Is The FA Cup Bigger Than Conference League?

[goonerfamily]

In order of significance:
1. Champions League
2. Premier League
3. Europa League
4. FA Cup
5. League Cup
6. UEFA Conference League

I don't consider these major trophies
7. UEFA Super Cup
8. Club World Cup
9. Community Shield

 

[Tir Na Nog]

Is the oldest cup competition bigger than a competition invented 2 years ago filled with teams that finished 3rd in the Moldovan Premier League? Gee that's a tough one.

 

[perth gooner]

Not winning the CL in 2006 and even getting knocked out of the competition during those year were definitely one of the worst feelings I felt as a football fan. Not sure missing out of the league even in the 00s and last year really match up to it.

I feel the pain almost 20 years later of that UCL final defeat. It still stings because we were the better team on the day and should have won. Even when we played most of the match with ten men, we still were superior to Barcelona. Then Campbell looks like he secured our first European championship, only for it to be ruled out and Barca to score two late goals to win.

For me this loss was more painful than us throwing away the league in 2003, 2008 and last season (all due to choking, so we got what we deserved), and England losing the UEFA Euro 2020 final on penalties (a lottery loss), mainly because it felt like a huge injustice based on the harsh sending off and on the balance of play where we were the better team.

 

[jaystewart]

Europa league viewing figures (supposedly)
2021 - Man Utd v Villarreal - 7.4 million
2020 - Inter Milan v Seville - 10.2 million
2019 - Chelsea v Arsenal - 6.3 million

Whenever english teams play, less people tune in by the looks of it? Wonder if that holds?

 

[grange]

This is where the British could use a dose of Americans' blind exceptionalism and patriotism. If these vagabonds were trying to tear down one of my institutions, I would be throwing haymakers.

 

[Dokaka]

Going by the logic that winning one competition qualifies you for another competition, the ranking should probably go something like this:

1. Champions League
2. Premier League
----
3. Europa League (CL qualification)
----
4. FA Cup (EL Qualification)
----
5. Conference League (EL qualification)
----
----
6. League Cup (Conference League qualification)

Personally think the biggest factor here that can show someone has big English bias is rating the League Cup above the Conference League. Literally the 3rd most important trophy within one country, with most teams playing reserves and youngsters until maybe the last two games of the tournament. And the final is played in the middle of the season ffs. Teams literally crash out of that competition every year to the tune of "lol whatever, it's the League Cup, who cares" and only start giving a **** when the trophy is almost in their hands.

Conference League might be new but the opportunity to face off against other European teams feels infinitely bigger and more exciting. And, from a purely objective perspective, the rewards for winning it are WAY better than winning the League Cup. Literally gives you access to the Europa League, which usually requires a top 6 or 7 finish in the league.

 

[drippin]

Bit of a dumb thread.

It's another proof of the mods hating me, by making a full thread from my simple comment.

Going by the logic that winning one competition qualifies you for another competition, the ranking should probably go something like this:

1. Champions League
2. Premier League
----
3. Europa League (CL qualification)
----
4. FA Cup (EL Qualification)
----
5. Conference League (EL qualification)
----
----
6. League Cup (Conference League qualification)

Personally think the biggest factor here that can show someone has big English bias is rating the League Cup above the Conference League. Literally the 3rd most important trophy within one country, with most teams playing reserves and youngsters until maybe the last two games of the tournament. And the final is played in the middle of the season ffs. Teams literally crash out of that competition every year to the tune of "lol whatever, it's the League Cup, who cares" and only start giving a **** when the trophy is almost in their hands.

Conference League might be new but the opportunity to face off against other European teams feels infinitely bigger and more exciting. And, from a purely objective perspective, the rewards for winning it are WAY better than winning the League Cup. Literally gives you access to the Europa League, which usually requires a top 6 or 7 finish in the league.

Conference League is absolutely better than League Cup, and like you say the prize pool is much bigger.

