Football has degenerated into a numbers game. Anyone who tuned in to the XXL Conference with 18 parallel games on Wednesday evening saw an average of one goal every 90 seconds. It felt like the Champions League in Tiktok format: short clips, quick cuts, constant sound. As soon as a goal was scored somewhere, we were already back in the next stadium. This satisfied the desire to see everything at once and ensured that in the end one had little understanding of the development of a single game.
The European football association UEFA has at least partially achieved one of its goals: the league phase ensures more variety, more decisions, more entertainment – and at the same time makes any classification more difficult. Clubs have stopped fighting under the same conditions for a long time, but since the reform they have done so even less. Each club plays its own Champions League, against eight different opponents, but not the same as the competition, and in the end everyone meets again in one table. Why Team A was better than Team B cannot always be explained, only calculated.
The big clubs can stumble without falling
The reformed Champions League does produce surprises, but they no longer have the same effect. And this is exactly where the problem lies, which even the last day of the game cannot hide: the new mode creates drama, but also a system in which defeats can have no consequences. Paris Saint-Germain, Inter Milan – finalists last season – and Real Madrid missed out on direct entry into the round of 16, but they should still prevail in the play-offs against teams from the lower table region. The big clubs can stumble without falling – the new format provides them with the net.
The reform primarily benefits those who are already at the top: the rich clubs and UEFA. More games mean more TV revenue, more planning security and – through the play-offs – additional security. Anyone who has a broad squad and a large budget will get through, even with mediocre performances.
The hierarchy in European football has continued to solidify despite the reform. Five of the eight clubs in the round of 16 come from the English Premier League. The four additional clubs in the competition mean more games and more money, but not more mixing. Clubs like Qarabağ Ağdam or Bodø/Glimt may survive the play-offs, but the fact that they go further than the round of 16 seems illusory given the financial differences.
The last matchday in the league phase shows the dilemma of this Champions League: maximum movement, minimum consequences – and a mode that does one thing above all: protect the European elite. That’s exciting, but it doesn’t make the competition any fairer.
