For all the glitz and glamour that is supposed to come with playing European football, the Europa League has so far been cast as nothing more than the ugly cousin of the far more popular and illustrious Champions League. After previously being known as the UEFA Cup, the Europa League in its current format has been in existence since 2009/10.

The number one issue surrounding the tournament for fans of Europe’s top five most watched leagues, is the fact that the Europa League is largely made up of teams who offer nothing special. Away ties against the likes of FK Krasnodar (Russia), Astra Giurgiu (Romania) and Dinamo Minsk (Belarus), are often lack-lustre affairs that fall short of entertaining. Whilst this may seem harsh to the smaller teams that find themselves in Europe, this line of thinking is merely a reaction to how big clubs respond to their Europa League duties.

Another problem involved with the popularity of the Europa League is its Thursday night prime-time slot. As is the case with the often disappointing early Super Sunday games, no one really seems in the mood for Thursday football – with traditional sports TV slots proving far more desirable. Obviously TV placements for football matches are largely designed around avoiding clashes with one another, but the fact still remains that Thursday night is just not a football night.

The placement of Europa League football on Thursday nights is also a concern often raised by managers involved in the tournament. Long round trips to Russia and Eastern Europe mean that Premier League teams can’t play their domestic matches on Saturday at 3:00pm, and their league form often suffers as a result. No consistency can be reached with this kind of arrangement.

Everton, Spurs, Newcastle and Swansea have all seen their fortunes reverse after participating in the Europa League, as smaller clubs simply don’t have the squad depth to compete successfully in both the cup and the league at the same time. This may be a problem mostly witnessed in Premier League, however, as foreign teams often fare much better in the Europa League than their English counterparts.

Perhaps the biggest problem of all involving the Europa League is the fact that Champions League teams, who have failed to make it out of the knock-out stages of their own tournament, are automatically placed in the second tier of European football without qualification. This hardly seems fair as the likes of Chelsea, with their almost unlimited resources and squad depth, have won the competition in recent years without being present from the start.

Because there is no reward for teams who have successfully built up momentum in the group stages of the Europa League, the overall popularity of the tournament diminishes as a result – both among participants and fans alike.

Big teams don’t seem to be too bothered about winning the competition anyway, as the Europa League is hardly the best accolade sides such as Juventus could desire. Most of the time the top teams prioritise a successful league campaign over Europa League success, with qualification to the Champions League being much more desirable.

Despite this, to say the Europa League offers absolutely nothing would be unfair. It undoubtedly exposes us to what the rest of Europe has to offer, and it could be argued that it is the best possible alternative for sides that are never going to finish in the top four. As it was never meant to rival or better the Champions League, are we completely missing the point if we continue to make that comparison?

With all just and unjust comparisons aside, the Europa League simply doesn’t do enough to warrant its main-stay position within the world of football. Tweaks and changes, such as the possible abolition of the group stages in favour of a straight knock-out competition, would do the Europa League the world of good.

If nothing is done, this once prized asset of UEFA could well fall into obscurity as so many other European football competitions have done in the past.

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