been a big club since Fergie left. It's mind boggling. Apparently United, Real Madrid, Arsenal and Liverpool were behind this mainly. It seems they are fed up with smaller teams rising to prominence and taking their place. Chelsea and City (surprisingly) were initially opposed but had FOMO.
While Gary Neville's rant on Sky Sports was absolutely spot on, let's not forget that Sky themselves are also to blame for the gentrification of football. I am all for financial investment into clubs. It provides incentives, increases competition, and creates more jobs. It needs to be done with firm regulation, however. FIFA/EUFA/FA just give slaps on the wrists of teams that break the rules time and time again. The only time I remember them actually enforcing their rules properly was when it involved youth players (Chelsea's transfer embargo and Barca's foreign youth being released). Ticket prices have skyrocketed and you now can't watch Premier League without Sky Sports or Champions League without BT. The most we get is MOTD! I haven't even mentioned giving the World Cup to fucking Qatar who build their stadiums off of slave labour and demand the tournament is played in the winter because it's a fucking desert country which makes it unable to play in the summer!
I've supported Chelsea all my life, from when my cousin was in the youth team, to my dad taking me to my first game, to seeing us win the Prem, Champs, and everything in between. I'm considering putting that all behind me and picking up a new team. Unless this all blows over like a bad dream, I'll be supporting West Ham for next season. Deduct points from these 6. Give the Champions League to PSG. Ban the players from participating in international games. This cannot stand.
Like bugzinator said, this has become way too americanised. The people who are "into" football now are just in it for the buzz. Plastic fans who wanna be Team Mbappe, Team Ronaldo, Team Messi, etc. It's the same way we, as non-Americans, view the Super Bowl or the NBA. We don't care about it, only wanna see the highlight games. Sickening.
(Quoted from Arsenal's website, copy and pasted from the ESL)
The formation of the Super League comes at a time when the global pandemic has accelerated the instability in the existing European football economic model. Further, for a number of years, the Founding Clubs have had the objective of improving the quality and intensity of existing European competitions throughout each season, and of creating a format for top clubs and players to compete on a regular basis.
The pandemic has shown that a strategic vision and a sustainable commercial approach are required to enhance value and support for the benefit of the entire European football pyramid.
The new annual tournament will provide significantly greater economic growth and support for European football via a long-term commitment to uncapped solidarity payments which will grow in line with league revenues.
These solidarity payments will be substantially higher than those generated by the current European competition and are expected to be in excess of €10 billion during the course of the initial commitment period of the Clubs.
In addition, the competition will be built on a sustainable financial foundation with all Founding Clubs signing up to a spending framework. In exchange for their commitment, Founding Clubs will receive an amount of €3.5 billion solely to support their infrastructure investment plans and to offset the impact of the COVID pandemic.
Backing the new European league, Andrea Agnelli, chairman of Juventus and vice-chairman of the Super League said: "“Our 12 Founder clubs represent billions of fans across the globe and 99 European trophies. We have come together at this critical moment, enabling European competition to be transformed, putting the game we love on a sustainable footing for the long-term future, substantially increasing solidarity, and giving fans and amateur players a regular flow of headline fixtures that will feed their passion for the game while providing them with engaging role models.”
Joel Glazer, co-chairman of Manchester United and vice-chairman of the Super League said: "“By bringing together the world’s greatest clubs and players to play each other throughout the season, the Super League will open a new chapter for European football, ensuring world- class competition and facilities, and increased financial support for the wider football pyramid.”
The formation of the Super League comes at a time when the global pandemic has accelerated the instability in the existing European football economic model. Further, for a number of years, the Founding Clubs have had the objective of improving the quality and intensity of existing European competitions throughout each season, and of creating a format for top clubs and players to compete on a regular basis.
The pandemic has shown that a strategic vision and a sustainable commercial approach are required to enhance value and support for the benefit of the entire European football pyramid.
The new annual tournament will provide significantly greater economic growth and support for European football via a long-term commitment to uncapped solidarity payments which will grow in line with league revenues.
These solidarity payments will be substantially higher than those generated by the current European competition and are expected to be in excess of €10 billion during the course of the initial commitment period of the Clubs.
In addition, the competition will be built on a sustainable financial foundation with all Founding Clubs signing up to a spending framework. In exchange for their commitment, Founding Clubs will receive an amount of €3.5 billion solely to support their infrastructure investment plans and to offset the impact of the COVID pandemic.
