At the end of the league phase of the Champions League, one thing immediately stands out: there are five English teams in the top eight. The Premier League becomes a problem for the Champions League.
Penultimate matchday of the league phase of the Champions League: The fourteenth-placed team from England plays against the second-placed team from Germany. Tottenham Hotspur against Borussia Dortmund, result 2:0.
The second-placed team from Germany loses significantly and the impression arises that this was not an extraordinary performance from Tottenham or that BVB actually should have won here. The defeat was deserved and at the same time not particularly surprising.
Escaping the Bundesliga: Xavi Simmons (l.) in a running duel with Dortmund’s Felix Nmecha
The Premier League has five of the best eighth teams in this year’s league phase: Arsenal, Liverpool, Tottenham, Chelsea and Manchester City. Tottenham, the fourteenth-placed team from England, finished the round in fourth place, ahead of FC Barcelona, Real Madrid and defending champions Paris Saint Germain.
The Champions League is becoming too small for the Premier League
England was allowed to enter six clubs this season. The reason for this was Tottenham Hotspur’s Europa League victory last season (the final took place against Manchester United) and the fifth place that the English clubs collectively achieved in the previous season. It is noteworthy that the sixth English team, Newcastle Unitedat least in the playoffs.
Nick Woltemade: Moved to Newcastle in the summer for around 85 million euros
The league phase this season has made the differences between England and the rest of Europe abundantly clear. The other Premier League clubs are now a bigger challenge for the English top clubs than most opponents in the Champions League. This could become a problem for competition in the long term.
Billions through TV marketing
The financial power of the Premier League has made the English the benchmark. The English league already earns more money nationally than any other league in TV marketing, and it earns even more abroad. This makes the Premier League attractive for sponsors, stars and talent – the spiral continues.
The TV revenue in England alone is around three times what the clubs in Germany, Spain and Italy receive. Whether with or without investors, whether with or without the 50+1 rule – in the long term there is no way to beat this economic superiority.
Manchester City’s attacking line: Ryan Cherki, Erling Haaland and Omar Marmoush (from left)
Only top teams can stand up to the English
Even that Burnley FCnewly promoted, second to bottom and the team with the lowest market value in the Premier League, spent more than 128 million euros on new players last summer. While in England there are a number of teams with money and ambition behind the six current Champions League participants, all other leagues lack any breadth.
Only lone fighters like Paris Saint-Germain, Bayern Munich, Inter Milan, Real Madrid or FC Barcelona can seriously challenge the Premier League. In their home leagues, however, many of them bore the fans as long-term champions, behind them things are getting thin in the respective leagues. Proof of this is that clubs like SSC Napoli, Eintracht Frankfurt, Olympique Marseille or Villarreal and Athletic Bilbao didn’t even reach the playoffs.
The new mode cannot solve the problems
The Champions League is UEFA’s prestige product. In order to avoid a closed Super League and still give Europe’s top clubs the chance of getting enough money, UEFA replaced the group phase with the league phase. That should make the competition more exciting. There are also more games and therefore more money.
Even if one argues that the reform has stimulated competition, a new problem is emerging for UEFA and, at the same time, football fans of non-English clubs: the dominance of the Premier League does not appear to be at an end, but only at the beginning. The lucrative television contracts and the associated international marketing will run for a few more years. An end to financial inequality is therefore not in sight for the time being.
