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As for the European Professional Club League, the opinions within UEFA are roughly divided into two groups: one is accepting, they feel that the European Club League can help UEFA develop European football; On the one hand, there is repression, and they believe that the European professional club league is likely to develop into a force that can compete with UEFA, which is quite dangerous. Pen, fun, and www.biquge.info

As Xiao Yu said before, the purpose of the European Club League is to strive for the interests of the club, and since the Champions Cup represents the largest distribution of interests in European football, it is natural that for those weaker football clubs, they can only help them fight for the distribution of interests in the League Cup.

For a long time, the reform of the League Cup has been mentioned for many years, but it has only been slightly adjusted, and the more it is changed, the more it is regressed, especially in the years when the Champions Cup has become stronger and stronger, and the League Cup has completely sunk.

What can be done to change this situation and revive the enthusiasm of clubs and fans for the UEFA Cup?

The European Professional Club Federation has done quite a bit of work in this regard.

"We believe that the group stage should be abolished first and all of them should be changed to the knockout stage, that is, to return to the previous format, because the group stage is meaningless for the League Cup, and all the participating teams have to take into account the league and domestic cups, and playing the League Cup is not very profitable, and the schedule is intensive."

"But the knockout round is not all two-legged matches, my proposal is that since the knockout round of 32 is held before the end of the year, and the teams that can advance to the top 32 are basically stronger teams, then the two-legged knockout round should be adopted, just like the Champions Cup, and before that, a single knockout round will be adopted, and the winner will be decided by extra time and penalties after a draw of 90 minutes!"

David, so to speak? The first half of the UEFA Cup schedule that Dunn analysed is the same as the FA's current reform of the FA Cup, that is, a single meeting and a knockout round, refusing to replay.

As for the things raised by some executive committee members, how to define who will play the home game in the single meeting and knockout round, David? Dunn proposed a completely new algorithm for counting points in the Confederations Cup.

The stronger the team, the more UEFA Cup points they will convert, which will oblige them to play away from home and help the weaker teams.

"Obligation, yes, the stronger the team should have more obligation to help those weaker teams, and I believe that the strong team to the away team's home stadium to participate in the game, the possibility of upset is higher, which forces all teams must be fully vigilant to prevent upsets, and the weak team is doing everything possible to upset, so that even the first half of the schedule with a huge disparity in strength, the viewing surname and intensity of the game can also be improved!"

"The round of 32 knockout rounds must be played before Christmas, this is to let the teams that reach the round of 16 have more energy to sprint in the second half of the league, and because it is a single-leg knockout round, in terms of schedule, it is completely timely, and after the round of 16 knockout rounds, it is basically synchronized with the Champions Cup!"

For David? Dunn's exposition of this idea was felt reasonable by everyone present, and it was also very well thought out in all aspects, which can be said to be a good set of reform proposals.

"In addition, I propose to decide the start time according to the different time zones of each country, so that the arrangement can be adapted to the fans of different countries**, increase the ratings of the League Cup, and then increase the attention of fans to the League Cup, which will help increase the attention of TV broadcasters to the League Cup!"

This suggestion can be said to be reasonable, and even those members of the executive committee have no opinion on it.

"But, Mr. Dunn, you said so much, it seems that you are only talking about the schedule, but have you ever thought that your schedule is too cleverly arranged, but the club does not participate in the competition, so what can it be?" One of the executive committee members asked with a sneer.

They apparently felt, David? Dunn's words are really a bit evasive, if you change the schedule in a single round, it will not have much impact, the key is to look at the team's motivation to participate, just like the Champions Cup, stimulated by such a big piece of interest cake, no matter how rubbish the schedule is, the team will still rush to it.

