For the past few months, Thursdays following Champions League matchdays have been the domain of that competition’s sickly little brother. The Europa League is an odd competition in that only very few teams actually seem to care. Neither the prize money nor the prestige appear to be enough to coerce teams into taking the tournament particularly seriously, which is unfortunate because it often makes the whole thing unwatchable.
UEFA Should Give Europa League Winners Champions League Spot
The problem for everyone else is that the Europa League is neither the top level of sport nor is it the continuation towards something bigger and better. It’s the end of the line, but it’s the end of the losers’ line. Why would teams even want to win the thing?
Here’s a suggestion to UEFA: Give the Europa League winners a Champions League berth. Put them in the playoff rounds or something. If that team would qualify anyway, give it to the runners up. Such a move wouldn’t really compromise the quality of the Champions League, but it would vastly increase the quality of the Europa League overall. Give teams reasons to prioritise the tournament and suddenly the farcical lines will stop and the games will get much, much better.
It’s not really that hard.
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