The football superpowers and the clubs that are just pawns in the game | OneFootball

April 18, 2021. Ring any bells?

Here’s a clue: Florentino Perez was the self-styled master of ceremonies.

The Real Madrid president’s supporting cast included representatives of two other Spanish clubs, three from Italy and six from England.

Yes, little more than four years ago the so-called European Super League was unveiled. It was by no means the first attempt to redraw the continent’s football map.

As far back as the Swinging Sixties, moves were afoot to change the status quo. Further attempts were made in the Seventies, the Eighties and the Nineties. All the European Super League attempts collapsed after UEFA threatened and sometimes imposed sanctions on the clubs involved.

UEFA, a less-than-honourable organisation intent mainly on preserving and growing its power, employed a stick and a carrot. No, clubs cannot make up the rules. Yes, we will give them what they want by expanding our competitions.

Hence the European Champion Clubs’ Cup, which was started in 1955 as a straight knockout tournament with 16 invited teams, grew to involve 32 teams from 1967-68. The winners played nine matches, with four home-and-away rounds before the final.

In 1991-92 there were two knockout rounds before the eight survivors formed two groups, with the winners of those home-and-away leagues going directly to the final. Predictably, that format carried far too much jeopardy to be a success. Just imagine, as one of the biggest clubs in today’s world, playing only two games before being eliminated from Europe’s most lucrative competition. No wonder UEFA continued to tweak and twerk.

In 1992-93 the name changed to the European Champions League. It was opened to the runners-up of the most powerful national leagues in 1997 and two years later to the teams finishing third and fourth.

Later on, it changed to two group phases for four seasons, with United unforgettably reaching the second of them in the last season (2002-03) of that format.

The familiar system of eight groups of four, with the top two in each group progressing to a knockout round of 16, was employed from 2003 until the end of last season. A minimum of six matches guaranteed.

The winners had another seven money-spinning games, two each home and away in the round of 16, the quarter-finals and the semi-finals as well as the final itself.

That was seemingly not enough for the European Super League plotters, who decided to award themselves the first 12 places each season in their tawdry venture. The scheme was fiercely condemned by football supporters, by excluded clubs and by the game’s governing authorities. Like all previous such ventures, it didn’t happen.

One of the biggest complaints, perhaps the biggest, was that teams would be rewarded not for what they had achieved in the previous season’s domestic campaign but for past performance going back years. How could that be fair, the protesters cried.

Only one day after the breakaway plan was unveiled in April 2021, UEFA announced an expanded Champions League for 2024-25, with 36 clubs playing 10 games each in a league phase, though not the traditional home-and-away format.

Of the four extra berths, two would be given to clubs with the highest coefficient ie to clubs who had failed to reach the qualifying heights in their domestic league but had enjoyed past success in UEFA-run competitions. How could that be fair, the protesters cried.

The plan was tweaked again to award those two places to the leagues, rather than to the clubs, with the highest coefficient, while the guarantee of 10 matches in the league phase was reduced to eight.

After the league phase this season, in which each team faced eight opponents in one-off games, the top eight moved automatically to the knockout stage and the next 16 to a two-leg play-off to determine the other eight.

Canny observers will have detected a theme throughout all these changes: the most powerful clubs threaten to break away, UEFA appears to slap them down, then gives them more-or-less what they want, which is the guarantee of extra income.

There’s another sub-plot, in which FIFA throws its weight around like the biggest boy in the kindergarten. Hence the ridiculously overblown Club World Cup.

If you think I’m exaggerating, read this guff from its media minions: “FIFA’s new prime club competition – the FIFA Club World Cup 2025™ – will grace the world stage in June and July 2025, when 32 of the globe’s leading teams gather in the USA for the inaugural edition.

“This truly global event will bring together the most successful club sides from each of the six international confederations: AFC, CAF, Concacaf, Conmebol, OFC and Uefa.”

There’s the small amount of $1bn (that’s 1,000 million US dollars, if you were unsure) to be handed out, with the first $525m being distributed by “a ranking based on sporting and commercial criteria”. Those are FIFA’s words, not mine. Put bluntly, you scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours. Clubs are being rewarded by FIFA for taking part, with the biggest European participants expected to attract the most attention, eyeballs, and revenue. How can that be fair, the protesters cried.

The payments for performance are also staggering: $2m for each game won in the group stage, $1m for each draw. It’s like Christmas in midsummer: $7.5m for reaching the round of 16, another $13.125 for being a quarter-finalist, etc etc.

If one of the 12 European clubs was to win the whole jamboree, they would collect nearly $126m. There seems little need to convert dollars into sterling, the message is clear enough.

Chelsea and Man City are the Premier League partygoers. FIFA says Chelsea earned their place by winning the Champions League in 2021 and Man City by winning it in 2023. I hope their players are exhausted before the next domestic season kicks off, not that their owners would be fussed. They will be too busy counting the dollars. Unless they are knocked out at the group stage by Mamelodi Sundowns, Auckland City or Inter Miami. With all due respect . . .

Apologies for going off on one. This was meant to be a look at what will await Newcastle United if we qualify for the recently revamped UEFA Champions League.

In short, the answer is a minimum of eight matches, four at home, four away, against eight clubs. No home-and-away ties just yet. Two opponents will be from the top-ranked pod of nine clubs, two from the second-ranked pod, two from the third-ranked pod and two from the lowest-ranked pod. No prizes for guessing the ranking of our pod, should we do the business on Sunday.

The good news is that there should be no Group of Death, such as we encountered in 2023-24. The better news is that 24 of the 36 clubs will survive the initial phase, which is known as a Swiss league, presumably because there are so many holes in it. Those clubs that do best from their eight games go straight to the round of 16, with those that finish 9-24 facing a two-leg playoff to determine who progresses with them.

This season’s poor relations were Slovan Bratislava and Young Boys, who from a total of 16 matches garnered precisely nil points. Looking on the bright side, we would surely exceed those performances.

Mags who fear we would inevitably suffer ignominy should consider Aston Villa, seeded in the lowest pod, who enjoyed some memorable victories on the way to the quarter-finals and gave PSG a fright or two. Talking of our favourite French opponents, they have reached the final after losing no fewer than five of 16 games. Though none to Arsenal, as you might recall.

Villa’s most notable win was against Bayern at home, while they also beat Club Brugge three times. That’s one of the format’s quirks: your round-of-16 opponent might already be familiar.

Counting a few more chickens before the eggs are hatched, the best scenario for United would be to have the four home matches against the higher seeds and the away ties against the lower. Who wouldn’t fancy the champions of Germany, Italy, France or Spain under the lights at St James’ Park?

At the bare minimum, qualify on Sunday and we will have eight Champions League matches to savour next season, with a second chance of making the last 16 stage if we cannot be a top-eight finisher in the Swiss league.

This season, three of the four Premier League teams went straight through. Take the scenic route and we will play at least 12 times.