I think it's potentially a great development if eventually they use it to completely

replace the Euro qualification games and world ranking, rather than friendlies. For example, award points for placing each season and then go to a 16 team Euro finals tournament on a 4 yearly basis, with the top points scorers from the last 4 years (or maybe even 8) making up the participants at the Euros. OK, you get fewer people at the tournaments ($$$) but I think that could be offset by making the league a genuinely competitive one and bring in the crowds and TV revenue ($$$) that way.

I suggest placing points rather than just total points from the results as otherwise the incentive would be to finish somewhere near the top consistently rather than all out to win the league.

What it would do is remove the ridiculous and utterly horrific-to-watch qualification games where San Marino and Andorra park the bus against Italy or Spain etc and hold on for dear life (which they will ultimately lose anyway).

It also gives those smaller teams a chance to develop better against the teams closer in ability, and to rise up the ladder gradually. And it means European teams play more competitive games which are worth ranking points, as most of the other confederations do. On the other hand, playing most of those games against teams of a similar level means the points would be spread out more and we will see the top European teams slide down the rankings I thing.

The risks I see off the top of my head are:

1) Diminishing the importance of the Euros. Who would actually be seen as the best team in Europe? The team who just won the UEFA League for 4 years in a row or the team who managed to sneak into a win on penalties at the Euros without ever finishing in the top 4 of the League? It could end up with the Euros being the FA Cup to the UEFA League's Champions League/Premier League.

2) Loss of revenue for the smaller teams who wouldn't get their competitive games against the big teams televised as readily and for the same price.

3) Fixture congestion. For example - will they hold the league in the same year as the Euros?

4) We still do want some friendlies though, right? I mean we all want to play Brazil now and again!

I would actually be thinking about replacing the Euros entirely with this. The Euros won't really have the same value anymore in my opinion.

Posted By: Steve in Holland, Jan 24, 12:33:13