So how do we create a soccer culture in Eau Claire. Start with Rec leagues, then great Club soccer, develop outstanding high school teams, and provide an opportunity to experience college soccer. It’s all here. So what else do we need. How about passionate Soccer Fans! How about fans who are knowledgeable about the world soccer game. With that, let’s talk about the biggest Club tournament in the world; UEFA Champions League.
To the casual soccer fan, the various Leagues and Tournaments can be a bit confusing. We are conditioned in the US to understand sports thru the lens of how we operate. NFL, NBA, MLB, even NHL all have similar scenarios. One league, 32 teams, 4 divisions, 8-12 playoff teams, and a Championship game deemed to determine the best team in the World. But, we are just one country. How can we be sure the team that wins is the best in the world. We are also a bit cocky in the USA, and we figure we must be the best if we win the title. But what if….what if there was an even bigger tournament….what if the best teams from leagues all over the world came together to play in a mega Championship. Now we do have the Olympics, but that is National Teams and only once every 4 years. We do have the World Cup in soccer, but again, National Teams and only once every 4 years.
So, in case you didn’t know, Soccer has a tournament just like the one described above. A mega Championship that takes winners and top teams from various leagues throughout Europe and once a year, they play in the Champions League to determine the best team in Europe. With European soccer being deemed the best in the world, by default, the UEFA Champions League crowns the professional Club team considered to be the best in the world.
So what are all those initials for?
The Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) is the administrative body for association football in Europe, although several member states are primarily or entirely located in Asia. It is one of six continental confederations of world football’s governing body FIFA. UEFA consists of 55 national association members. These association members are countries and each country has soccer leagues.The basic premise is that the UEFA Champions league is a tournament that brings together the top teams form these various leagues to create a super tournament.
So now talk about crazy initials, FIFA has 6 governing bodies. The other five are:
Asian Football Conference (AFC) with 46 members.
Confederation of African Football (CAF) with 54 members.
Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF) with 35 members including the United States.
Confederation of South American Football (CONMEBOL) with 10 members. Still trying to figure out what the initials mean for this group.
Oceania Football confederation (OFC) with 11 members including New Zealand and Pacific Island countries.
So What About This Tournament?
The UEFA Champions League is an annual competition organized by UEFA and contested by top-division European Clubs. It is one of the most prestigious tournaments in the world and the most prestigious club competition in European football, played by the League champions (and, for some nations, one or more runners-up) of the strongest UEFA national associations. The Champions League final is the most watched annual sporting event worldwide. The final of the 2012 tournament had the highest TV ratings of any event to date, drawing 360 million television viewers. Let’s compare that to the Super Bowl. Widely considered the most watched sporting event in the United States and the biggest world wide event hosted by the United States. So how many watch the Super Bowl. It must be more than soccer, right, I mean, we are talking the Super Bowl. Well, prepare to be humbled US Football. The most watched Super Bowl ever had a world wide audience that was approx. 115 Million. So, just take that in for a moment, the most watched US football game ever was still only 1/3 the viewers of the most watched soccer game ever. 30%. That is pretty amazing. So how many of you have watched a final of the Champions League, conversely, how many of you have watched a Super Bowl game. I know the answer, it’s not even close. Soccer still has a way to go in the US.
Introduced in 1992, the Champions League competition replaced the European Cup. In it’s current format it consists of 32 teams. Teams come from automatic qualifying by winning their League. Leagues, based on their quality, may have up to 4 entrants into the tournament. Other teams gain entrance thru qualifying rounds. As example, The English Premier League, widely considered the highest quality league in soccer, gets 4 entrants into the tournament. The German Bundesliga gets 3 teams into the tournament. The Spanish La Liga gets 3 entrants. The Italian Serie A gets 3 entrants into the tournament. The 32 teams are drawn into eight groups of four teams and play each other in a double round robin format. You play each team twice, home and away. The eight group winners and eight runners-up proceed to the 16 team knockout phase, single elimination, that culminates with the final match in May each year.
Real Madrid is the most successful club in the competition’s history, having won the tournament 12 times, including its first five seasons. Spanish clubs have accumulated the highest number of victories (17 wins), followed by England and Italy (12 wins apiece). The competition has been won by 22 different clubs, 12 of which have won it more than once. The reigning champions are Real Madrid, who secured their twelfth title in the competition after defeating Juventus 4–1 in the 2017 Final. Thus, they became the first team in the UEFA Champions League era to successfully defend their title. I am a Chelsea fan and have had two opportunities to watch Chelsea in the Champions League Finals. The first was when I was just starting to become a big soccer fan. I became a Chelsea fan in 2006 while watching some English Premier League games with Austin. So it was really cool to be a Chelsea fan as they made it to the finals in 2008. An epic game that went to Penalty Kicks after a tie score and no goals in OT. They were captained by John Terry, one of the best defenders in soccer history and a Chelsea legend. Here is the shot to WIN the Champions League title in 2008.
Wow, that was the goal to WIN the most prestigeous soccer tournament for league teams in the world. He slips….and the ball careens off the post. He had the GK fooled, it was a easy tap in really. Unbelievable. You can just feel the pain and agony after the miss. Manchester United would go on to win that game. John Terry still talks about the disappointment of that moment. Spring forward to 2012. Chelsea is an underdog and really has no reason to be in the finals. Multiple players are injured, they are starting a rag tag line up missing 3-4 of their regular starters. No chance to win really against the best team in the world, Bayern Munich.
Another epic final. Bayern scores late in regulation to take a 1-0 lead. Chelsea, miraculously scores in the final minutes to tie it 1-1. On to OT. Arjen Robben gets fouled and has a PK in OT to take a lead, but it is stopped. It goes to PK’s. In a crazy turn of events, one of Bayern Munich’s legends Bastain Schweinsteiger, steps up to the line and incredibly, hits the post. Sound familiar. Next up another Chelsea legend, Didier Drogba can win it. Here are the highlights of the game.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lBP7QQYN1IU
The 2017/2018 Edition is Under Way
This years edition is currently underway and approaching the end of the group play stage. The teams are thru the first five games of the 6 game double round robin. Most of the final 16 Group Stage is set with a few positions yet to be decided. After the next wave of games, the Knock Out Round will be set. In case you were wondering…I know you are….Chelsea is thru to the next round! In the group stage, it is win and advance or lose and go home.
If you enjoy soccer or have kids playing soccer, please consider checking out the Champions League Tournament this year. Games are being carried on Fox Sports. It continues to amaze me how much high quality soccer is on TV and how few people who enjoy soccer or have kids playing soccer, that have never watched a Champions League game. Especially surprised when I ask kids who play soccer, even at the high school level, who just don’t watch soccer on TV, even when it’s the best players and teams in the Champions League. Again, we have a ways to go in the US. Pretty sure high school football players watch the NFL and the Super Bowl.
Champions League. Check it out. The best soccer in the world!