Coza
Well-Known Member
Was thinking about this in the wake of three times European winners Feyenoord complaining about a lack of financial resources to compete and I had a relative eureka moment in how to address all the issues/problems. Or at least the issues I had always had with the set up.
Firstly I think you would need a strong foundation of 10 leagues each providing four teams. Top of my head I’m thinking Scotland, Holland, Belgium, Portugal, Denmark, Sweden, Czech Republic, Austria, Switzerland, Turkey ; but obviously it would be dependent on FA interest per country and logistics.
That provides two leagues of 20 teams that would replace each teams domestic league fixtures. There would be promotion and relegation through these two leagues as per usual 3 up 3 down. That’s 38 ‘domestic’ league fixtures each.
Domestic Cups:
National cup competitions would be standardised where all participants of the Atlantic League enter from the last 32 teams onwards. Associations would be free to have whatever format they wanted up to that stage so the current SFA early groups etc could still stand. But once 28 teams are left the four Atlantic League teams join and replays/format and dates are standardised over all 10 associations.
European Competition:
European competition places would exist as is with the places rewarded based on where the countries teams finish in the 40 team set up. Any countries with additional European places would then have this filter down to their domestic league. Say Scotland had 5 places then whoever wins the Scottish league minus our 4 Atlantic League participants takes this as their prize. Naturally countries with less than 4 get rewarded to the highest Atlantic League finishers. Places given for Domestic Cup wins ceases for all 10 associations.
Pyramid Structure:
One issue that’s has always dogged the idea has been the inability to deal with promotion and relegation from the remaining domestic leagues into the Atlantic League in a way that is fair and ensures a natural pyramid structure remains over all 10 associations. This is why each association has strictly 4 participants and will never have more/less. At the end of each season the bottom placed team of all associations in the Atlantic League format will play a two-legged game versus the top placed finisher in their associations remaining league. In theory there could be as much as 0-10 new entrants every year. Also, for example, the 4th placed overall team in the Atlantic League if 3 clubs from same country are above them ( say Holland teams were dominant and filled positions 1-4) would still have to go into the play-off game like all other associations. The winner of the play-off simply slots into the position of the team they replace for the start of the new season.
Thoughts? Would/could this work?
In my head the relative simplicity and strict basic rules of the proposal address the European and structure issues that I have always felt hindered any suggested set up.
Firstly I think you would need a strong foundation of 10 leagues each providing four teams. Top of my head I’m thinking Scotland, Holland, Belgium, Portugal, Denmark, Sweden, Czech Republic, Austria, Switzerland, Turkey ; but obviously it would be dependent on FA interest per country and logistics.
That provides two leagues of 20 teams that would replace each teams domestic league fixtures. There would be promotion and relegation through these two leagues as per usual 3 up 3 down. That’s 38 ‘domestic’ league fixtures each.
Domestic Cups:
National cup competitions would be standardised where all participants of the Atlantic League enter from the last 32 teams onwards. Associations would be free to have whatever format they wanted up to that stage so the current SFA early groups etc could still stand. But once 28 teams are left the four Atlantic League teams join and replays/format and dates are standardised over all 10 associations.
European Competition:
European competition places would exist as is with the places rewarded based on where the countries teams finish in the 40 team set up. Any countries with additional European places would then have this filter down to their domestic league. Say Scotland had 5 places then whoever wins the Scottish league minus our 4 Atlantic League participants takes this as their prize. Naturally countries with less than 4 get rewarded to the highest Atlantic League finishers. Places given for Domestic Cup wins ceases for all 10 associations.
Pyramid Structure:
One issue that’s has always dogged the idea has been the inability to deal with promotion and relegation from the remaining domestic leagues into the Atlantic League in a way that is fair and ensures a natural pyramid structure remains over all 10 associations. This is why each association has strictly 4 participants and will never have more/less. At the end of each season the bottom placed team of all associations in the Atlantic League format will play a two-legged game versus the top placed finisher in their associations remaining league. In theory there could be as much as 0-10 new entrants every year. Also, for example, the 4th placed overall team in the Atlantic League if 3 clubs from same country are above them ( say Holland teams were dominant and filled positions 1-4) would still have to go into the play-off game like all other associations. The winner of the play-off simply slots into the position of the team they replace for the start of the new season.
Thoughts? Would/could this work?
In my head the relative simplicity and strict basic rules of the proposal address the European and structure issues that I have always felt hindered any suggested set up.
