UEFA Champions League 2022/23 Group Stage

[nogomet]

If the 32 CL participants were divided into the Western and Eastern conference, Ajax would be the last team to be included in the West, just barely.

Marseille would already be in the East, together with Juventus, Leverkusen, Dortmund, Inter, Milan, etc.

Napoli is the 4th easternmost club in the Champions League. Only Dinamo Zagreb, Shakhtar Donetsk and Maccabi Haifa are further east than Napoli.

[Lorric]

If the 32 CL participants were divided into the Western and Eastern conference, Ajax would be the last team to be included in the West, just barely.

Marseille would already be in the East, together with Juventus, Leverkusen, Dortmund, Inter, Milan, etc.

Napoli is the 4th easternmost club in the Champions League. Only Dinamo Zagreb, Shakhtar Donetsk and Maccabi Haifa are further east than Napoli.

Marseille is further West on that map than Ajax.

[Greyn]

I don't like it but it is a trend that has started many years ago. One of the reasons why I lost my interest in the CL after qualifying rounds are played. Furthermore, Shakhtar, Dinamo Zagreb and Maccabi Haifa are among weakest teams in the CLGS.

I will focus on the EL and ECL as always, much more interesting competitions in my opinion, as I prefer diversity over quality of football.

[OlliWender]

I've seen a stats guy on twitter who created heat map where you can see how the average epicenter of all CL teams' homes has been moving more and more to the west and is now located somewhere between London and Paris.

https://twitter.com/jburnmurdoch/status ... 2757401603

I recommend you to look through the whole thread by John Burn-Murdoch:

https://twitter.com/jburnmurdoch/status ... 6545335296

Very interesting read about financial disparities in football.

[seso]

Marseille is further West on that map than Ajax.

They tried not to cover the Monaco gray dot!

[Dragonite]

I don't like it but it is a trend that has started many years ago. One of the reasons why I lost my interest in the CL after qualifying rounds are played. Furthermore, Shakhtar, Dinamo Zagreb and Maccabi Haifa are among weakest teams in the CLGS.

I will focus on the EL and ECL as always, much more interesting competitions in my opinion, as I prefer diversity over quality of football.

Napoli, Rangers, Leverkusen, Plzen, Frankfurt, Tottenham, Marseille, Dinamo Zagreb, Celtic, Copenhagen and Maccabi Haifa are all "diversity" - they missed last season's edition and they qualified for this one.


What kind of "diversity" you have in mind? You wanted to see Zalgiris & Pyunik here?

[seso]

I will focus on the EL and ECL as always, much more interesting competitions in my opinion, as I prefer diversity over quality of football.

Why do you think that there will be less quality in Hearts vs RFS?? I am joking of course; I agree completely with what you wrote.

[Greyn]

I don't like it but it is a trend that has started many years ago. One of the reasons why I lost my interest in the CL after qualifying rounds are played. Furthermore, Shakhtar, Dinamo Zagreb and Maccabi Haifa are among weakest teams in the CLGS.

I will focus on the EL and ECL as always, much more interesting competitions in my opinion, as I prefer diversity over quality of football.

Napoli, Rangers, Leverkusen, Plzen, Frankfurt, Tottenham, Marseille, Dinamo Zagreb, Celtic, Copenhagen and Maccabi Haifa are all "diversity" - they missed last season's edition and they qualified for this one.


What kind of "diversity" you have in mind? You wanted to see Zalgiris & Pyunik here?

What kind of diveristy? Clubs from different countries, from different parts of Europe. From all clubs you mentioned only Viktoria Plzen and Maccabi Haifa come from countries which don't have a CL participant regularly.

This is a CL team location, when this competition was 'healthy'. This map comes from 1995/96 season.



In that season:
1) Panathinaikos reached the Semi-Finals
2) Spartak Moscow won their all 6 CLGS matches in a group with English Champions
3) Legia advanced to the quarter-finals, collecting 4 points against English Champions

That was a healthy and interesting Champions League for someone like me.

[nogomet]

Marseille is further West on that map than Ajax.

The map is not 100% precise. Amsterdam is slightly closer to the prime meridian than Marseille.