Backing the new European league, Andrea Agnelli, chairman of Juventus and vice-chairman of the Super League said: "“Our 12 Founder clubs represent billions of fans across the globe and 99 European trophies. We have come together at this critical moment, enabling European competition to be transformed, putting the game we love on a sustainable footing for the long-term future, substantially increasing solidarity, and giving fans and amateur players a regular flow of headline fixtures that will feed their passion for the game while providing them with engaging role models.”
Joel Glazer, co-chairman of Manchester United and vice-chairman of the Super League said: "“By bringing together the world’s greatest clubs and players to play each other throughout the season, the Super League will open a new chapter for European football, ensuring world- class competition and facilities, and increased financial support for the wider football pyramid.”
The idea of European Super League is absolutely disgusting and goes against what football stands for. It sounds like the sort of shit you come up with playing FIFA as a 12 year old. 15 clubs are protected from being relegated no matter how badly they perform while earning more money than if they had won both the PL and the UCL together twice over? Competitiveness has just gone out the window!
There are 5 free spaces for "lucky ones" who manage to shine bright outside of the ESL, but how are they decided? Even if they win it, because of the protection the founding clubs have, they will have to qualify again, blocking other smaller clubs from even getting a chance to compete, no matter how they perform domestically. There are so many leagues across Europe that are just getting neglected. Even if you think these teams would never win a UCL, at least they have the chance to. Porto have won it, despite all odds, and haven't been the only underdog winners. Chelsea and Liverpool have both won it in years where everyone and their mother would have bet against them.
Let's not even get into how these teams were chosen. Tottenham bottled the ROUND OF 16 OF THE EUROPA LEAGUE 3-0 to Dynamo Zigreb and may not even get into Europa League next year; Arsenal are 11th in the Premier League and haven't won it since 2003/04; City, like the previous two (while they probably are deserving) have never won the UCL. United haven't been a big club since Fergie left. It's mind boggling. Apparently United, Real Madrid, Arsenal and Liverpool were behind this mainly. It seems they are fed up with smaller teams rising to prominence and taking their place. Chelsea and City (surprisingly) were initially opposed but had FOMO.
While Gary Neville's rant on Sky Sports was absolutely spot on, let's not forget that Sky themselves are also to blame for the gentrification of football. I am all for financial investment into clubs. It provides incentives, increases competition, and creates more jobs. It needs to be done with firm regulation, however. FIFA/EUFA/FA just give slaps on the wrists of teams that break the rules time and time again. The only time I remember them actually enforcing their rules properly was when it involved youth players (Chelsea's transfer embargo and Barca's foreign youth being released). Ticket prices have skyrocketed and you now can't watch Premier League without Sky Sports or Champions League without BT. The most we get is MOTD! I haven't even mentioned giving the World Cup to fucking Qatar who build their stadiums off of slave labour and demand the tournament is played in the winter because it's a fucking desert country which makes it unable to play in the summer!
I've supported Chelsea all my life, from when my cousin was in the youth team, to my dad taking me to my first game, to seeing us win the Prem, Champs, and everything in between. I'm considering putting that all behind me and picking up a new team. Unless this all blows over like a bad dream, I'll be supporting West Ham for next season. Deduct points from these 6. Give the Champions League to PSG. Ban the players from participating in international games. This cannot stand.
Like bugzinator said, this has become way too americanised. The people who are "into" football now are just in it for the buzz. Plastic fans who wanna be Team Mbappe, Team Ronaldo, Team Messi, etc. It's the same way we, as non-Americans, view the Super Bowl or the NBA. We don't care about it, only wanna see the highlight games. Sickening.
If you support one of these Super teams... you won't even recognize your club in a year or so. Enjoy them while it lasts.
Side note.. regardless of current successes...
Say you had to make a Super League off the clubs and leagues of the world..
Name your top 15-20.
I bet the 'SL' squads are in it. The spots are justified.... except Spurs.
Side note.. regardless of current successes...
Say you had to make a Super League off the clubs and leagues of the world..
Name your top 15-20.
I bet the 'SL' squads are in it. The spots are justified.... except Spurs.
I'd just pick the top 20 teams with most continental silverware and put them all together (teams in bold are in the ESL).
