The question
At the beginning of this millennium, the Belgians declined on the UEFA ranking. This ranking is important as this ranking determines how many teams from a country are allowed to play European football. Belgium used to be ninth on the ranking which means that Belgian champions have direct access to the Champions League. Based on their disappointing performances, the Belgians were facing a 13th spot on the UEFA ranking. This means that future Belgian champions had to qualify for the Champions League. Besides that, it seemed more likely to drop even further towards the 15th position – which means that they would lose access for the runner up by qualification – then to increase on the ranking the coming years. To turn the tide, the Belgians considered renewing their competition format to increase the quality of their football. At the same time they renewed their TV contracts.
Hypercube’s advice
Our analyses showed that the Belgian top clubs faced a lack of competitive resistance. Belgian top clubs played only a few matches per season against other strong teams, but far too little. Hypercube therefore proposed three solutions:
Not only top clubs benefit from this system. The middle segment is allowed to play in the second phase for a last European ticket. The weakest teams compete against relegation.
Impact
On 17th of March 2008, the Belgians adopted our recommendation. From the introduction of the new format, Belgium has started to climb the UEFA ranking again and are now ranked 8th. In addition, the commercial value of the Belgian competition raised from 32 million to 39 million euros in the first season. In the 2016/2017 season, the commercial value was 75 million euros.