How to Revive the Europa League in Light of Changes to the Champions League

There can be no missing of the start of the new Champions League season. All the teasers and trailers, all the buildup, all the excited chatter: European football’s premier club competition receives a preamble to place any other sporting spectacle in the shade. That shade darkens the Europa League.

While the continental game works itself into a frenzy over the start of the 2016/17 Champions League campaign, the start of UEFA’s second-tier competition has been somewhat overlooked. It gets under way in earnest on Thursday, yet there has been no excited buildup and certainly no ticker tape about the competition’s big kick-off. 

This does a disservice to the unique charm of the Europa League. It deserves better. It might not be an elite competition in the same way the Champions League is, but there is an allure to the opportunity it presents clubs just below the top tier. Even before the winners were handed a Champions League place, the tournament had an unappreciated appeal.

So how could UEFA fix things so the Europa League is afforded the reverence—at the very least, respect—it warrants? Reform has just been pushed through to make changes to the Champions League, with Europe’s top four leagues guaranteed four spots each as of 2018, so this would seem to be the perfect time to make alterations to the Europa League as well. 

At the forefront of any changes should be scheduling. Playing games on Thursdays makes the Europa League seem like an afterthought—as if UEFA forgot to schedule the competition and shoehorned it into the latter part of the week because that was the only space left for it. If the competition is to change the tone that drags it down, European football's governing body must end Thursday games.

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Instead, they should be played on Tuesday nights. UEFA should move Champions League fixtures to Wednesday and Thursday nights, with the Europa League positioned as a buildup of sorts to the main event. That way, the fatigue that presently hits enthusiasm over the competition by the time it arrives would be eliminated.

Then there’s the issue of the teams that comprise the Europa League. Critics of the competition claim that the many routes into the group stage and into the knockout rounds make it difficult to understand, affecting the rhythm of the tournament. Primarily, allowing the teams that drop out of the Champions League to go straight into the Europa League round of 32 is pinpointed as a lot of what is wrong with the format.

So perhaps the simplest solution is to cut the route that offers those that finish third in their Champions League group a Europa League consolation prize. That way, there would be fewer questions of commitment. Clubs in the final 32 would be there on merit, not because of their failure in another competition. 

Alternatively, UEFA could keep the Champions League dropouts separate from those who have participated in the tournament from the group stage. This would mean the Europa League would be guaranteed a handful of marquee clashes in the latter rounds while preserving the essence of the competition at the same time. That could prove a compromise that works for all—or at least most.

Another complaint commonly made against the Europa League is that the travelling demands too much of the teams and players involved. When managers bemoan participation in the competition it’s largely down to the physical strain of their plane, train and automobile trips across the continent, often just days before crucial domestic fixtures.

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This is an issue UEFA must address. It should consider regionalising the group stage of the competition, splitting the participating teams into four geographical areas. That way, the travelling that clubs are asked to do would be limited and would perhaps spark more managers into taking the tournament seriously.

It’s not just players this change would suit but supporters as well. And at a time when the European game is listening less frequently to fans, that would signal a welcome shift in the dynamic of elite competition and how it is formatted. They might feel their opinion has been factored in, even if that is only an illusion. 

If UEFA can make wholesale changes to the Champions League, as it has done under pressure from the European Clubs Association (ECA), why can’t it do the same to the Europa League? Reform might only come through pressure from the ECA once more, but concerns with the second-tier competition are held more dearly by fans, players and coaches than by the clubs. Those at the top of the game might not care.

The Europa League’s issue is largely an image one. It is treated as a consolation tournament, primarily because that’s how UEFA markets it. Even when it comes to selling the broadcasting rights, European football’s governing body offers it as a second-place prize to those who were priced out of bidding for the Champions League (this is why it was shown on Channel 5 and ITV4 for a number of years in the United Kingdom). 

That must change if the Europa League is to fulfil its fundamental potential. And make no mistake, there is potential to the tournament. There is a charm to it that has been left unappreciated for too long. The competition is a last vestige of the old European Cup, with its journeys into the unknown and clashes against Eastern European clubs you’ve barely heard of.

Thanassis Stavrakis/Associated Press/Associated Press

UEFA must find a way to harness this because it’s allowing all that should make the Europa League great to slip through a net of poor marketing. The competition suffers from an image problem that is of its own making.

There is a way to fix the Europa League. Changes should be implemented as soon as possible to ensure that European football’s second-tier tournament doesn’t lose its unique charm forever, swallowed by its own toxic reputation.

You might not be looking forward to the Europa League's big kick-off this season, but if the right changes are made, there’s a chance you could in years to come.