Real Madrid, Al-Ahly, Milan, Independiente, Boca, Barcelona, Liverpool, Bayern, Zamalek, River, Sao Paulo, Mazembe, Juventus, América, Ajax, Auckland City, Peñarol, Nacional (Uruguay), Inter (Italy), and Etoile du Sahel.
Although this causes a small problem in that there's no representative from the AFC, as the AFC team with most continental trophies (Al-Hilal) only has 7 wins, whereas the 20 teams listed above have at least 9.
If it were to ensure at least one team per confederation, then Etoile would get the boot, while it has as many titles as Auckland City, Peñarol, Nacional, and Inter, it has only won one main continental cup, whereas the others won at least 3.
If you're wondering why certain clubs were invited to be founding members of the Super League, you need to look at the right chart:
My 2 pence:
My 2 pence:
- This circus is a curious game theory exercise (think prisoners' dilemma) where the first of the 6 PL teams to defect would have a lot to gain from reneging
- Some of the threats from UEFA/PL are simply unenforceable (try selling the league as a product to foreign markets without the top 6)
- Man City and/or Chelsea should negotiate a plea bargain and throw the other PL clubs under the bus
- Woodward's/Levy's roles would be untenable if the coup fails. It may be impossible to force the other key protagonists out, but surely these two heads would roll
- Spurs are damned if they do and damned if they don't; either choose to be a banter club by being part of the Super League, or face the financial consequences of continuing to finance their new stadium with zero revenues, no European football, and Mourinho's severance to be paid
Well, that was fun! The dominating strategy was to defect first, so congratulations to City. As soon as City reneged, the domino effect was inevitable. This was a really cool example of game theory that can be used as a case study in economics.
Edit: after all that, City were the first to leave, not Chelsea.
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The quality difference between European clubs and clubs from the rest of the world (maybe except the top Brazilian/Argentinian clubs) is so great that I don't think it makes sense to put teams like Mazembe, Zamalek, Auckland City and Etoile du Sahel together with top European teams, or even second tier European teams tbh. Any tournament that wants to be elite must focus on Spain/England/Italy/Germany/France. I'd do something like top 3 from Spain/England/Italy, top 2 from Germany/France, and remaining 5 or 7 from other leagues of Europe with some sort of knockout system, though at that point it's basically reinventing the Champions League.
The problems were and are debts. They screwed the pooch in front of World and they had it coming.
The problem with the CL these days is that it's weighted too much in favour of the big 5 leagues. Sure you can say that's because they have the best teams currently, but it's mostly that way by design. Clubs from outside of those leagues like Ajax, PSV, Porto, Benfica, Olympiakos, Rangers, Celtic etc have historically been better than 4th place in England, Spain & Germany until only recently.
Imo 4 CL places for Spain & England is too much. It should be lowered down to 2-3 places each for these leagues and extra places allocated so that the champions of any nation within the top 15 doesn't have to play qualifiers. Huge European clubs with historical success and massive fanbases outside of the top 5 leagues are being left behind due to TV money and a system that's weighted against them.
heh.
Roma's just disastrous on the pitch. I really don't know what to say. We went from being up a comfortable 8-ish points on Sassuolo to being closer to Sassuolo (8th) than we are to Lazio (6th with game in hand), losing to three of the teams in the bottom five. Forget Champions League and Europa League, we might not even qualify for Europa Conference League next season lmaooooo
stuart littled.
Banned deucer.
cannot belief united cheating by VideoAssistantReferre again FFS we need rid of him !
I made a football server for the people here that were interested in football back in 2018 for the FIFA World Cup, so we could enjoy the games together, chat shit and play some fantasy. While I'm sure most people here are already in the server, I'll link it again for the upcoming 2020 Euros. There's a Fantasy League, as well as an Individual Match Predictor League. Come join the fun!
https://discord.gg/GD7YW2kzvJ
https://discord.gg/GD7YW2kzvJ
Last edited:
Jeong
Banned deucer.
Well, the first day has already been played in all the groups and the second has just begun. My impression is that for now Italy is the one I like the most, safe in defense and lethal at the top with Insigne-Immobile-Berardi. As for football, I am liking the most, obviously I think that France is the great favorite because it is more complete, but I also include Italy. Hopefully I can say the same about Spain, but they have a lot of trouble scoring a goal even when playing well. At most we reached the quarterfinals. I am surprised with teams like Wales or Finland that can qualify. Turkey has certainly been a disappointment, I was expecting more.