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Champions League Qualification
For Europe’s top clubs Champions League qualification has become a pre-requisite of a successful season.
With a minimum of €3 million in prize money for qualification and a possible €31.2 million for the eventual winner, it’s easy to understand why Champions League qualification is so important.
Champions League qualification provides many other benefits through the increased exposure. Individual club’s TV revenues can exceed €20 million and with the additional high profile gate receipts comes the potential for increased sponsorship and advertising revenues. However, it’s on the field of play where the competition holds the biggest draw.
Champions League football is an absolute must for many of the world’s best players and enables clubs to attract higher profile signings and keep hold of their own rising stars.
Champions League Performance Analysis
Prozone analyse every game of the Champions League as part of our dedicated service to clubs across Europe. The following analysis from the 2009/10 competition* gives an insight into the style of play in the Champions League and more importantly, the kind of playing style needed to progress from the group stages and ensure a greater share in the prize money.
Team dynamics
The average number of passes in the Champions League is 17% higher than in the Premier League. The pass success rate and the number of forward passes played are also marginally higher, while there are 34% less headers.
Distribution
The number of passes and the average number of touches is higher for all positions on the pitch in the Champions League, with the biggest differences seen in passing outputs for centre backs (+8) and central midfield players (+7) when compared to the Premier League position specific averages.
Attacking
While attackers have slightly fewer shots in the Champions League, they enjoy the same number of shots on target across both competitions and make 40% less headers. Another interesting difference is that full backs enjoy significantly more entries into the final third and the penalty area in the Premier League compared to the Champions League.
Defensive
While centre backs see more of the ball with more touches and more passes in the Champions League they make less headers, interceptions and clearances. Wide midfielders and full backs get more involved in defence with a significantly higher number of tackles and central midfield also sees a change with a higher number of successful passes, more balls received and more entries made into the final third of the pitch.
In Conclusion
Objective analysis suggests that the Champions League requires a more patient, less direct style of play, with a greater number of passes received across all positions and fewer entries into the final third. When you ally this with the same average number of shots on goal across both competitions, it would appear that teams are more selective and considered in their attacking play in the Champions League.
*All data and comparisons were correct as of 01/05/10
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