On some levels it maybe what Monsieur Wenger refers to as ‘financial doping’, on another it may be the new found bite of the Financial Fair Play Regulations. Either way, football in Europe is changing at the top level. Or is it?
Since the inception of the Champions League group format in the in 1991/92, teams from seven countries have won the tournament: Spain (seven wins), Italy (five), England (four), Germany (three) and Portugal, France and the Netherlands with one winner each.
Those stats in themselves are not remarkable. The bigger and more successful teams have typically come from the bigger leagues, with exceptions such as Ajax and wonderful one-off teams such as Red Star Belgrade in the early ’90s.
What is interesting, however, is how those wins are distributed among those countries and when they last won it.
Spain lead the way with seven wins since, but it is little surprise they are shared entirely between FC Barcelona and Real Madrid (Barca lead 4-3).
Italy have had three separate winners, the two Milan clubs and Juventus. England also have three in Manchester United, Chelsea and Liverpool.
Germany have two with Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich, while Porto, Ajax and Marseille represent Portugal, the Netherlands and France respectively.
Should a club outside of the German, Italian, Spanish or English leagues not win the tournament this year, it will be 10 years since one did (Porto). After that you have to go back nine years to find another in the shape of Ajax.
So twice in the past 19 years, a winner has come from outside the ‘big four’. The previous 10 years saw winners from seven different nations before we run into periods of English, German and Dutch dominance as the competition evolved.
There are issues on many levels. The first observation is that winners from outside the top leagues are going to become fewer and fewer.
The simple fact that the bigger leagues have so many entrants makes that an inevitable outcome. Indeed, several recent Champions League winners did not win their domestic league the previous season.
The new format makes things much more of a closed shop, and ever increasingly so.
The Eastern European teams used to enjoy a huge level of protection and favouritism from the old Iron Curtain that no longer remains.
Their players are long gone now before they mature, rendering them uncompetitive unless there are fresh cash injections from Russia.
Even wonderful Ajax – the original model for Barcelona, let’s not forget – have little chance of keeping a group together long enough to win the tournament with a team such as their 1994/95 vintage, one of my favourite teams of all time.
Porto, likewise, are continually raided for their best players.
Italy even appears to be struggling to compete right now, with only Juventus having the requisite quality. But even they were trounced by eventual winners Bayern last season.
France offers a genuine contender in the shape of Paris Saint-Germain backed so handsomely by Middle Eastern money.
Whether that level of financial support can remain viable for a club with French TV revenues in the age of FFP remains to be seen. Monaco, however, are also eyeing future improvements.
The second point is that of the distribution of wealth among the clubs in the big leagues and how that is affecting the various runners and riders.
While Spain has the most wins in recent times and arguably the best players, the reality is that other than isolated pockets of success from other clubs, it is all about Barca and Real.
Yes, Atletico Madrid are doing well this season, but they are probably a distance from winning the Champions League. The very best players in Spain (with exceptions granted) are concentrated at the two aforementioned powerhouses.
Valencia had a wonderful team around the turn of the century led by their captain Gaizka Mendieta, but despite a La Liga win last decade they could not maintain things.
And for one simple reason – the big two in Spain prosper so greatly because of the highly skewed distribution of television money. The outcome is two hugely dominant teams in a very lopsided league, with the likes of Valencia and Atletico struggling to keep up.
The flip side is it allows Real and Barca to hoard the best players – for all Barca’s La Masia academy, they also spend a lot on transfers and benefit hugely in the wages they are able to pay – making them prime contenders for the Champions League each season.
Germany offers a possible hint of the realities of FFP to come. The Bundesliga has taken a far different – and more sensible – approach to the game, and as a result have a wonderful league with full stadiums, happy fans and a quality product.
There is one glitch however.
With clubs all attempting and managing to break even, this ‘living within your means’ approach means that the bigger clubs will always prosper and in this case Bayern are becoming increasingly dominant – if that were indeed possible.
Yes, Dortmund won back to back titles in 2011/12. But given the size and population of the country and the strength in depth, Bayern have a staggering dominance with nearly three times the number of titles as the next best club.
Dortmund, of course, played wonderful football last season and also reached the Champions League final. While they were beaten by Bayern, that is not the issue with regard to their prospects going forwards.
