Hello.
I'll start with the bit that has everyone's attention right now: UEFA is about to introduce a change to the existing seeding system. Namely: the champions of seven highest-ranking countries will go straight into the first pot, along with the defending champions. It is yet unclear what will happen if one of the domestic champions also wins the Champions League. I suspect the eight's country's champion will be seeded in the first pot, but it's pure guesswork. This is the statement:
“It will be ratified later on by the executive committee but it’s a clear recommendation of the club competition’s committee that the seeding system changes in this respect as from next season.
People had difficulties in understanding how the champion of a country is in a lower pot than the third-ranked in that country.
This will give another dynamic with the draw and in the way the groups are composed. It will be approved with the regulations at the start of next year.
The club committee felt that there should be somehow an additional award given to the winners of the different national competitions."
What is also unclear, is how other pots will shape up. Seeding vice-champions in the second, third-place teams in the third and so on could potentially lead to very strong teams being left out of the elite. Which means we'll get several groups of death each year. Which, in its turn, can devalue the competition. But again, I don't know, whether it'll be the case.
Is it a fair system UEFA is trying to organise? Is it better than the one we already have in place?
Remember how a couple of years back the European's Football governing body introduced a path for the champions and a path for the non-champions (I still haven't got used to it)? They argued that very few small-country champions are represented during the group stages, which is not exactly fair.
This overhaul gifted us a couple of surprises, like APOEL and BATE going through to the knock-out stages, but, overall, I think the tournament got less entertaining. It doesn't really matter when the small clubs get knocked out, during the third qualifier or during the group stages. However, you could sort of see what UEFA's goal was. To give the chance to others.
And history repeats itself. You can understand what prompted this current change to the seeding system. You can say it's strange to see the reigning champion in the third pot with a potential chance to land themselves in a tough group, Borussia were even seeded in the fourth pot following 2010-2011 campaign, as they had a low rating. This injustice of sorts greatly hampered the Germans' chances to go through.
However, the current set-up is far from dysfunctional. It takes a historical aspect into consideration. For example, this year only three champions (Benfica, Atletico, Bayern) + the defending champions Real made it into the top pot. But the reasons why Arsenal, Chelsea, Porto and Barcelona made it are fairly obvious: their countries and the teams themselves perform to a very high standard in European competitions on a regular basis. Porto and Benfica are very successful in the Europa League for several years now, Barcelona and Chelsea are very consistent in the Champions League (they often get to the semi-finals), while Arsenal, well, gets into the group stages for 17 consecutive years and gets out of the group for 14-15 years running. Is it fair they go into the first pot for their consistency? I think so.
It may also prompt a change in our approach to the BPL. Which is exactly what we need. If we don't win, we'll find ourselves in a tough group once more. Do we want to have Barca or Bayern in our group? So this change can also be for the better. It can finally lead us to realise just how important winning the championship is.
Finally for today, all our international players seem to have come through the first round of internationals unscathed, which is certainly good news, considering five our of them featured for England alone. Even more, Wilshere got MoM for his performance, while Welbeck scored one of the goals from a Chamberlain assist. Chambers and Gibbs both completed 90 minutes and have impressed, for all I know. The most important thing they are all healthy, of course.
That's it for today. Back with fresh news in a couple of days.
Until then
Follow me on Twitter (@AlexBaguzin)
