The new, expanded format of the Uefa Champions League would enable “more teams and therefore more coaches and players to compete in more competitive games on the European stage“.
However, now that the first phase of the revamped Champions League is over, if the numbers are different (more games, more goals, more money), the story they tell, that of a competition remaining a closed shop for most, is not.
None of the continent’s behemoths failed to qualify for the second stage of the tournament, despite the talk of “increased jeopardy” and Manchester City’s best efforts to engineer a self-inflicted shock to what is essentially a self-perpetuating system.
The revamped competition was supposed to ‘sustain domestic leagues’ but the sums involved are more likely to distort European football even further.
How did Manchester City earn €4.7m more than Aston Villa in Champions League group stage?
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