[Archived] Fa Cup Winners Will Qualify For The Champions League

[Cocker]

According to Sky/The Guardian today, The FA Cup winners will qualify for the Champions League under new proposals to be considered by Uefa.

I think this is a good idea. If its called The Champions League someone who finishes 4th shouldnt be in it. You win a cup - your a Champion simple as that. They should take third away too and give it to the league cup (or whatever they are calling it now a days) winners - that would make it more exciting.

Winners of things should be in a Winners league - end of story

[Finch]

Ah, but the magical heated balls ensure that at least one 'top 4' side gets to the final ..... allegedly of course

So it won't make a lot of difference.

Wouldn't it be great if an 'ordinary team' (such as ourselves) had a proper chance of winning the F A Cup.

Alas nay!

[Cocker]

Explain why we wouldnt have a propper chance of winning it? I have last seasons semi final programme at home to prove that we did have a propper chance.

Anyone in it can win it.

[thenodrog]

According to Sky/The Guardian today, The FA Cup winners will qualify for the Champions League under new proposals to be considered by Uefa.

I think this is a good idea. If its called The Champions League someone who finishes 4th shouldnt be in it. You win a cup - your a Champion simple as that. They should take third away too and give it to the league cup (or whatever they are calling it now a days) winners - that would make it more exciting.

Winners of things should be in a Winners league - end of story

Champions league

1. Champions

2. FA Cup Winners

The rest in the UEFA. That would give the Champions league real meaning and at the same time return the UEFA cup to a position of real significance. The Champions league is a facade for a cartel.

[brfc fan]

I think that's fantastic because I believe lately the FA Cup has been disrespected and not treated in the same way as other tournaments.

It's also brilliant for teams llike ourselves, Everton, Spurs etc. who are close to breaking into the top four but are also close to winning the Cup so have another realistic and possible route in.

I can understand people doubting the idea of a non-Premier League club entering but first of all they haven't won the Cup for a while anyway and also I suppose these teams have to go through qualifying so they probably won't make it into the tournament proper.

OK there is a chance that say a top Chamiponship side will win but why can't they have a go anyway? What harm is it doing to us? That may be the only time those fans get to do it in their lives.

[doctorryan]

According to Sky/The Guardian today, The FA Cup winners will qualify for the Champions League under new proposals to be considered by Uefa.

I think this is a good idea. If its called The Champions League someone who finishes 4th shouldnt be in it. You win a cup - your a Champion simple as that. They should take third away too and give it to the league cup (or whatever they are calling it now a days) winners - that would make it more exciting.

Winners of things should be in a Winners league - end of story

Yeah, Platini's been talking about this for awhile now. It's all conjecture at this point with regards to how it will all play out , but my guess is it will be very much like how the 'drog has it down (perish the thought).

League Champions from associations rated 1-16 & Cup winners from associations rated 1-6 will go strait to group, along with the European Cup holder of course if they're not already qualified through their association. The rest will come from qualifiers, with probably only 1 additional team from each of the top 3 (La Liga, Series A & the FAPL) getting a chance. In addition to stripping us, the Spanish and Italians of a spot; Platini's also suggested compelling those clubs qualifying from the runner-up spots in the top 6 associations to play each other in 3rd round qualifying, ensuring that 3 more spots in the group phase go to clubs from smaller associations. I think this would all be fantastic if it happened.

But you can forget that League Cup idea Cocker. Only us and France get a second domestic cup winner into UEFA competitions at all, & in both cases that club gets a UEFA Cup spot.

[tcj_jones]

Bad news for us this, the European places shift one place further up the table. We'll have to finish in at least sixth to qualify automatically.

EDIT: but then, the cup is almost always won by one of the big four. Will the runner up get a place in the Champions League instead, if a team that had finished in the top three won it, or will it go to fourth place. If so, that's hardly a change from the current set up.

[krislu]

The media and the people want to see the best teams in Europe play in Champions League. Therefore it would be plain silly and boring to have the same number of teams representing England, Italy and Spain as Latvia, Moldova and Kazakhstan.

As for the FA Cup idea, I like it. I should be top 3 gets a place along with the FA-cup winner.

[S15]

Joke.

Here's a wacky idea, why don't the Champions of each country go into the Champions League and everyone else into the UEFA Cup.

Like it used to be, when the European Cup was worth something other than money.

[Roaming Rover]

What are the odds we finish 4th the season this is introduced

[Finch]

Explain why we wouldnt have a propper chance of winning it? I have last seasons semi final programme at home to prove that we did have a propper chance.

Anyone in it can win it.

Aye, you're right. The heated ball thing is a complete fallacy. I don't even know why I brought it up.

[Sparky Marky]

I think that he's trying to say that in the last 10 years, its only the "Big 4" that have won the cup....yes rovers got to the semi...did you really think they would win the cup!!!! This year some other mid-table team might get to the semi, but I'm pretty sure that one of the 4 will win it.....

[Eddie]

It's an ok idea. I would like to see the Champions League reviewed, but I'd probably rather see top two and the cup winners from the big leagues and just the champions from small leagues. That would then allow some medium leagues (Holland, Portugal or France for example) to have their champion and a cup winner. It would make things more interesting and it might mix the top four up a bit, but it will take a lot of effort to get this sort of thing through.

