Is Europa League becoming Champions League division 2?

Champions League was introduced in 1992 and has since become a glorious competition. Not even the founders could have predicted it would turn out to be such a success as the competition now generates piles of cash for the teams involved, while it also attracts large football crowds all across Europe. Nevertheless, as this competition has seen its rise, the UEFA Cup have slowly become the second rate tournament that not even the teams involved were taking seriously. The European governing body led by legendary Michel Platini has decided to act and we are about to see the first edition of the competition that succeeded the UEFA Cup, which is now called Europa League.

At the first look, you will notice that Europa League have almost the same format as the Champions League as 48 teams are divided into 12 groups and the top two teams from each group will progress to the knockout stages. The new competition also generates much bigger revenue for the clubs involved than the former UEFA Cup and Europa League is starting to look like the second division of the Champions League. Maybe that is not such a bad thing considering that this format taken from the strongest European competition has proven to be very successful and it is already evident the teams are taking Europa League much more seriously than the UEFA CUP.

The first edition of the competition has brought us some interesting clashes even in Matchday 1 and you can imagine the excitement expected in the knockout stages. Teams like Valencia, Genoa, Celtic, Hamburg, Roma, Panathinaikos, Galatasaray, Lazio, Villarreal, Everton and Werder Bremen should guarantee the viewers exciting football and together with the teams that will arrive from the Champions League, they look like serious candidates for what should be a coveted title. It is still too early to say whether the competition will prove to be a success, but the first signs are very positive but maybe we should wait to see how the first season goes before passing the judgment.

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