Do European competition formats work?

The Champions League is a holy grail for every team in Europe which is why Wednesday's match between Tottenham and Manchester City is so crucial, but European competition has been re-jigged a bit over the years, so just how competitive is it?

There is a lot of debate about whether it is a true "Champions" League because the top three/four from the biggest leagues take up the places and the winners in smaller countries have to go through qualifying rounds. But if you want to see the best against the best then this is the most effective method because everyone knows the fourth bet side in England is a world apart from the top side in Bulgaria. Even so the competition still doesn't get exciting until the knock-out stages unless you see a few upsets in the first round, like with Liverpool this season. That's why it was a great decision to get rid of two group stages. The best way to make it more exciting from day one is to do away with seedings and separating teams from the same countries and do the groups randomly, but then fans of the big teams (who bring in the money) may lose interest early on because their team has been knocked out, the knock-out stage my be less competitive if smaller teams qualify and one side may find themselves in an easier route into the final.

This of course is the first season of the revamped Europa League and it has gone down a storm in England, not because of it's rebranding but because of Fulham reaching the final. Given that they began in July at the start of a very complicated competition format shows that it is still a bit of a joke, mainly because too many teams are in it. I think they should do away with fair play places, because it's ludicrous that we could see relegated Burnley playing in Europe next season, and the sides that fell at the group stages of the Champions League should not be rewarded for failure with a chance to win an easier competition. France and England are the only countries that have a place as a prize for the league cup winners and I think it is important that stays the same, so that teams still want to win the league cup. However I don't know why they scrapped the Cup Winners Cup and UEFA should bring it back for the domestic cup winners. It was a prestigious competition where teams who have proved they are good in a knock-out format would face each other. The only danger is that it could be full of semi-finalists because the cup winners and runners up may have won Champions League places. That's why it would be no good offering a Champions League place for the FA Cup winners.

JT