Grumbling again: Slavia, Platini, and spiralling inequalities
Back in this site’s earlier days I wrote a match report from a trip to Prague. On this trip I persuaded my girlfriend that a jaunt to watch Slavia play FC Teplice would be very worthwhile indeed, and for some reason she agreed. Anyway, the text is here, with some pictures too (go on, have a look, there’s smoke, rain, everything!). It was a fantastic match and a wonderful atmosphere; real football, as opposed to the garishly shiny nouveau richesse that is football in England.
The players were technically excellent, took (and were given) that half a second longer on the ball, and played a game that was exceedingly pleasing on the eye. I wondered how they’d fare against English opposition, and my curiosity was answered when they drew Spurs in the UEFA Cup. But it was like watching men against boys; Slavia didn’t – couldn’t – get going, and Martin Jol’s men marched on without breaking stride.
“I am not sure that the fourth club of England, Spain or Italy is better than the champion of a great football country like Denmark or the Czech Republic. They have won many cups in the past but today they can’t because the television money is not enough.”
And he’s exactly right. Here’s how Czech clubs have fared in Europe this year:
Slovan Liberec – UEFA Champions League (third qualifying round)
FK Mladá Boleslav – UEFA Champions League (second qualifying round)
AC Sparta Praha – UEFA Cup (main stage)
SK Slavia Praha – UEFA Cup (second qualifying round)
FK Teplice – UEFA Intertoto Cup
Two teams got into the Champions League qualifiers but that was that. Slavia, currently one of two big Prague teams, have never reached the group stages of the Champion’s League. Never. They’ll probably get another go next year (they were on a decent run of form before the Czech winter break and currently lie second behind Sparta), but they’ll more than likely be unseeded and will more than likely be swept aside by Liverpool or another third place team from a rich country. It becomes a vicious circle: the longer the ‘mainstream’ European leagues keep getting the money, the stronger they get.
If I’m reading the article correctly, the awful conclusion is that now the governing bodies of the smaller countries don’t *want* to change things, because the bigger European clubs generate more vital TV revenue, which is then shared around Europe. Can this be right?
European football has been massively devalued since the inception of the Champion’s League. We used to have three great tournaments: the Cup Winner’s Cup, a legitimate competition featuring big clubs and a few quirky outsiders; the UEFA Cup, also featuring good teams, all bar the Champions, in fact – this was where you got some really rich football; and the European Cup, which, of course, was where the winners of each domestic league played. It was great. Now the Cup Winner’s Cup is gone and the UEFA Cup is home to third rate clubs from big nations and shrivelling big clubs from nations that lack the muscle to compete in the Champion’s League. And the Champions League itself is becoming as soulless as an 80s out of town shopping centre.
This has turned into a rant, hasn’t it? But where do we go from here? I hope Platini has the power and will to reverse things, because it’s already out of control. The rich are getting richer and nobody has the balls to say ’stop’.
I think you’re right. I was only thinking the other day that surely it would have been better for Arsenal to have competed in the UEFA cup and maybe won the thing, than go out before the quarter-finals of the Chumps League. There are too many teams in the current Champions League format, and whilst it has lead to some big-name finals (and possibly one of the greatest games of football I have ever seen) it’s not the competition it once was.
love the site man
here in america we have a big sporting event every year at this time called the ncaa tournament – it is the championship of college basketball
it is supposed to be the 64 best teams in a one-loss-and-yer-out bracket
the idea is fantastic and it leads to high drama
but the big schools with the big money always dominate
and while the best should always win, there is an argument every year that the smaller schools dont even get a chance to try and be the best
yes a few make it into the 64 but not enough
if the big teams had their way they would just crowd out the little teams from the selection process altogether
sadly like quailfying for european football we are a in a state right now where money talks louder than anything else – by far
the big teams from big countries draw in the big tv revenue
the television broadcaster are not going to pay uefa as much for the rights when one less “big” team from england, italy, spain and germany are not included at the expense of adding more teams from places like the czech repulbic
maybe plantini will have the guts to say, “We can do with out a little money right now for the long term good of the competition” (in a french accent of course)
i sure hope he has the backing to pull this off, but i am afraid that he doesn’t
alright there, Bruce. Thanks for the link the other day, I meant to reciprocate and will do so later on. Cheers.
I’ve heard rumblings about what a sham NCAA has become, but had no idea it was basketball too. Interesting deal with your college system isn’t there? On the one hand it seems to produce fairly articulate players (Boca and McBride seem a bit brighter than your average British footballer), but then it messes with a load of young kids doesn’t it? Darcy Frey’s “Last Shot” is an amazing book about this, how the Coney Island kids’ basketball dreams (and their lives) end up in complete ruin. Without the college system these boys would have had a fair shake at the pro game, but things have changed a bit since then haven’t they?
Where was I? Who knows? No matter. We’re all hoping to see Dempsey get more action soon though… but looks like there’s a couple more US games on the horizon which’ll keep him out of our side. Ah well. For those that aren’t watching out your way though, Carlos Bocanegra’s playing fantastically well at the moment.