But as an Arsenal fan at the current trajectory I would rate these in the same bracket, that it's better to play youth until the semi-finals or finals.

Couldn't care less to go far, and get more strain to main players. Was quite happy last year to drop out of League Cup early. Of course depends on the depth of the squad, because it can be a chance to give some players more game-time who needs it to be sharp when needed.

 

[MartiSaka]

Europa league viewing figures (supposedly)
2021 - Man Utd v Villarreal - 7.4 million
2020 - Inter Milan v Seville - 10.2 million
2019 - Chelsea v Arsenal - 6.3 million

Whenever english teams play, less people tune in by the looks of it? Wonder if that holds?

This is very strange, and hard to fathom. How could an arsenal vs chelsea game or even a utd game attract such a smaller audience relative to inter vs seville. Just consider the global audiences of the clubs.

 

[Farzad Stoned]

In order of significance:
1. Champions League
2. Premier League
3. Europa League
4. FA Cup
5. League Cup
6. UEFA Conference League

I don't consider these major trophies
7. UEFA Super Cup
8. Club World Cup
9. Community Shield

Club world cup way more prestigious than League cup.


If Mls, Saudi, and Asian football continue to develop Club world cup will go up in importance. The teams that play have incredible quality from Europe and South America. I would rate it higher than a Caribou cup. League cup is lowest trophy for me.

1. Cl
2. Pl
3. Europa
4. Fa
5. World club championship
6. Conference league
7. Caribou cup

 

[blaze_of_glory]

Very arguable imo, there's City and Liverpool at a stretch and even those teams were not nearly as good some 10 years ago. The EL always has very good teams in it.

What's less arguable imo (and no one brought it up so far) is there are always loads of weak teams in it. You can get to the final playing just lower tier sides, think United won it like that in recent years although tbf that's just United they won their EL title the exact same way.

Well fair enough that right now Man Utd and Chelsea are on a down turn, but most of the time they are at least as strong as most teams in the EL. Sp**s probably also given they spent a good run of years in the CL recently. Then there's the likes of Newcastle, Brighton and West Ham that are at the moment probably better than a lot of teams in the EL as well.

Either way I don't think there's much between the two competitions in terms of quality, so probably comes down to which one someone sees as more prestigious and that's probably mostly subjective.

 

[jones]

Well fair enough that right now Man Utd and Chelsea are on a down turn, but most of the time they are at least as strong as most teams in the EL. Sp**s probably also given they spent a good run of years in the CL recently. Then there's the likes of Newcastle, Brighton and West Ham that are at the moment probably better than a lot of teams in the EL as well.

Either way I don't think there's much between the two competitions in terms of quality, so probably comes down to which one someone sees as more prestigious and that's probably mostly subjective.

"Better than a lot" is pretty vague tbh and even if it were more concise - the League Cup has the same teams in it and they're stronger than some who compete in the CL, that can hardly be an argument.

Most of it is subjective but from a fan perspective being able to see your team against some of the biggest European teams beats seeing us against the same lot you see every other week. Then you add our record in both comps - 14 to 0 - or the CL spot you get vs EL spot etc sure it's subjective but a much more compelling case for one than the other

 

[blaze_of_glory]

"Better than a lot" is pretty vague tbh and even if it were more concise - the League Cup has the same teams in it and they're stronger than some who compete in the CL, that can hardly be an argument.

Most of it is subjective but from a fan perspective being able to see your team against some of the biggest European teams beats seeing us against the same lot you see every other week. Then you add our record in both comps - 14 to 0 - or the CL spot you get vs EL spot etc sure it's subjective but a much more compelling case for one than the other

You might be right. I'm not going to give it a like though because I don't like it.

 

[Dokaka]

Most of it is subjective but from a fan perspective being able to see your team against some of the biggest European teams beats seeing us against the same lot you see every other week. Then you add our record in both comps - 14 to 0 - or the CL spot you get vs EL spot etc sure it's subjective but a much more compelling case for one than the other

You and me supporting clubs that rarely get to participate in European clashes probably also raises our opinion on the "lesser" European competitions tbf. Still think they rank higher from an objective perspective, simply because of the rewards, but as you said it's all subjective in terms of what "feels" bigger.

