August 18 – The telescoping of the UEFA club competition final rounds to a mini-knockout competition and the impact of Covid-19 has seen some surprise results but in reality has also served to emphasise the polarisation of European around the Big 5 leagues, according to research by KPMG Football Benchmark.
“When looking at this year’s participants, we saw only familiar contestants in the group stages, with Italy’s Atalanta being the only exception, making their debut appearance in the competition,” say KPMG in the report.
“In contrast, Porto were a surprise absentee: it is the first time in eight years that the 2004 UCL winners have missed out on group stages. In addition, last season’s semi-finalists Ajax almost missed out too – they could only secure their group stage presence through the playoffs.”
It is a polarisation sustained and enhanced by those clubs with access to the most money. How far that will change in a post-pandemic world remains to be seen.
The Football Benchmark team point out that while key income sources (matchday, commercial and broadcasting) are certain to suffer in the near future, the fixed prize money structure for the current 3-year cycle (2019-21) in both the Champions League and Europa League is unchanged. The effect will be to make these competitions more important and likely sustaining the regular participant clubs further.
The big five leagues were represented by 19 clubs in the UCL’s group stage, with 16 of them advanced to the knockout stage. “Consequently, this season saw 13 teams from 11 non-big five leagues among the 32 clubs of the group stages, which is a 40% share – the same size of its representation as in the last season.”
However, continues the KPMG report: “That 40% share of non-big five league clubs in the group stage this year, however, disappeared as the tournament advanced: in fact, there was not one club outside of the elite five leagues who managed to progress to the last 16. This season the English Premier League and the Spanish La Liga were represented by four teams each, three clubs came from both the German Bundesliga and the Italian Serie A, while the French Ligue 1 was represented by two clubs.
“Looking back at the 10 past UCL seasons, this has been the first one in which the UCL last-16 contains only big five league clubs.”
While the French and German successes are changing the look of the final rounds of the Champions League at the sharp end, a look at the bigger picture shows it is really a case of same old same old.
See the full report at https://footballbenchmark.com/library/european_club_competitions_unusual_times_with_usual_faces
Contact the writer of this story at moc.l1735326326labto1735326326ofdlr1735326326owedi1735326326sni@n1735326326osloh1735326326cin.l1735326326uap1735326326