23 Mar 2009(Mon)

After two rounds of matches in this year’s expanded AFC Champions League, the new format appears to have got off to a great start. More participating teams from the so-called elite nations have increased the overall concentration of quality, and there have been plenty of high-scoring and thoroughly entertaining matches to enjoy so far. The Japanese clubs look doubly keen to pick off where they left off, with Nagoya Grampus, Gamba Osaka, and Kawasaki Frontale all currently topping their groups and yet to lose a game between them. Kashima Antlers, meanwhile, despite a heavy defeat to Suwon Bluewings in their opening Group G game, will at least fancy their chances of surpassing Shanghai Shenhua to qualify for the last 16 in second position.

 

The key word in all the AFC’s promotional materials regarding the tournament’s overhaul has been ‘professionalism’. The changes in the competition’s structure and, more significantly, its criteria for entry have been introduced to raise the level of Asian football both on and off the pitch, by forcing clubs and associations to comply with the new standards. With more places for already-compliant clubs in bigger countries, the thrashings routinely handed out to teams from the likes of Vietnam and Thailand look set to be a thing of the past. Representatives of smaller nations can compete at their own level in the AFC Cup – with the chance of a place in the following year’s ACL given to the winners – until they are ready for reassessment. As John Duerden points out in a rare article on Asian football in the Guardian, the AFC hopes that repeat performances from the same faces will also help breed the familiarity, stardom, and rivalry needed for the tournament to thrive.

 

However, although the principles behind the reforms make sense and the money involved is paltry in comparison, the AFC must take care to ensure that its Champions League does not end up driving too big a wedge between the haves and the have-nots, as we have seen in Europe. The last eight of the first competition under the UEFA Champions League moniker, in 1992-93, featured not one representative from the Premier League or La Liga, but instead such ‘lesser’ names as Club Brugge, Rangers, IFK Göteborg, and CSKA Moscow. Ten years later, however, with increased participation from the bigger nations, we had Manchester United, Ajax, and three teams each from Italy and Spain. This season, we have five of the same quarter-finalists as we did last year.

 

The shift has affected domestic football too. While the great appeal of the J. League lies in its unpredictability and in the six-way title races it so often produces, it is easy to forget that the European leagues were once much more competitive as well. As the 1990s brought the geneses of the Premier, Champions, and J. Leagues, the English title was contested by the likes of Norwich City, Blackburn Rovers, and (even as recently as 2003) Newcastle United, but we have now had the same big four sweeping up the seats at Europe’s top table for five consecutive seasons. Lyon have taken the French crown seven years in a row, while the Serie A title – which was won by Napoli, Sampdoria, and even Verona in the decade before the UEFA Champions League – now looks to be more the domain of Juventus and the two Milan teams than ever before.

 

Of course, it is only natural for clubs and supporters to look after their own interests, and for England and Japan to want their teams to be the envy of their respective continents. But today’s situation in Europe is very different to when Aston Villa and Nottingham Forest could win the European Cup 30 years ago, and the backlash is growing – even within UEFA – against the consequences of the Champions League’s current format and finances. However the growing ACL helps develop the sport in this region, it must not be at the cost of true competition.