UEFA "Champions" League

So tonight in Rome the newly-crowned Champions of England take on the newly-crowned Champions of Spain to find out who will be Champions of Europe in the UEFA Champions League Final.

It's all about Champions, you see.

Except it isn't, because while Manchester United have earned their place in the competition by winning the Premier League, Barcelona only managed 3rd place last season. So they're not Champions. They're there because it wouldn't be fair on all those big-name players with their large salaries if we started letting too many Belgians or Ukranians or Poles play in the Champions League instead, just because they've had the front to win their league and be, er, Champions.

But wait, John, surely you'd rather see Barcelona v Man United, or Milan v Real Madrid, or PSV v PSG on your telly of a Wednesday evening? Why, yes I would. But we don't get that in the Champions League any more. Because, just as only three teams have the capacity to win the Premier League (sorry, Arsenal, you're not up to it any more), now only the qualifiers from England, Spain and Italy can realistically expect to challenge for the Champions League. And increasingly you can count out the Italians, and Real Madrid. Which leaves you with the English teams plus Barcelona. Which leaves you with a European Champions Cup competition which is basically just another chance to see our favourite Premier League stars play each other again.

Back in the day, when Champions played in the European Cup and Graeme Souness was managing Rangers, he was in favour of a European League. The best clubs from around the continent and Rangers could play each other every week, instead of worrying about getting a squad together to knock over Kilmarnock, or Wigan, or Bate Borisov.
The Champions League came along soon after, leading to massive amounts of money for the big boys, no more visits to the arse-end of Norway in November to play a second-round qualifier on an iceberg, the destruction of the FA Cup as a meaningful spectacle, and the need for massive squads and mid-season breaks to prevent burn-out in our superheroes.

So what's to be done? The answer is to create that European Super League properly. A 20 team European League, populated by the best 20 teams in Europe, who resign from their own domestic league to play.
Only the top four are guaranteed a place for the following season. Fifth downwards have a play-off against 16 of the champions of Europe, determined by some end-of-season eliminator. The losers go back to their domestic league.

What does this do?
It cuts down on the number of games played every season.
It gets rid of Liverpool v Chelsea "for the eighth time this week, Live On Sky."
It gives Aston Villa, Everton and their European counterparts the chance to win their domestic leagues again, play with the big boys, and conversely, means that Arsenal and Chelsea might not have guaranteed European football every year, so they'd have to manage their budgets accordingly.
It gives you a brilliantly exciting end-of-season series of life-or-death play-off games.

Of course, Manchester United could still win it every year, just as they might tonight. But then, they, unlike so many around them, are genuine Champions.