The European football dream…

In 1992/93, it was the first season of the Champions League, previously known as the European Cup.

No coincidence that this followed on from 1991/1992 and the first season of the Premier League, which in old money used to be known as the First Division.

Nothing would ever be the same again.

Look at these Champions League/European Cup finals:

1992/93 Marseille 1 AC Milan 0

1991/92 Barcelona 1 Sampdoria 0

1990/91 Red Star Belgrade 0 Marseille 0 (Red Star won on penalties)

1989/90 AC Milan 1 Benfica 0

1988/89 AC Milan 4 Steaua Bucharest 0

1987/88 PSV 0 Benfica 0 (PSV won on penalties)

1986/87 Porto 2 Bayern Munich 1

1985/86 Steaua Bucharest 0 Barcelona 0 (Steaua Bucharest  won on penalties)

The last 27 winners of the Champions League have been:

9 Real Madrid

4 Barcelona

3 Bayern Munich

2 Man U, AC Milan, Liverpool, Chelsea

1 Man City, Porto, Inter Milan

The 2003/04 season of the Champions League saw a final of Porto 3 Monaco 0.

In the next 20 Champions League finals since then, I would say that the most surprising ‘minnows’ to reach the final have been Tottenham in 2018/19 and Newcastle United’s Group of Death conquerors last season, Borussia Dortmund.

That is minnows Borussia Dortmund who get the biggest crowds in European club football, as well as Tottenham who are one of the Premier League ‘Big Six’ in England.

When will we ever see a Red Star Belgrade or Steaua Bucharest get to a Champions League final? Indeed, even the last eight , maybe never a last 16 ever again for pretty much any other club outside the self-appointed elite.

Everything is so heavily weighted, or ‘fixed’ if you prefer, so that the same clubs season after season will get to the last 16, last eight, never mind get to the final, or win it.

With all of the seedings and so many matches to be played before any two-match knockout stage, it takes a massive effort from those outside of the privileged few to even remotely threaten the status quo, of who is allowed to compete in the premier European football competition.

As for this new Swiss League format brought in for the current 2024/25 season,, well that protects the elite even more and makes it even tougher for the rest to threaten.

With an initial eight games to be played, rather than six, it protects those richest and most powerful clubs even more from one or two off days, one or two upsets.

When it comes to money, the situation is even more stark.

So how are UEFA looking to help lesser/poorer clubs compete with the strongest and richest?

Well, this was what the four English clubs banked from the 2023/24 Champions League competition:

Manchester City €109m (£95m)

Arsenal €93m (£81m)

Man U €60m (£52m)

Newcastle United €34m (£30m)

How can this be? For example, Newcastle United actually performed better in their group stage games, than Man U did in theirs, yet Man U bank £22m more than United…???

Well this is how the totals above were made up, from four separate pots of money.

Man City £95m from Participation £13.5m, Prize Money £33.5m, UEFA Coefficient £29m, TV Pool £19m

Arsenal £81m from Participation £13.5m, Prize Money £29m, UEFA Coefficient £22m, TV Pool £16.5m

Man U £52m from Participation £13.5m, Prize Money £3.5mm, UEFA Coefficient £24.5m, TV Pool £10.5m

Newcastle United £30m from Participation £13.5m, Prize Money £4.5m, UEFA Coefficient £4m, TV Pool £8m

Aaaah, so the UEFA way of levelling up and helping poorer clubs to compete, is to give the rich and powerful £20m or more, simply because they have played in the Champions League (and/or other European competitions) over the course of the past decade!

How is this in any way fair, or trying to make the Champions League competitive?

Official UEFA site explaining Champions League ‘co-efficient’ based money distribution for the 2023/24 competition:

1.1.2.3 Coefficient-based amounts (€600.6m)

Fees will be paid on the basis of performances over a ten-year period. In addition to coefficient points accumulated during this period, the ranking includes bonus points for winning the UCL/European Champion Clubs’ Cup, the UEL/UEFA Cup and the Cup Winners’ Cup.

On the basis of these parameters, a ranking of the participating clubs has been established and the total amount of €600.6m has been divided into ‘coefficient shares’, with each share worth €1.137m. The lowest-ranked team will receive one share (€1.137m). One share will be added to every rank and so the highest-ranked team will receive 32 shares (€36.38m).’

The reality is that UEFA have simply allowed those already rich and powerful clubs, to dictate to them how money should be distributed. UEFA obviously hoping that by bowing down to the wishes of those self-appointed elite clubs, it will help diminish the chances of them trying it on again with a European Super League.

This season, Aston Villa could perform better in the Champions League than all of Man City, Arsenal and Liverpool, yet end up banking the lowest amount of cash of the four of them, when UEFA ‘share’ the cash out.

It is all a bit of a sham really, we already pretty much have a European Super League by default.

When you have pretty much the exact same clubs getting to the knockout stages season after season, most of the rest just there to make up the numbers and standing little/no chance of doing anything, with the odds stacked against them so much. You surely have to realise that the Champions League has really been an end to the European dream as it once was.