Part A
In the midst of all that was going on, what about this for a new CL format:
Round 1: champions of Uefa coefficient 13-54. Home and away ties.
Qualification league: essentially a champions league for smaller teams. They can get the taste of the experience, and $$$. There would be 7 groups of 4. Group winners progress to the playoff.
Playoff: enter some countries that get a bye. Automatic Qualifiers: Premier league: 6-7. La Liga: 4. Serie A 4. Bundesliga: 3-4. Ligue 1: 2-4. Other: 7 group winners from the qualification league.
Champions League: 2 groups of 11. Home and away. Automatic qualifiers: Premier league: 1-5, la Liga: 1-3, serie A: 1-3, bundesliga: 1-2. Ligue 1: 1
Top 4 from each group enter the QF. Bracket its way from there.
Part B (my second suggestion)
This next part is a scheduling thing. Just a rough idea of another way things may get sorta interesting. Have the champions league on weekends as well. National leagues could end by the beginning of January (via cutting out some teams, playing 3 games every two weeks). The champions league would start right after, using the teams who just qualified. Here’s an example schedule. Didn’t include time for intn’l/cups, either start earlier, finish later, whatever.
Anyways, big clubs are more likely to make it in the league. Smaller clubs all have a chance. More money from weekends.