[Cocker]

Aye, you're right. The heated ball thing is a complete fallacy. I don't even know why I brought it up.

Even if the balls were heated - which they are not. We can still beat anyone on our day - knocked Arsenal out didnt we

[BRFC4EVA]

Its certainly an idea that i support, for 2 reasons. Firstly it shakes up the whole champs league qualification process, which to be honest at the present time is a little bit of a shambles, 4th spot in certain leagues qualifying for the top cometition. Secondly it gives an opportunity to break the stranglehold of the top 4. Whilst i realise that 8 times out of 10 say one of united, arse, liv or chels will win the Fa Cup, it nonetheless does give that slight glimmer of hope for the other teams, for most of which breaking into said top 4 not possible. Of course it may mean that at times one of the 'big 4' misses out on a spot which may help to rebalance the finances, if for example blackburn and everton won the cup in 09 and 10 and therefore arse missed out in '09 and liv in '1, the finances of the respected clubs would be narrowed. In theroy at least.

All in all, it cant be a bad thing can it?

[Sandiway Blue]

I think it is an excellent idea.How funny would it have been if it was already in place a few years ago when Millwall got to the final !

[b12_simon]

I think it is an excellent idea.How funny would it have been if it was already in place a few years ago when Millwall got to the final !

Or when the Crazy Gang won it!

[Sandiway Blue]

Or when the Crazy Gang won it!

coventry city ?

[philipl]

If English clubs were not banned at the time, both Wimbledon and Coventry would have played in the Cup Winners Cup which used to be my favourite European Competition.

[frosty]

Can't be bad news for us - don't have too much of a chance of breaking into the top 4 (yet), but can play in the biggest club competition in the world by winning the FA Cup

[thenodrog]

Can't be bad news for us - don't have too much of a chance of breaking into the top 4 (yet), but can play in the biggest club competition in the world by winning the FA Cup

I know where you are coming rom but rem we've finished in the top four at least 3 times in the last 15 years but we haven't won t'cup since 1928.

[thenodrog]

Joke.

Here's a wacky idea, why don't the Champions of each country go into the Champions League and everyone else into the UEFA Cup.

Like it used to be, when the European Cup was worth something other than money.

An even wackier and truly original thought ...... what about making each round of the European cup a 2 legged knock out? It'd be far more exciting for the TV and I'm sure the fans would much prefer that to the annual procession that is in place now.

[philipl]

I quite like the one-legged mini-league of the UEFA Cup.

The FA Cup is even more of a big 4 monopoly than the Premier League if you look at the range of clubs in top 4 finishes since it started in 1992 and compare with the list of FA Cup winners.

Only the League Cup has broken the Cup-winning tedium but the entry of the big boys in round 3 and them taking it seriously means that the chances of anybody but boring Arsenal, boring Chelsea, boring Liverpool or boring Man U winning anything has dropped.

Now if only the boring Premier League or the boring FA could wake up to the fact that the big 4 are boring...

[brfcs5359]

QUOTE.. The heated ball thing is a complete fallacy.

No it wasn't. It was used by Argentina during the 78 World Cup to fix the draw. And probably many time subsequently!! LOL

The Champions League format is about right. What's wrong is the name.

The European Cup was never the best teams, because very few teams won back to back titles and justified the competition on that seasons form. And all it did was allow the big four to get to the semi's whilst playing a bunch of window cleaners. Often that seasons in form team and champions would have been in the UEFA Cup having finished 2nd or third the previous season. It was a joke. And the worst of it was the top leagues had several teams in the UEFA Cup making that the premier comp. It was all wrong. And the UEFA had a two legged final. Hate to point this out to the Scousers but of their 5 titles, 3 were won by penalties and the other 2 were against Bruges and Moenchengladback, one at home (Wembley).

I am happy with the Champions League Format. And also the UEFA Cup which has been modified and is getting better each season. This season it is really strong.

[doctorryan]

QUOTE.. The heated ball thing is a complete fallacy.

No it wasn't. It was used by Argentina during the 78 World Cup to fix the draw. And probably many time subsequently!! LOL

The Champions League format is about right. What's wrong is the name.

The European Cup was never the best teams, because very few teams won back to back titles and justified the competition on that seasons form. And all it did was allow the big four to get to the semi's whilst playing a bunch of window cleaners. Often that seasons in form team and champions would have been in the UEFA Cup having finished 2nd or third the previous season. It was a joke. And the worst of it was the top leagues had several teams in the UEFA Cup making that the premier comp. It was all wrong. And the UEFA had a two legged final. Hate to point this out to the Scousers but of their 5 titles, 3 were won by penalties and the other 2 were against Bruges and Moenchengladback, one at home (Wembley).

I am happy with the Champions League Format. And also the UEFA Cup which has been modified and is getting better each season. This season it is really strong.

Uh graham; the trophy is still called the European Champion Clubs' Cup (or European Cup for short) and that's still technically part of the competition's official title. UEFA uses it in their press and pre-match releases. The Champions League is more of a commercial title if you will; a reference to the group phase that was introduced in 1992, & I like it. It sounds way better than saying "the European Champion Clubs' Cup competition". What's funny, if not slightly annoying however; is pundits and announcers constantly referring to the Cup as the "Champion League Trophy".