[Lorric]

Marseille is further West on that map than Ajax.

The map is not 100% precise. Amsterdam is slightly closer to the prime meridian than Marseille.

Alright, thanks.

[Firnen]

I don't like it but it is a trend that has started many years ago. One of the reasons why I lost my interest in the CL after qualifying rounds are played. Furthermore, Shakhtar, Dinamo Zagreb and Maccabi Haifa are among weakest teams in the CLGS.

I will focus on the EL and ECL as always, much more interesting competitions in my opinion, as I prefer diversity over quality of football.

On one side, it's the system, on the other, we had countries like Romania, Greece and Turkey with direct CL slots.

It's their fault that they got overtaken by the likes of Scotland and Austria.

[Greyn]

I don't like it but it is a trend that has started many years ago. One of the reasons why I lost my interest in the CL after qualifying rounds are played. Furthermore, Shakhtar, Dinamo Zagreb and Maccabi Haifa are among weakest teams in the CLGS.

I will focus on the EL and ECL as always, much more interesting competitions in my opinion, as I prefer diversity over quality of football.

On one side, it's the system, on the other, we had countries like Romania, Greece and Turkey with direct CL slots.

It's their fault that they got overtaken by the likes of Scotland and Austria.

That is true for Greece and Turkey, where something was (and still is) wrong with club management and spending money properly. Romania never had a financial potential to keep their high place in the UEFA Country Ranking and direct CL spots. It was only a matter of time when they lose them and go down in the ranking. Same applies for countries like Poland, Hungary, Bulgaria. Hard to say what will happen with Serbia and their ranking position, but they are financed from public money, so it is a bit different.

I am aware that CL from the past will never return. That's because money is presently by far a decisive factor in terms of team strength. Additionally UEFA did a lot to help clubs from top leagues to make them even stronger and increase the gap between them and the rest. Why they did that? Because they are aware that clubs from top leagues generate a few times more TV money and other profits than clubs from Eastern Europe.

[SimonB]

The other obvious factor affecting just this season for the moment is the exclusion of Russian clubs, that together with the fact that the actions of Russia have almost certainly had an impact on Ukrainian clubs and arguably Belarus too.

[Firnen]

I don't like it but it is a trend that has started many years ago. One of the reasons why I lost my interest in the CL after qualifying rounds are played. Furthermore, Shakhtar, Dinamo Zagreb and Maccabi Haifa are among weakest teams in the CLGS.

I will focus on the EL and ECL as always, much more interesting competitions in my opinion, as I prefer diversity over quality of football.

On one side, it's the system, on the other, we had countries like Romania, Greece and Turkey with direct CL slots.

It's their fault that they got overtaken by the likes of Scotland and Austria.

That is true for Greece and Turkey, where something was (and still is) wrong with club management and spending money properly. Romania never had a financial potential to keep their high place in the UEFA Country Ranking and direct CL spots. It was only a matter of time when they lose them and go down in the ranking. Same applies for countries like Poland, Hungary, Bulgaria. Hard to say what will happen with Serbia and their ranking position, but they are financed from public money, so it is a bit different.

I am aware that CL from the past will never return. That's because money is presently by far a decisive factor in terms of team strength. Additionally UEFA did a lot to help clubs from top leagues to make them even stronger and increase the gap between them and the rest. Why they did that? Because they are aware that clubs from top leagues generate a few times more TV money and other profits than clubs from Eastern Europe.

You are right, and I understand it's impossible nowadays to go toe to toe with the to big leagues.
But they should be able to be above Scotland and Austria, maybe even Belgium. Scotland has less TV income than Poland !
The Nordics are also advancing their football more and more.

[Ricardo]

Yes, but replacing Scotland with Poland does not help much. Top 4 countries have automatically already half of CL, the few diversity teams have to fight among themselves for a handful that qualify.
Not fair play, not at all
Maybe they should refuse all together, but they won’t bite the hand that feeds them. And the top would prefer to play without them anyway. It’s sad, very sad
All what we, comsumers, can do is stop watching. As Greyn does, me too. Unfortunately there are a lot of dumbos around the world, even more and more, who watch it anyway