Can totally see why Arsenal fans would dismiss the Conference League or even the Europa League as those competitions aren't really meant for a club like Arsenal. The EL is very much the backup version of European football - literally where you land if you crash out of the "real" thing - and the Conference League is an even more egregious example of that.

I think a lot of people conflate what is more difficult to win and what is the bigger competition. The PL is easily the most difficult to win, as you can't fluke your way there. The inherent nature of cup competitions mean you get upsets and lucky draws, and you only need a couple of those to suddenly have a trophy in your hands. Chelsea is a prime example of that. But it's still the ultimate end-goal of European football clubs, the thing with most eyeballs on it and easily the thing with the most prestige.

That being said, every club is different and you might have a trophy that has eluded you for a long time, making it feel more important in the eyes of the fans etc.

 

[TheEliteMaster100_]

I would like to see Arsenal win a European trophy sometime in my life. We had a chance to win the Europa league but we disrespected the competitions, which is ironic given our horrendous record in Europe.

 

[Melquiades]

I wouldn't be this harsh though, it was their first trophy in 43 years...of course that would mean a lot to them.

It goes...

1. Premier League/Champions League
2 .FA cup/Europa League
3. League Cup/Conference League

...so even though it's in the "lowest" level of trophies to win, it's still 1 of only 6 proper trophies any English teams can win...so it should be celebrated, imo.

Plus, them winning it gives us something extra to beat Sp**s with!

I'd have it as :

1a) Premier League
1b) Champions League
3) Europa League
4) FA Cup
5) League Cup
6) Conference League
7) Charity/Community Shield

- Europa and FA Cup I'd consider fairly equal but the extra prize of going to UCL makes the EL bigger.

- as an Arsenal supporter, Champions League is probably a bigger than for other clubs. If we'd won it a couple times I'd consider the 38-game grind of the league to be a bigger triumph but without it ... man, I want to see us win it.

- I consider the Community Shield a trophy worth celebrating, if only a minor one. It's a real trophy, everyone knows what it looks like, Sp**s would kill for one.

- the teams in the Conference League are *so bad* that I could simply never get excited about it. Like, West Ham were nearly relegated from the PL last year and won. The string of teams you need to beat to win the League Cup is much more impressive.

If the Europa League winner get into the Champions League, then so should the FA cup winner imo.

Sevilla were in pot 1 in the Champions League draw, finished 12th in La Liga ffs

It's always bothered me that the FA Cup Champions don't go into the Champions League but 4th in the league that won nothing does. I'd rather have Cups prioritized over league finishes for European comps.

 

[ASAP Berg]

Loved seeing West Ham fans asking why Rice would leave 'European champions' for us.

The only half decent team they faced was Fiorentina who finished 8th in Serie A.

 

[Tir Na Nog]

I think the competition is great for clubs like West Ham, but if we're talking generally the FA Cup is much bigger. I think it probably edges the EL too, especially for the top clubs.

 

[bingobob]

This discussion cannot be separated from where football has been, where it is and where it is going; a European Super League.

 

[Blankety Blank]

EL is much bigger than the FA Cup, doubly so because our record in Europe is as poor as it is.

Nah I would say at best they are about level or the fa cup has the edge.
Bigger teams play in the FA cup & it has the richest history of all cup competitions in the World.
As you allude to because of our poor record in the Europa & the fact that it has a more exotic feel of playing teams from other Countries it just seems bigger.

How many times have we actually played in it? Less that 10
We have gone 10 years or more without winning the fa cup.

I'd say us winning the FA cup in 2020 over Chelsea in the final at wembley after beating Man City in the semi is bigger than Chelsea beating us the year before for the Europa in fkin Baku.

 

[Sanchez11]

Europa and micky mouse league are sh1t, id rather win fa cup all day long.