Here is a first article from another forum regular Czech-Mate

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During a recent discussion at work, something dawned on me. If you scratch the surface of the so called “Beautiful game” you’ll notice that a hell of a lot isn’t exactly…shall we say “Up to scratch”.
Lets start from the top, none other than the FIFA World Cup.

All participating teams bar the hosts have to qualify, and quite rightly so. With so many European teams battling for places at the prestigious competition many feel that the lower, shall we say…lesser developed countries shouldn’t be participating in these Qualification groups, why shouldn’t they? I beg you for a GENUINE answer…

The main argument against the likes of Liechtenstein, Moldova, San Marino & Azerbaijan is that they rarely win football matches, and their place in the group is purely to make up the numbers. Lets look into this in detail. How are the above countries, and others of that ilk going to improve, and progress without playing against tough opposition?

Answer: They can’t.

There are a number of ways to get these nations improving. I’ll give credit where its due, FIFA Goal projects that are being developed in some smaller nations WILL make a difference, but surely there must be other ways of helping these nations. UEFA’s 6+5 rule just isn’t the way forward in my honest opinion. In no way am I insinuating that I know more about these lesser nations than the UEFA representatives, but I do take genuine interest in these obscure footballing nations, and often find myself thinking of how to get them up to the next level.

UEFA’s 6+5 rule states that 6 of the 11 players on the pitch for a team must be from the country the team is from. The general thinking is good, to an extent. While more home grown & young players will be getting 1st team football which will help them to develop, it puts a strangle on club managers. Lets look at Arsenal as an example. Their main players are as follows; Almunia (ESP) Fabregas (ESP) Arshavin (RUS) Adebayor (TOG) Van Persie (NED) Nasri (FRA) Toure (CIV) Gallas (FRA). This is a team that Arsene Wenger has built. I may not like him, but why should he then have to ruin the team he’s built for the benefit of a UEFA ruling? He shouldn’t have to. He should be able to pick players that he WANTS to pick for HIS team. The primary goal is for the 6+5 rule to assist smaller nations, people earning huge salaries put their heads together, and came up with this shambles. You’re probably reading this thinking “Go on then smart arse, you come up with something” for those thinking that, I have!

UEFA have clearly categorised between their “developed nations” and their “undeveloped” nations. Here is my main idea that can save the game in these smaller nations…

Teams from the so called Developed Nations have a minimum transfer fee to be paid to clubs from lesser developed nations for their home grown stars. This pumps money into the smaller nations, which can be used to improve training & playing facilities, and get the home grown players of the smaller nations valuable experience in playing at a higher level.

Of course, there are many more ways to help the lower countries. One of which is to re-vamp the Champions League. The clue is in the title. The UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE, meaning the league for the champions of the UEFA nations. Why are Arsenal in the competition? Why are Liverpool in this competition? The same can be said for Villareal, Barcelona, Chelsea and many more. The teams just mentioned aren’t actually champions of their domestic leagues.

Do we see a flaw here? I do.

How would you feel if you won your domestic league, were chuffed to bits that your players were going to be able to compete in the Champions League only to have that bubble burst? It happens EVERY year. It may sound like I’m being bitter here, but Slavia Prague were eliminated from this years competition in the qualification stages, I’ve come to expect this so it wasn’t such a bitter blow for me, what hurt was the fact that Fiorentina eliminated Slavia. Fiorentina are 1 hell of a good side, but I can’t for the life of me believe that they should be a Champions League side. They finished 4th, yes FOURTH in their domestic league, yet enter the Champions League qualification….Something just isn’t right here.

It obviously hasn’t sank in with Michel Platini that the smaller nations he governs are “smaller” nations because of him. If all countries were treated equally then we wouldn’t be in our current state. Why can’t Mr Platini give EACH European countries CHAMPIONS a spot in the competition? After all, that’s what the competition is meant for. That way, 1 club from each nation is netting themselves a tidy sum for participating in the tournament, therefore, as previously stated, the money can be used to improve the training facilities which can only lead to improvements all around.

If you take a look at these “Smaller nations” and watch their domestic leagues, you’ll see players with passions and pride, not greed and arrogance. These leagues are often a joy to watch, and they’d be even better if UEFA wouldn’t constantly let them down by making out that they are trying to help. The sooner someone with sense becomes head of UEFA the better.

Feel free to add comments and ask questions, if I can I will gladly answer them.
Thanks for reading!

Czech-Mate