Europa part 2

I saw something the other day about how the Europa is "thought" to be a good guide to league strengths in Europe. That may be true for the more minor leagues and was once true of all leagues in the past. But the top ones now get more Champs League places than Europa which is a complete reversal.

Back in the 80s, there was just one champs place while as many as 4 or 5 in the old UEFA competition.

Now it's 4 CL places and only 3 Europa ones.

It's also wrong to judge the strength of the English league on the UEFA/Europa record.

Unlike other leagues, England has two domestic cups and 2 of the 3 Europa places are awarded to the teams winning (or losing) those competitions. It means that 2 of the 3 English reps are not actually among England's best teams.

Recently we have seen Portsmouth competing for the Europa while being relegated, Birmingham competing for it having just been relegated and it appears Wigan are about to copy that. Stoke finished 13th, lost an FA Cup final but qualified as runners up and then, when competing, had actually finished lower.

So England is often sending teams from the lower half of its top division and sometimes teams from the second tier.

In the meantime, other leagues' champion teams are in that competition. Of course, they are more minor leagues but there are plenty of good leagues like Holland, Portugal, Belgium and France whose 2nd and 3rd best teams are there. Sometimes, even their champions may parachute into the Europa if they fail at the group stage, something that the English teams have (until recently) been avoiding because they've been successful in the Champions competition.

So what you have is one English team from 5th place and two from much lower competing with higher teams, including champions and runners up, from the other leagues.

It's no great surprise that teams like Birmingham, Stoke, Portsmouth, Villa etc have lost out to teams such as Valencia, Porto, Benfica, Bayern Munich.

Had England entered its next genuinely best teams from places 5, 6, 7 and even 8 where cup winners had qualified for CL this would have included Liverpool, Spurs, Everton and a rising Man City.

The Europa record would most likely have been better. And who knows, maybe it wouldn't have lost appeal for the English teams.