The fact that Bayern have been able to prise both Mario Goetze and Robert Lewandowski so simply from Dortmund (Germany’s current No. 2 power) points to continued Bayern dominance.
It is hard to imagine those transfers happening so easily in England.
And so to the Premier League. In many ways it is the poster child, yet in so many other ways it is the most dysfunctional.
The revenues are staggering and are distributed in a highly equitable manner, yet most clubs still live outside their means. Relegation often spells doom.
Where it is most interesting, however, is that distribution of wealth appears to even out the competition – this season offering both a wonderful title race and a relegation dogfight involving half the league – while not necessarily improving the overall product.
Both Manchester City and Arsenal are challenging for the title yet both were defeated 0-2 at home this week by Barca and Bayern. Neither United nor Chelsea will be among the favourites to lift the Champion League this season either.
It is an interesting but separate point that Manchester City have been beaten soundly at home three times this season – each time by the last three teams to win the Champions League.
Another interesting point is that although the Spanish and German models are very different, they have both produced very dominant teams – one in Germany’s and two in Spain’s.
One could also question whether the competitiveness in England is real or manufactured. Until Chelsea and City had vast cash injections from rich benefactors, it was a monopoly between United and Arsenal with Liverpool limping along behind.
Arsenal’s stadium plans may have dictated that United could have become as dominant as Bayern are in Germany had Russian and Middle Eastern money not come along.
It seems that however the cat is skinned, the same result occurs. The rich are getting richer, mirroring what is happening the world over in all walks of life.
Taking England as the most competitive league, their clubs have of course prospered in the Champions League but their wins in the tournament have been different from those of say Barca or Real or Bayern.
United’s team of ’99 was wonderful, but you could play the injury time in the Nou Camp 100 times again and not have them come out as the eventual winner.
Liverpool’s win in ’05 was heroic but ultimately unlikely. It was not a wonderful Liverpool team and they had an equally incredible comeback from 3-0 down at half-time in the final.
Chelsea’s win in ’12 saw them ride their luck to an enormous degree (much to my delight) and the stars were clearly aligned.
The point that I am trying to make is that with the exception of United’s win against Chelsea in ’08 (not to my delight), an English club has not been the outstanding team even though they’ve taken out the competition.
That pattern seems to be reflected this season where the three outstanding candidates appear to be Barca, Real and Bayern, with the upstarts from PSG tucked in behind.
Hardly news, I hear you say. But let’s not forget that until 1992, Barcelona had never won the European Cup and until Real won it in 1998, they had gone 32 years without winning it.
This potted history of the Champions League since the inception of the group format superficially mirrors the wider trend.
But the reality is that while there will always be anomalies, the tournament looks increasingly in the hands of the few mirroring the domestic league situation in most countries.
Such are the riches of the Champions League, teams will be increasingly happy to simply compete in the main stages, safe in the knowledge the money keeps rolling in.
It is much the same in the Premiership, with most teams happy with a mid-table finish which takes priority over the FA Cup, for instance. The gravy train continues the following season regardless.
Premiership and Champions League mediocrity is an extremely wealthy form of being mediocre.
The Champions League, of course, remains a wonderful product, but the list of potential winners appears to be shrinking – not just in terms of which country the winner will come from, but of the clubs within those countries.
The group stage runners-up this week lost at home to the group winners in every game with an aggregate score of 0-9.
Merely coincidence, or is the gap widening even at this elevated level?
Football in Europe has always been cyclical, of course.
There was a time in the mid-to-late ’80s (the period beginning with the English ban in Europe) and early ’90s when it would have been hard to imagine Serie A not being the premier league in Europe, and Liverpool not dominating domestically in England.
Things always change and we are possibly seeing a changing of the guard in England right now.
There does, however, appear to be a very distinct trend in European football of the major trophies residing now in the hands of the few.
All sport thrives off competition and it may be that the Champions League has peaked as a product. It could be a signal of a precursor to a European League, though that’s still unlikely and some way off.
As the Champions League matures and ages, the clubs will look for fresh ways – either with or without UEFA – to increase revenues.
And we will all await the next step.
Article link: The changing face of the Champions League. Written by Steven McBain, on The Roar - Your Sports Opinion