It wasn’t a total surprise that at the UEFA Europa League group stage draw in Monaco last Friday, team representatives and invited guests were singing the praises of a tournament that has been widely scorned for some time since they were UEFAs guests to the glittering event, what was a surprise was the odd remark referring to a competition in that was still in its “infancy”. The Europa League itself has only been existence 4 seasons (including the existing 2012/13 campaign) but a similar framework was derived from the old UEFA Cup which had been running for some 50 years. Among the changes, which there were little, was to integrate the existing UEFA and Intertoto Cup competitions into one tournament, as well as moving the matches being played to one single day (Thursday), which aimed to further break from the UEFA Champions League which played on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Here, say many is why, the Europa League is declining into a worthless competition.
This attitude is reflected most potently in England, where the press, the general public and even the participating clubs generally disregard the competition as an inconvenience. Only in the last week Alan Pardew, the manager of Newcastle United, who returned to Europe for the first time in 8 years, expressed his anxieties over the fixture congestion alongside their Premier League routine, and went on to suggest that his side’s fringe players would likely fill the bulk of their Europa League squad. This isn’t exactly a new tactic being deployed, the majority of English sides have fielded weaker squads in the UEL for the last couple of years; Tottenham Hotspur and Liverpool, two sides that will join Newcastle in the group stage this year have form in this area, and there is no reason why they won’t continue in the same vein. The involved clubs’ domestic ambitions are usually an indication on how serious they will take the UEL. For sides such as Spurs, Liverpool and Newcastle, their aspirations are high, with a target of UCL qualification on the horizon, while the likes of Stoke City, Fulham and Middlesbrough (who progressed further in the competition over the past 7 years) have had to settle with mid-table aspirations and therefore put more emphasis on their European campaign. However Stoke, a side that progressed well last year through the group stage started to field a weaker side in the knockout phase once they were threatened with relegation domestically.
The big misconception seems to be the schedule pileup, that the UEL is more intensive than the UCL. Last season, UEL participants who played on Thursday evening had their league matches moved to Sundays to ease their rehabilitation, whereas UCL teams had the same rehabilitation between matches either playing a league game on a Saturday, followed by UCL action on Tuesday, or playing in Europe on Wednesday, and back to action on the Saturday domestically. Each example illustrates that clubs have 2 full days of preparation between matches. In terms of number of matches, the UEL has only one extra round compared to the UCL, in fact Spurs would have had to play the same amount of games to qualify for the UCL final, as they will now to reach the UEL final, if they had been granted their UCL qualification that their league finish dictated. A relevant squad size is obviously needed to face domestic and European campaigns successfully, hence the generally deeper teams such as Manchester United tend to succeed more often than not. However, even the Red Devils, experienced at the multi-ball juggling act, were heard moaning at the so called hectic schedule once they were demoted from the UCL down to the UEL last term, which has been outlined above as myth.
In the long run, the number of matches and general rehabilitation of the squads is very similar, however one factor fails to come anywhere close to equal, that is money. An issue that is key to any European football debate is an obvious barometer to assess the reasons behind the decline of the UEL. While the prize money is obviously distorted in favour of the UCL, it’s the TV revenue gained from a successful run in the competition where the larger margins are felt. Big bucks deals funded by Sky and ITV for UCL coverage, is an obvious pull for clubs to pursue any which way of entering the competition, but it leaves the UEL behind with a very small chunk of the pie. It’s a circular problem; TV audiences are going to look elsewhere if second string sides are being put out by their countries’ teams, while the clubs themselves are unlikely to put out stronger squads of players if they are not going to see high TV revenues, a chicken and the egg scenario that neither side seems to be keen on changing.
So, how to improve a competition that’s in need of a change in its fortunes both on and off the pitch? A competition that boasts former champions of Europe, such as Internazionale, Liverpool and Marseille, that showed last term the high standard of football it can offer and numerous opportunities to see at least two matches per match day on free-to-view TV has obviously some positives going for it. Granting a UCL qualification spot to the winners could be a way to go, a change in domestic league match days, such as Monday night matches for the affected teams, or a reversal of the ruling that allows 3rd placed UCL sides drop into the UEL. All these could potentially improve the tournaments image, but it usually all comes down to the clubs themselves who are unlikely to change their game plan overnight.
Only hours after the draw had been made Athletico Madrid, last season’s UEL champions sailed past the UCL champions Chelsea in the UEFA Super Cup in a 4-1 rout inspired by Radamel Falcao, one player that will be playing in the UEL for the third time in as many years. No one could criticise Athletico, a dynamic, exciting side who’s only recent success’ have been in the UEL, yet the UCL snobbery still remains. Let’s hope this season, like we hoped last year and the year before, that the UEL can finally shrug off its shackles, that TV audiences expand, that the press and pundits alike relax their frustration with the schedule and that the likes of Newcastle, Spurs and Liverpool actually put some effort in that last year’s endeavours deserve and pick a half decent squad.
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