[Newbie123]

Which is more competitive/harder to win?

[bulgy]

(Original post by Newbie123)
Which is more competitive/harder to win?

atm, CL, but world cup only happens every 4 years

[DopeSk1llz]

champions league is harder to win

unless you're born, say, in uzbekistan

[Newbie123]

George Weah...

Just sayin

[Stu Laverty]

World Cup is harder to win in that it all depends on luck to an extent - who the players around you are. It's not like a club competition where the best players can move clubs to rise to the top. Someone like Ryan Giggs, someone who will go down as one of Britain's best ever players, never got the chance to play in a World Cup because he was a stand out player in an average Wales team. As a player for Man Utd, he won the Champions League twice and made it to four finals in total.

By contrast, Joan Capdevilla, who is by no means a bad player don't get me wrong, is the holder of a World Cup and European Championship medal because he happened to be in one of the greatest national teams of all time with great players all over the pitch. As a player, he has had a very respectable career but never achieved anything like Xavi, Iniesta, Puyol, Casillas. Capdevilla, despite being a very good player in his own right, was lucky to be involved in such a team.

[doggyfizzel]

Hmmm, some very average players have won both. I think not winning a WC is far more acceptable for a great player than not winning a CL, due to your ability to move clubs, and the regularity. A world cup winning team requires a good team yes, but also an element of luck in the timing 4 years is long time in football.

[xDave-]

World Cup surely has to be harder to win. Only comes around once every 4 years and you're limited to the players from your nation.

Champions League has better teams.

[Newbie123]

(Original post by xDave-)
World Cup surely has to be harder to win. Only comes around once every 4 years and you're limited to the players from your nation.

Champions League has better teams.

But surely that would make the CL harder to win? After all not every great player can play for Madrid/Barca/Milan etc?

Just playing devil's advocate.

[Tommyjw]

On average i think its less likely for your world cup team to win than your champions league team, purely on that id say world cup.

[cera ess six]

If CL was in a month then nothing would be able to compare it

[warwickorbristol]

(Original post by Stu Laverty)
Someone like Ryan Giggs

Terrible example. Giggs notoriously bottled European football, why would he be any better in a competition that relies more on technique and less on speed?

[Stu Laverty]

(Original post by warwickorbristol)
Terrible example. Giggs notoriously bottled European football, why would he be any better in a competition that relies more on technique and less on speed?

George Weah, George Best, Di Stefano, Litmanen. Thats quite a few examples of great players that never played in a World Cup but won a Champions League. Giggs was used because he's recent, relevant, and he's had loads of success both in Europe and domestically. It's just an example.

My point wasn't so much about the player, but the luck (or lack of) involved with winning a World Cup.

[SirMasterKey]

World Cup- happens less often and you have to come together into a squad not use to playing with each other every day.

[Newbie123]

Hmm

[checkolad]

Less chances in your career to win the World cup

[internet tough guy]

world cup without a doubt - more luck based, only once every four years

[Newbie123]

(Original post by internet tough guy)
world cup without a doubt - more luck based, only once every four years

Yer but, CL is always dominated by a few teams - and unless you play for one of those few teams, you aren't gonna win.

And success breed success, so the best teams that dominate will continue to attract the best players, creating a cycle of domination, so to speak.

[internet tough guy]

(Original post by Newbie123)
Yer but, CL is always dominated by a few teams - and unless you play for one of those few teams, you aren't gonna win.

And success breed success, so the best teams that dominate will continue to attract the best players, creating a cycle of domination, so to speak.

so is the world cup, its always the top teams who win it

[Newbie123]

(Original post by internet tough guy)
so is the world cup, its always the top teams who win it

Perhaps, but only one team has ever won consecutive WCs, and the element of luck plays a bigger role in the WC than it does in the CL, you know with each team only playing each other once in the group stages and all.

At every WC, there are surprise results, e.g. Italy & France sucking in 2010, Uruguay making semis, old French team making the final in 06 despite Brazil being heavy, heavy favourites, Korea & Turkey in 02, Croatia in 98, Bulgaria & Sweden in 94 etc.

[internet tough guy]

(Original post by Newbie123)
Perhaps, but only one team has ever won consecutive WCs, and the element of luck plays a bigger role in the WC than it does in the CL, you know with each team only playing each other once in the group stages and all.

At every WC, there are surprise results, e.g. Italy & France sucking in 2010, Uruguay making semis, old French team making the final in 06 despite Brazil being heavy, heavy favourites, Korea & Turkey in 02, Croatia in 98, Bulgaria & Sweden in 94 etc.

I suppose if you're a top player, then the CL will be easier to win, but if you're not one, then the WC will be easier because of the luck factor. But I still think the CL is much less difficult. There are still ''surprise' results in it, liverpool winning in 05 and then getting to the final in 07, arsenal getting to the final (bearing in mind arsenal had always sucked at the CL), think we can all agree 04 was a freak year where none of the 'favourites' got through to the semis and porto eventually won it. Don't forget as well that with the WC, the top teams are seeded, whereas in the CL every club is thrown in the mix, so in this way, the lesser players/teams don't have as much chance in the WC.