David? Dunn smiled, "Yes, that's right, the schedule is only part of a cup competition, and as I said before, it is mainly a matter of interest to rekindle the club's passion for the League Cup. ”

"I propose that both teams that reach the final of the UEFA Cup be given the right to participate in the group stage of next season's UEFA Champions League, regardless of their position in their respective leagues, and I am sure that this will make all teams, even the biggest clubs in Europe, want to compete in this cup!"

David? Dunn's remarks immediately caused an uproar in the venue.

The UEFA Cup has always been a second-tier cup competition, with the third-placed team in the Champions League group stage parachuting into the UEFA Cup, but there has never been a precedent for the UEFA Cup to rise to the Champions League group stage.

The executive committee members suddenly exploded like a pot, and there were many discussions, obviously everyone was David? Dunn's offer frightened.

But David? Dunn secretly looked at Xiao Yu, but he admired it very much.

This proposal is put forward by Xiao Yu, combining the League Cup and the Champions Cup, in this way, so that all teams begin to pay attention to the League Cup, after all, as long as they reach the League Cup final, they can get the right to directly promote to the group stage of the Champions Cup for free, which is equivalent to winning the domestic league championship, who is willing to give up?

It's like this season's UEFA Cup semi-finals Werder Bremen vs. De Roysden, Werder Bremen obviously lacked passion and was eliminated by Droisden with a two-legged aggregate score of 5:1, but if they knew that once they reached the final, they could participate in the group stage of next season's Champions Cup, would they still care so little?

Xiao Yu believes that it will not, on the contrary, they will do their best to fight with Droisden, and the blood will definitely not give up easily, the two teams will definitely do their best to fight, and then the game will be fierce, and the viewing surname will be high.

In addition to the teams in these traditionally strong leagues, such as those from Eastern Europe, they can also use the UEFA Cup as a stepping stone to the top European competition, which will make them more invested in the UEFA Cup, which will greatly increase everyone's enthusiasm and attention to the Cup.

Johansson hearing David? When Dunn made this proposal, he instinctively looked at Xiao Yu, and he had a feeling that this proposal was probably also advocated by Xiao Yu, just like when he advocated England to introduce the winter break before.

It has to be said that this proposal is indeed very bold and breaks with the tradition of European competitions, but fundamentally it brings about a very tempting change, and once realized, the connection between the UEFA Cup and the Champions Cup is bound to make the UEFA Cup more attractive.

The influence of the Champions Cup is getting bigger and bigger, and all aspects are basically stable, if the influence of the League Cup can be greatly increased on the premise of continuing to maintain the stable development of the Champions Cup, then Johansson can really retire with honor.

"My last proposal is to reform the current sponsorship system for the UEFA Cup!"

David? Dunn's words once again aroused heated discussions among the executive committee members, and even he himself felt that today was the most beautiful time in his life, and he actually talked eloquently in front of so many bigwigs in Europe, and he really straightened his waist a lot.

"At present, the sponsorship of the League Cup adopts a single combat model, I hope that UEFA can take the lead to unify the sponsorship power of all the League Cup teams, and UEFA will unify the investment, not only the sponsors of the League Cup, but also the live TV broadcasters, we can be like the Champions Cup, with ground coverage plus a satellite live broadcast partner, long-term bundled sales, I believe, in this way, the income of the event will be higher than now!"

A large part of the Premier League's success is due to the successful sale of live TV rights, and a bundle model similar to the Premier League is considered to be the most successful league model in football today.

Many people suspect that the Premier League is highly dependent on live TV broadcasters, but they have not seen that in the past few years, under the advocacy of Xiao Yu, the Premier League has vigorously developed overseas markets, and various clubs have also attached great importance to youth training and other business operations, in order to achieve financial health.

Fundamentally, the Premier League is different from the 2002 situation when the German television establishment went bankrupt and the Bundesliga almost collapsed, and the Premier League's broadcast rights are spread all over the world, although Sky TV's broadcast fees currently account for more than half of the Premier League's broadcast rights revenue, but this proportion will be reduced with the overseas development of the Premier League, ideally to less than half.

