Europa League and Conference

The Cup Winners Cup always traditionally had more prestige than the UEFA. You at least had to win a trophy to qualify for it.
The UEFA Cup (now Europa League) started as the Inter City Fairs Cup and wasn’t dependent on success, it was invitational to start with. A glorified friendly tournament.
However, only one team could qualify from each country for the CWC. And the concentration of money at the top of the game, led by the establishment/G14 clubs through the creation of the Premier League and new rules allowing them to hoard gate receipts and TV revenues in their respective countries, meant they increasingly controlled the cups as well. The Champions Leage was the natural endgame. Teams that won fuck all but were still rich enough to hover around the top end were allowed crumbs from the G14 table.
The CWC and UEFA Cup were then merged to become the Europa League for the also rans.
 
LongsightM13 said:
The Cup Winners Cup always traditionally had more prestige than the UEFA. You at least had to win a trophy to qualify for it.
The UEFA Cup (now Europa League) started as the Inter City Fairs Cup and wasn’t dependent on success, it was invitational to start with. A glorified friendly tournament.
However, only one team could qualify from each country for the CWC. And the concentration of money at the top of the game, led by the establishment/G14 clubs through the creation of the Premier League and new rules allowing them to hoard gate receipts and TV revenues in their respective countries, meant they increasingly controlled the cups as well. The Champions Leage was the natural endgame. Teams that won fuck all but were still rich enough to hover around the top end were allowed crumbs from the G14 table.
The CWC and UEFA Cup were then merged to become the Europa League for the also rans.
Click to expand...
The ECWC had more prestige in England due to the high regard for the FA Cup which was the entry requirement.
In many European countries the UEFA Cup was more highly regarded as finishing 2nd, 3rd or 4th after 38/42 games was seen as a greater indication of quality than winning half a dozen cup games, some of which might have been against lower division teams.
 
Rangers not getting a glorified training session in Belgrade, as I imagine they were hoping for, with a 3 goal lead. Red Star 1 up early on, and bossing the first half. Rangers will probably still get through, but if the Serbs get another goal, with say 20-25 minutes to go, Rangers could well get twitchy.
 
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