UEFA have announced changes to the seeding structure for the Champions League which will affect Arsenal next season.
Previously, a cumulative points system, based on results over the last five years, was what decided the top group of clubs, but now the winners of the tournament, plus the winners of the English, Italian, Spanish, French, German, Portuguese and Russian leagues will make up that pot.
If the winner, as is likely, comes from one of those leagues, then the winners of the next strongest league – the Dutch Eredivisie – will be added.
Chelsea are set for a top seeding next season after they secure the Premier League, which would mean Arsenal falling into the second group if we achieve qualification.
A UEFA spokesman said, “Football is about winning, it’s about competition, it’s about sporting merit. I think it’s kind of a natural thing to give to those who have won a competition a special treatment like this.”
Which suggests that continuing to a call a competition the ‘Champions League’ when most of the participants aren’t champions requires a re-think. That’s gonna happen, right?
Right.
Damn right!
I think its about right to give the winners of the respective league the top seeds. We don’t deserve to be top seeds if we don’t win either the Premier League or the Champions league in the past 5 years. Now the fun begins in the group stage itself. Looking forward to the next seasons champions league where we face Atletico Madrid/Real Madrid, Roma, PSG.
Yes, the winners of the Dutch league definitely deserve to be seeded.. Whoever draws them will be laughing their arse off.
As a Dutchman, I can tell you that the goal of a Dutch team in the CL is just to not finish fourth, and to draw one of the really big teams for marketing purposes. They’ll try to progress, off course, but they’re not disappointed if they don’t.
We’ll just have to win the Premier League then.
I am confident we will do this coming season. So far the Club is ahead of my expectations.
We’ve been saying that for years now, we’ll win it next season, next season, next season, it is always next season.
Lets just take it game by game, man.
Exactly. There really shouldn’t be anything left to say other than that.
…my comment being in response to Cornelius.
Doesn’t matter.
We’ll still qualify for the round of 16 and then obviously get knocked out. 🙂
You’ve been watching too many Monaco replays 😉
…and Bayern, bayern again, milan, barca..
Booooooo
I am fairly confident of reaching the quarter finals next season, the squad is improving in quality, fitness, and we have a recent trend of making what i feel are the right level of additions, next season i predict 2nd place much closer, fa cup league cup and quarter finals.
was it wrong of me to expect 2 trophies and a step further in ucl?
We’ll need an unusually favourable group, then, because I don’t see us topping any group that includes the likes of Barca, Real, Bayern, etc. And you’ll have noticed that coming second in the group does tend to make further progress unlikely. The new rules don’t in fact make very much difference because we’d have lost our pot-1 status anyway. We actually lost it two years ago when our ranking slipped to 9, but because Valencia and United failed to qualify we could have saved our bacon if we’d got as far as the semis. Sadly, we blew it so from… Read more »
Well thanks Miranda, that’s one of the most interesting and well written things I’ve read in the comments section for some time. No use of shitty word play of other clubs ie Manure, Chelski etc and no mention of how beautiful our striker is. Breathe of fresh air, keep it up!
Leaked scene from the Platini-Blatter biopic – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yctw3ZAB2aE
It should be renamed ‘The Top 4 Tin’
Man would we win that bad boy.
I say we’ll qualify last eight as premier league runners up!
why thumbs down?…nvm then
You mustn’t be afraid to dream a little bigger, darling. LEAGUE TITLE. DOUBLE. That sort of things.
Remember reading something about how this actually stood to be a potentially decent step for us in terms of who we could draw (think the point was that we were likely to drop out the seedings next season anyway) as there would only be Bayern, Barca/Real and perhaps Juve from the seeded sides we could draw who we wouldn’t fancy our chances of finishing above, as opposed to Real/Barca (and perhaps Dortmund if they were in it) who we’d want to avoid. Basically, one of the Spanish big sides won’t be seeded so the seedings will be weaker.
unless Barca get the title and Real win the CL, or vice versa
The article states that if the winner of the CL also won the league then the winner of a lower league (like the eredvisie) would be included instead.
Read again.. neutral is right. Your case is only right if say Arsenal won both CL and EPL.. but in the case of we won CL and say QPR wins EPL, then both team will be first seeded.
You read again mate:
“If the winner, as is likely, comes from one of those leagues, then the winners of the next strongest league – the Dutch Eredivisie – will be added.”
If the winner ones from one of those leagues
Not if the winner also wins the league in one of those leagues.
As funny as it sounds, that actually benefits us. We’d fall out of the 1st group regardless next year and the new change means we’ll potentially face only one of Real Madrid, Barcelona or Atletico; one of Bayern Munich or Schalke; and only one of Benfica or Porto (technically two if one wins the CL and the other wins the league). Instead we’ll have the rest in our, 2nd group and the rest of the first one will consist of clubs like Juve, PSG, Zenit and potentially Ajax.
No pushovers, but I’d rather have them than
Agreed. In practice, it wont affect us much. Hopefully, we draw one of the weaker domestic champions but seeing as we’ve typically finished 2nd in the group phase in the last go-rounds anyway, no harm in drawing a top side.
Total bollocks!! With or without seeding, the biggest issue surely should be scrapping the away goal’s rule.. IMO..
agreed. and introducing a 3 extra linesman on each side… i mean goal line technology.
Makes sense to me…
The new seeding is fair. It correctly rewards sides which actually win their leagues rather than just finish top four. It should encourge managers and owners to set their sights as high as possible. Subject change: have you seen what’s happening at West Ham? Who would have thought that a Premier League club would reduce its prices in response to an increase in TV revenue? Brady, Gold and co are being very smart: by making their new stadium accessible to ordinary people they are about to significantly increase their fan base. Compare this to our wonderful club, which has priced… Read more »
Not defending Kroenke in the slightest, but it’s much easier to do what West Ham have when you’re handed an almost new stadium and you only have to pay nominal rent. Not to mention the fact the capacity has increased so much that your supply far outweighs your demand.