It is precisely because of this method of not relying on one or two powerful live broadcasters, but directly attracting investment all over the world, that the Premier League will not repeat the mistakes of the Bundesliga.

And this model of the Premier League, David? As a person who witnessed it firsthand, Dunn believes that it can be promoted to the League Cup, which will greatly increase the broadcast rights income of the League Cup, and then increase the prize money of the League Cup, which will further strengthen the importance of European clubs to the League Cup.

"The champions and runners-up will be promoted directly to the group stage of next season's Champions Cup, and through bundling sales, the broadcast fee and sponsorship fee will be increased as much as possible, and then the prize money of the tournament will be increased, and I believe that as long as these two things can be done, then the League Cup will be able to regain the attention of all European clubs."

David? Dunn's words made the entire venue silent for a long time, and even those rotten executive committee members were shocked by his suggestions, but they didn't see it, David? When Dunn sat down, he secretly gave Xiao Yu a thumbs up, and behind all this, there were shadows of Xiao Yu and the Red Rebels.

After a while, these executive committee members obviously digested David? Dunn's words immediately started a heated discussion again, after all, David? What Dunn mentioned is just an approximation, but there are many details to pay attention to when it comes to implementation, such as how the quota for each league is allocated.

Xiao Yu's idea is that the quota allocation is still according to the current distribution method, first for a trial year, and then adjusted according to the situation, as long as the main body of the league remains the same, there will be no problem with a slight adjustment of the details.

Although it was only a trivial matter, in fact, it was still quite difficult to discuss, and UEFA even kept all the participants in the meeting for a full two days of discussions.

On the third day, UEFA invited all the FA officials to Nyon for a more in-depth discussion on this issue, and to discuss and hear a series of possible problems, hoping to basically set the tone.

After a full 5 days of meetings, UEFA officially held a press conference, announcing that from next season, that is, the 07/08 season, the UEFA Cup will undergo a series of reforms, the first is to send the Champions League Cup champions and runners-up to the next season, that is, the Champions League Cup group stage of the 08/09 season.

As soon as this decision was announced, the whole of Europe was in an uproar, and all the media reprinted the news for the first time, apparently surprised by UEFA's sudden decision.

However, if you look back carefully, it is not difficult to find that such a decision does have great benefits for the League Cup, which is equivalent to telling all teams aiming for the Champions Cup that winning the League Cup and finishing second is equivalent to winning the league championship and can directly participate in the group stage of the Champions Cup.

Perhaps it is really this reform decision that is so big that many European media are a little overwhelmed, some of them support, some oppose, some question, some approve, in short, there are all kinds of arguments.

It is undoubtedly impossible to convince these people who write articles in the newspapers with their mouths, each of them is so stubborn that three horses cannot pull, let alone just a few words.

The key to getting them to recognize this series of policies is to make achievements in the League Cup.

In an interview with the media, Johansson confidently said that this is a gift to all those who love football in Europe during his tenure, and he is confident that he will be able to bring the UEFA Cup back to the top, return to the eyes of all fans, and rekindle everyone's attention and enthusiasm for it.

At a time when everyone is generally promoting the relegation order between the League Cup and the Champions Cup, few media outlets really care about the League Cup's collective bundling scheme, but that doesn't matter, as long as it really attracts broadcasters and sponsors.

It was in this wave that the Red Rebels were held to a 1-1 draw away by Everton, but not many people paid attention, and a few days later, the Red Rebels won 2-1 at home to Arsenal, and there were also not many people who cared, and everyone was still immersed in the turmoil of the League Cup reform.

After the media sorted out the reform of the League Cup, they looked back and found that the champions of the major European leagues have been clarified, and the competitions of the major European leagues have ended, and all that remains is England's FA Cup final, as well as the most watched finale, the Champions Cup final.

And the Red Rebels took advantage of this trend and quietly went to Singapore!

(To be continued)