Tottenham And Roma Provide The Stardust In New UEFA Tournament

The creation of the Conference League comes with the second-tier Europa League having been slimmed from a bloated 48 teams in the group stage to 32, like in the CL. There are also 32 teams in the Conference League, which offers just a single berth to each of Europe’s big five leagues

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To its detractors it is a third-rate tournament, far from the glamorous elite level of European football, but the inaugural Europa Conference League which kicks off this week has plenty going for it.

Tottenham Hotspur and Jose Mourinho’s Roma are the star attractions in what is the brand new third tier of continental competition.

That maybe doesn’t make it sound great, but beyond them this is an opportunity for clubs from some of the continent’s smaller countries to play more matches, earn more money and get more exposure.

It is, at heart, a fine idea, even if it may not draw in neutral viewers in their millions, but then again why should it have to?

There is a mixture of famous old names and obscure smaller clubs like Lincoln Red Imps from Gibraltar, who once defeated Celtic in the first leg of a Champions League qualifier.