I mean, I’m all for lower ticket prices and fans getting a better deal, but they’re not doing this for altruistic reasons, or because they care about the fans more than any club.
OK you’re right about west ham playing the PR game. However , arsenals match day revunue could still reaming relatively unaffected if they reduced the ticket prices and instead focussed in providing a more efficient and cost effective food retail system . the amount of timesl I’ve wasted queuing etc. Its literally just taking steps to make it easier for people to spend money . I know its possibly over simplified solution, but maybe the club should be making things like this a priority
I am also half cut so please excuse the grammar
this thread was yesterday so don’t think this will be read much but west hams situation is so radically different it cannot be compared to us. we have had to take a huge loan and sacrifice a lower naming rights for upfront cash to build the new stadium. some then we have both repaid interest to loans and bond holders while saving cash to pay the eventual loan off. additionally we have had to be really careful about potential risks that could impact repayment at any point in the future. West Ham have paid developmental costs to alter the stadium… Read more »
“According to today’s Daily Mail”
What kind of world do you live in to think about writing that sequence of words with any sincerity, let alone gravitas?
In the last war, people were shot out-of-hand for saying a whole lot less.
Ah you’re a Mail reader.. Of course!!
It all makes so much sense now..
But yes, Blogger is on the money as always, it’s a whole lot easier reducing ticket slightly when you’re saving £300m and desperately trying to fill a stadium – which they won’t past November
Man … nearly everything you write is just so negative and unpleasant, I wish you’d just stop or say something constructive. I think I speak for many readers here when I say, “Please cheer up” because you bring a cloud to the comments section so regularly.
I agree Fats has very unpopular opinions, but what did he say that was unpleasant? If you disagree with someone explain to them why you disagree, instead of making baseless claims against them and implying that you think their opinions are worth less than yours and that they should just go away. That’s essentially bullying.
Our top seeding in the last 10 years hasn’t really amounted to anything substancial. So a change wouldn’t be such a bad thing as it might keep us on our toes and not let our guard down a la Monaco and Anderlecht.
The argument people always make for these changes is something along the lines of: “It is called the CHAMPIONS league”, but that’s just because of the rebranding in 92 from the former European Cup. So why can’t we all just be honest about what the competition is and why people watch it: It’s a cup for the best teams in Europe. THAT’S what it’s about. Do you think people would tolerate it if only one Spanish side was in the competition? Of course not. So why do we have to pretend like people give a shit about who won the… Read more »
Well said
They should have it just for champions & a second tournament for everyone else. Both would mean more
Right. Dogana, the San Marino champions, and Lincoln FC, the Gibraltar champions, should get into the tournament instead of Arsenal and Real Madrid. Sheer genius.
That was really the old format based on my research. (I was born in mid eighties). Apparently the europa league equivalent back then was much more exciting than the champion league equivalent. And the big clubs are complaining because it is not lucrative enough for the both competition.
So in come champion leagu, which undeniably is really a premier competition.
So what if for example barca win the champions league this season and madrid win la liga? Madrid don’t get a top seeding? Their spot goes to PSV?
Sounds a bit daft.
Doesnt matter, we will just beat a top seeded team instead then. A team who probably had one great year and will falter next year. Man City springs to mind……lol
Wasn’t this announced late last year?
The champions, and nearly champions league, dahhhhh, dahhhh da daaaaaaah!!!
As long as that does not affect the quality of players we sign, I am okay with that. We will be fine.
I can’t remember the last time we even came out top of our group despite our pot1 status but we’ve seen Dortmund do that 3 seasons in a row.
Makes sense to me to be honest. If we want to be contenders then we have to beat the best. Whether that be in the group stages or knockout.
A couple more additions at the end of the season and theres no reason why we cant be genuine contenders. How nice it is knowing we wont have to deal with any more star players pushing for a move away from the club also. If any of them want to leave, we are in a position to replace them with established stars.
Except rosicky off course… he is irreplaceable
man. I have champ league on cable but dont watch any more once Arsenal crashes out.
bring it on I say. our group games will be very exciting. I dont think many teams will fancy us in the group stage.
and might force wenger’s hand in strengthening weak areas in the team otherwise we may get spanked very early in the season. and thats never good for confidence.
I don’t really see much difference because which ever group we fall into, we will surely finish atleast second as we used to even when seeded in the first spot
What are they going to do for pots 2,3 and 4? If those are still coefficient based, then it becomes a bit less predictable, but overall not wildly different. If those also become league position based, the thing becomes a total crapshoot, and about as fair as a completely random draw. Which is actually pretty fair.
All in all, getting to the round of 16 isn’t going to be as predictable as it is now, which is probably a good thing, but beyond the round of 16 I don’t see much changing.
I don’t give a rabbit’s collar bone what dey do to the seedings… as long as the team plays like champions as we’re doing right now and has this much squad quality, depth and form, I’d say bring on any team! uefa is only gonna make some groups weak from top to bottom….
Neo: That I can dodge bullets?
Morpheus: When you ready, you won’t need to.
Arsenal: Do we need to be seeded first to win it?
Bergkamp: When you ready, you won’t need to.
This being seeded first story has never helped us. Maybe it will give us that extra boost 😀
Pot 3 and 4 are screwed more than ever.
This won’t change much as we’d still fancy topping a group that contained anyone but the Spanish or German champions. Also brings the possibility to now see Barcelona or Real in the same group as Bayern.