Platini´s disaster

UEFA´s new organizational system has received all kind of criticism since Michel Platini was elected president of the highest European football association. The Frenchman behaves more as a politician than a football man. His desire for obtaining votes and good relationships has blinded him from the most important: the welfare of European football.

It is well known that Platini started his campaign claiming the right for countries who have a lower level in football to have more participation in the continental competitions. The new president committed himself to give these countries the chance to be more relevant in the international competitions; both for national teams, and club teams.

When it comes to national team football, the first problem aroused when deciding that the Eurocup in 2012 would be organized by Ukraine and Poland, and these two nations will qualify directly to the tournament. Ukraine had not qualified in the two previous tournaments and Poland qualified for the last one, earning only one point.

Platini has tried to redeem himself and is considering creating a tournament with 24 teams instead of 16, which was not his idea. In this way all the top teams will most likely make it to the final tournament and some weak teams will have the chance to participate in this event. Thus making the qualifiers a bit pointless.

But the big mess appears when we look at the Champions League and European League qualification rounds. Big teams like Arsenal and Celtic or Atletico Madrid and Panathinaikos are matched in one side, and then there are games such as Levski Sofia vs Debreceni VSC, or FK Ventspils vs FC Zurich. I do not mean to disrespect these teams but they are not ready to participate in the best football competition in the world. Once they make it to the group stage they get killed by the rest of the teams and the sometimes do not even get a single point. I do not understand how historic teams like Celtic or Sporting Lisbon will probably not be in the Champions League, but we will see FC Kobenhavn or APOEL FC. Do you want to shell out your hard earned cash to see them or the better clubs? Hmmm tough one, do I want to watch Arsenal with Fabregas and friends or do I want to watch Hans the Lumberjack and his buddies?

The new European League has been created to be a secondary European competition where some clubs can test themselves out of their own countries and compare their level with other top teams. But again the differences will be tremendous in this competition. Clubs like Everton, Valencia or Werder Bremen are much better prepared than MFK Kosice or FK Qarabag to win the tournament.

Platini´s idea of making football more equal and more competitive is not working at all. To me it is going in the opposite direction and some clubs are realizing just how far away they are from clubs like Manchester United, FC Barcelona, or Inter Milan. It is sad to see Champions League games played on artificial grass in which the home team loses 4-0, this is supposed to be the hardest competition on planet Earth, so lets make it that and keep the ‘pub’ teams out.

Posted by Nando