By: PETER NICOLAIDES
WITH SAMPDORIA’S EARLY EXIT FROM THE EUROPA LEAGUE, SHOULD SERIE A HAVE EUROPEAN PLAY-OFFS TO ENSURE THE BIG GUNS ARE THE ONES REPRESENTING THE LEAGUE IN EUROPE?
After a successful 2014-15 season in the pursuit of UEFA co-efficient points, everything was set for Serie A to make a genuine assault to regain a fourth Champions League birth. The Premier League and Bundesliga’s co-efficient tallies were in sight. Sampdoria’s elimination from the Europa League has derailed the train. Sadly, we’ve been here before.
One of the reasons that Serie A had not covered itself in glory in the two UEFA club-competitions may have been down to the clubs representing the league in those competitions. Ever since the Calciopoli-scandal and subsequent punishments Serie A has had a self-hurting habit of the league’s biggest and best sides not playing in Europe. From when Chievo replaced Juventus in the 2006/07 Champions League (they never made it past the qualifiers) this has been a constant problem.
This season, neither Inter nor AC Milan – two sides whom have ten European Cups between them – will represent Serie A in the UEFA club-competitions. Big clubs sitting out of European competitions has been a trend for a few seasons. Both were pipped to the final Europa League spot by Sampdoria – who have already been knocked out of Europe by a Serbian club most of the world had never even heard of. The rot needs to stop.
Udinese perhaps are the prime example of a club whose qualification for Europe has hurt Serie A’s co-efficient. With two failures in the Champions League play-offs, a failure in the Europa League group-stages and a failure in the 2013/14 season’s Europa League qualifying round, many Serie A fans have dubbed them “the co-efficient killers”. Perhaps a deserved name when one looks at how the Udine-based club sell their star-players every season to the highest possible bidder and never retain their key players for an assault in Europe. Their days of hurting the co-efficient may be a thing of the past, but the damage has been done.
Whilst the ability of smaller clubs to qualify for Europe from Serie A does show the unpredictability and competitiveness for European places in the league; Palermo, Udinese and Sampdoria’s qualification for Europe in recent seasons haven’t had productive results for Serie A’s co-efficient.
Many of these smaller clubs don’t have the funds, the squad or the European experience or the favourable club-ranking which would ensure them being seeded in play-off rounds or in the group stages to aid progression deep into the Champions League or in most cases, the Europa League.
In 2009/10 Sampdoria pipped several clubs to the fourth Champions League spot. They were out of both European competitions before Christmas the following season, which was the season that Serie A lost its fourth Champions League spot to the Bundesliga, which featured Sampdoria’s Champions League play-off loss to Werder Bremen.
In the 2011/12 season, cup-finalists Palermo played in the Europa League ahead of Serie A’s seventh-placed side from the previous season, Juventus. Palermo were eliminated in a Europa league play-off, whilst Juventus would go the whole league season unbeaten and would clinch the scudetto. Maybe not playing in Europe played its part, but it’s an example of the best sides not playing in Europe whilst the smaller clubs do and fail.
A similar comparison may be made between Udinese and Roma three seasons ago. Udinese finished fifth that season, Roma sixth. Udinese claimed a final Europa League birth as a result. The Friuli-based club failed in the Europa League at the first hurdle and had one of their worst seasons in a few years whilst Roma – who had barely been outside the Champions League places that season – finished in second place behind Juventus, with a points tally that would have been a league-winning tally in most seasons. But, unfortunately for Serie A, Roma was not one of its Europa League representatives. Every time the likes of Udinese, Tornio, Palermo, Sampdoria and Genoa have qualified for Europe in the past six or seven seasons, their best players have been sold. In some cases, to foreign clubs who’d go on to play Serie A clubs in the Champions League or Europa League.
With the winner of the Europe League being granted a spot in the Champions League, the Europa League provides Serie A a chance to have four sides in the following season’s Champions League, baring UEFA expanding the Champions League by adding more teams. Serie A needs its big guns in Europe.
Currently Turkey, Greece, belgium and the Netherlands are three nations who use European play-offs in their domestic leagues, they might not have Europe’s top leagues, but they do have play-off systems for European competitions that could be replicated for the benefit of Serie A.
The use of European play-offs would give the league a last-chance saloon to get its best representatives into the six European places on offer. It would provide the bigger clubs a last-chance to claim European spots off the smaller sides that finished higher than them after 38 league games, but wouldn’t necessarily have the resources to thrive in Europe. Regardless of what format or structure could be used in a play-off system, it could go a long way in ensuring that Serie A has the best possible representation in the UEFA club competitions.
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