Impact of Champions League place for Europa League winners

It was cheerful news for many when UEFA announced that from 2015 the Europa League champions will get a place in the following year’s Champions League. This is a wonderful incentive for the teams playing in Europa League to win the cup. A place in the European top flight is what many teams crave for and an extra shortcut to compete in the Champions League is exactly what the teams want.This could be the move which leads to dramatic change across Europe. A closer look at its effect could give a better picture.

Better Competition: 

The quality of football in the Europa League has been far from good so far. Teams knew that there is not much at stake other than an additional cup to their trophy room. Hence, teams often played their second or third teams, testing out their youth and more in the Europa League. Players themselves lacked the desire and hunger to win games even in the knockout rounds.

But this announcement could prove to be the catalyst for the good of the game in the competition. Managers would keep in mind about the Champions League spot and could select a stronger starting 11. This could also boost the players’ morale and mindset to play better football especially in the knockout where the number of teams competing would be less.

Lesser pressure in the domestic leagues:

There are many teams in different leagues that play well but narrowly fail to make the cut to secure a spot in the Champions League due to the amount of competition the League or other factors. Many of these teams make it to the Europa League and some of these teams are in reality good enough to play in the Champions League.

This extra shortcut would mean lesser pressure in the league as such teams can concentrate well on Europa League and then make it to the Champions League rather than playing the season out in the less helpful domestic leagues.

Better transfer deals for Europa League teams:

It’s a dream of any player to play in the Champions League and top players try to move to clubs that are in it. The Europa League teams and other teams fail to secure the signature of top players due to the same reason.

Now that the Europa winners are ensured of a Champions League spot, the teams who have a chance of winning the Europa League can get better deals done as players would in fact agree to join the less elite clubs.

Summing it up, this is a major step taken by UEFA which can prove to be really good for a lot of teams across the continent. This could well be the change required for a better football display mentally and tactically.