England's poor relations put Serie A in shade
First Published: Aug 03, 2005
The Championship, English football's second tier, is now officially more popular than Italy's Serie A, traditionally the preserve of Europe's silky soccer millionaires.
It's about Millwall rather than Milan, Reading not Roma and Ipswich instead of Inter.
Humble it may be but the rough and tumble of The Championship, English football's second tier, is now officially more popular than Italy's Serie A, traditionally the preserve of Europe's silky soccer millionaires.
The 24-team league, which gives three sides each season access to the riches of the Premiership, witnessed a 10-percent increase in crowds in 2004/2005 to 9.8 million.
That made it the fourth most-watched division in Europe behind the Premiership (12.8 million), the German Bundesliga (11.57 million) and Spain's La Liga (10.9 million) but, remarkably, ahead of Serie A.
It is also the sixth highest generator of revenue on the continent, according to Football League figures.
"Young players are getting the opportunity to shine in The Championship," said England coach Sven-Goran Eriksson.
"It is a competition that will continue to contribute a great deal to the England team. Players such as Michael Carrick, Andy Johnson and Shaun Wright-Phillips all starred in the league before going on to represent England."
The profile of The Championship, which kicks off a new season on Saturday, is helped by the pulling power of some of the English game's sleeping giants.
Leeds United boast a 40,000 capacity at their Elland Road ground while Wolves can squeeze almost 30,000 into their Molineux headquarters.
For their part, Southampton, who were relegated from the Premiership last season, can call upon England rugby union World Cup-winning coach Clive Woodward to work with their squad.
The attraction for The Championship, where the hurly-burly, high-speed nature of the game is in stark contrast to the slow-quick-slow approach of Serie A, isn't hard to explain.
Promotion at the end of the season means life in the rarefied atmosphere of the Premiership.
The top two go up while the third promotion spot is through the nerve-shredding play-offs.
"The play-off final can be worth 25-35 million pounds," said Stewart Regan, the director of The Championship.
"It makes the game the single most valuable match to the winner in any sport in the world."
Football League authorities make that claim based on the financial gap between the two divisions.
"One of the stats which has been mentioned recently is that it would take a Championship club about 25 years to earn the same amount of money as the bottom club playing in the Premiership for one season," said Regan.
One way of curing the financial headache, believes Regan, is to use The Championship's status to put pressure on European governing body UEFA to grant the winners a place in the Intertoto Cup.
"We've been turned down before because we are a second tier competition," he admitted.
"So I am saying to our clubs: 'Let's show how powerful The Championship is and then go back to UEFA."
First Published: Aug 03, 2005
The Championship, English football's second tier, is now officially more popular than Italy's Serie A, traditionally the preserve of Europe's silky soccer millionaires.
It's about Millwall rather than Milan, Reading not Roma and Ipswich instead of Inter.
Humble it may be but the rough and tumble of The Championship, English football's second tier, is now officially more popular than Italy's Serie A, traditionally the preserve of Europe's silky soccer millionaires.
The 24-team league, which gives three sides each season access to the riches of the Premiership, witnessed a 10-percent increase in crowds in 2004/2005 to 9.8 million.
That made it the fourth most-watched division in Europe behind the Premiership (12.8 million), the German Bundesliga (11.57 million) and Spain's La Liga (10.9 million) but, remarkably, ahead of Serie A.
It is also the sixth highest generator of revenue on the continent, according to Football League figures.
"Young players are getting the opportunity to shine in The Championship," said England coach Sven-Goran Eriksson.
"It is a competition that will continue to contribute a great deal to the England team. Players such as Michael Carrick, Andy Johnson and Shaun Wright-Phillips all starred in the league before going on to represent England."
The profile of The Championship, which kicks off a new season on Saturday, is helped by the pulling power of some of the English game's sleeping giants.
Leeds United boast a 40,000 capacity at their Elland Road ground while Wolves can squeeze almost 30,000 into their Molineux headquarters.
For their part, Southampton, who were relegated from the Premiership last season, can call upon England rugby union World Cup-winning coach Clive Woodward to work with their squad.
The attraction for The Championship, where the hurly-burly, high-speed nature of the game is in stark contrast to the slow-quick-slow approach of Serie A, isn't hard to explain.
Promotion at the end of the season means life in the rarefied atmosphere of the Premiership.
The top two go up while the third promotion spot is through the nerve-shredding play-offs.
"The play-off final can be worth 25-35 million pounds," said Stewart Regan, the director of The Championship.
"It makes the game the single most valuable match to the winner in any sport in the world."
Football League authorities make that claim based on the financial gap between the two divisions.
"One of the stats which has been mentioned recently is that it would take a Championship club about 25 years to earn the same amount of money as the bottom club playing in the Premiership for one season," said Regan.
One way of curing the financial headache, believes Regan, is to use The Championship's status to put pressure on European governing body UEFA to grant the winners a place in the Intertoto Cup.
"We've been turned down before because we are a second tier competition," he admitted.
"So I am saying to our clubs: 'Let's show how powerful The Championship is and then go back to UEFA."
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