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Reducing the amount of entries from the big leagues is not suddenly going to create an influx of Eastern European clubs into the Champions League, but it will at least give them a much better chance of progressing through to the group stages and collecting a handsome sum of money to help them rebuild. Not only that, but it will hopefully shift some of the limelight away from the big powers and towards Eastern Europe.

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A really good point. If they're actually allowed to compete more often, THE STANDARD WILL RISE. The current Champs League setup is designed to prevent this happening, because it's not in the interests of the big western European clubs (a.k.a. G14). For that reason if no other, it should be changed, or at least tweaked slightly.

Oh and I can't remember who said it (richards?), but technically 'Champions League' isn't necessarily grammatically incorrect, because it COULD refer to a league of champions, which of course doesn't require an apostrophe. Although if that's the case it does it in a phenomenally confusing way. Also, the original format of the European Cup didn't limit itself to only national champions or only one representative per country (the first team to knock Real Madrid out of the EC were Barcelona) - it was simply whichever clubs the organisers (France Football magazine and UEFA) felt like inviting, to make the best tournament. More often than not that was national champions, but not SOLELY...


Sam

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More fútbol argentino than you can shake a mullet at - Hasta El Gol Siempre

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