I agree, the champions league is quality but the world cup just has that air of pure magic. Even the small group games I just enjoy watching for some reason. I remember the 2010 world cup I'd just finished uni and watched basically every group game on telly. Even though that particular world cup was low quality i still enjoyed the atmosphere.
Is the World Cup still the pinnacle of the game?
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Is this a joke?
There is about 100 reasons why it still is, but im just gonna point out a few.
I could just go on and on....
There is about 100 reasons why it still is, but im just gonna point out a few.
- Messi would trade all hes CL medals for one WC medal. Argentine people still loves Maradonna more. Guess why.
- How many more people watch it? 3-4 times as many?
- CL Final this year had a team with players like: Karius, Arnold, Milner, Lovren, Robertson, Henderson, Wijnadum. I expect far better players in a WC final
- The streets are filled with people all over the world. Not just the sport pubs, but all over.
- The players give 100% from start to finish. Its a massive honour to play there.
- How many people have won the WC?
- How many people have won the CL?
I could just go on and on....
howedes, schurlle, mertesacker, garay, demichelis, biglia, perez, palacio
van der wiel, heitinga, stekelenburg, elia, braafheid, capdevilla, navas
From the perspective of respect and excitement, yeah maybe it's still right up there. Also the exclusivity of it makes it a unicorn for footballers. In a good international career, you're likely to get 3, maybe 4 chances to win the World Cup, while a career with a top club may give you 16-17 chances to win a league/CL.
From a football perspective, I rate the CL way higher. I'm sorry, but most national teams don't have anything that resembles the chemistry of a top European club. While the top national teams have a legendary game once in a while, I've never particularly enjoyed these haphazardly trained sides.
From a football perspective, I rate the CL way higher. I'm sorry, but most national teams don't have anything that resembles the chemistry of a top European club. While the top national teams have a legendary game once in a while, I've never particularly enjoyed these haphazardly trained sides.
Yes, World Cup is still the pinnacle of the game.
Actually, it is the pinnacle of sports. It is up there with the Olympics.
Actually, it is the pinnacle of sports. It is up there with the Olympics.
Do you think the world's best players are more excited about the World Cup or next season's Champions League? Which do you think they'd rather win?
Yes, there will be some shit teams playing over the next few weeks, but the pinnacle of the beautiful game is lifting the World Cup. Always has been and always will be.
Yes, there will be some shit teams playing over the next few weeks, but the pinnacle of the beautiful game is lifting the World Cup. Always has been and always will be.
I'll go one step further, if I had the choice I'd rather England win the world cup than United winning the treble.
Yes for me. Every 4 years makes it pretty special
France is overrated
Real Madrid has a better team than France easyThe World Cup is special because it's more of a carnival and a massive achievement to win as it only comes around every 4 years. You also can't buy the World Cup, or at least in the short term anyway.
In saying that, the CL is the best football you'll see. Look no further than the opening game of the World Cup to see why it's not the best platform for elite football.
In saying that, the CL is the best football you'll see. Look no further than the opening game of the World Cup to see why it's not the best platform for elite football.
When the world cup is played in your home country it's just a massive event. I have very good memories of the WC2006 in Germany and the atmosphere was just awesome. But I didn't really care when the CL final was played at the Allianz.
From an emotional point of view the world cup is just one of the biggest sport gatherings ever.
From an athletic point of view I think Barca, Bayern Madrid et al. would destroy every nation and you can see better football in the CL
From an emotional point of view the world cup is just one of the biggest sport gatherings ever.
From an athletic point of view I think Barca, Bayern Madrid et al. would destroy every nation and you can see better football in the CL
People keep saying this, yet there are still some absolute dross teams in the CL too....
It all of course depends on how you define the key word in the question: Pinnacle.
Pinnacle doesn't actually translate as best footballers - pinnacle means the height of the game in all ways. This includes in terms of international interest, numbers of spectators, rarity, how special it is regarded. By all measures, the World Cup is still the greatest spectacle in football and the "pinnacle" of the sport.
Pinnacle doesn't actually translate as best footballers - pinnacle means the height of the game in all ways. This includes in terms of international interest, numbers of spectators, rarity, how special it is regarded. By all measures, the World Cup is still the greatest spectacle in football and the "pinnacle" of the sport.
That's not an entirely fair comparison. The CL has plenty of terrible matchups in the group stages as well. Unlike the world cup people just ignore them.
WHAT?
I take it you're a scouser!
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It is in the eyes of many people, who do not usually care about football and then suddenly start to talk passionately about it when the world cup arrives. My daughter, for instance, she has decided that during the world cup she will not support Red Bull Leipzig anymore, instead, she will be rooting for Bayern Munich.
Not sure if it is the pinnacle, but for me it is without a doubt the best celebration of football. Doesn't have the animosity surrounding club football, and there's typically a jovial atmosphere in the stands (minus a minority of Brits, Russians, etc).
The World Cup is probably the tournament I enjoy most. As others have said, it doesn't come around very often, and I can properly enjoy it without my nerves being shattered like they are for United games. Personally, I can't wait for the tournament to start tomorrow. Going to be a great summer.
The World Cup is probably the tournament I enjoy most. As others have said, it doesn't come around very often, and I can properly enjoy it without my nerves being shattered like they are for United games. Personally, I can't wait for the tournament to start tomorrow. Going to be a great summer.
Forget football, the World Cup is the pinnacle of sport.
Fair point. But generally the teams that have qualified for the CL have won their domestic league, suggesting they are a higher quality of team. Team's qualifying for the World Cup have played qualifiers against the likes of Luxembourg who are all part-timers. You can only really count the South American and maybe African qualifiers as highly competitive.
Look at Australia, they couldn't qualify for the World Cup so they changed from the South American groups to the Asian groups. Last time I checked they were Asian Champions for about the 3rd time running...
Some parts of the world just don't care about football and without the ability to buy a load of players from another nationality the likes of Saudi-Arabia or Qatar will never have world class players unless there's a culture shift.
Also, if the World Cup truly was the pinnacle of World football, it would be heavily weighted with teams from Europe and South America. The likes of the other teams I mentioned wouldn't even get into the competition if the qualifiers we fairer.
Agreed. The CL needs a reformat for that reason in my opinion. The group stages are whipping boy territory at the moment.
Haha, not at all. England winning a world cup is something I don't think I'll ever experience, so such a big dream.
I understand british people hate international games. They usually have to watch the other countries play and i guess that gets boring. 
Australia moved into Asia qualification because they were absolutely demolishing everyone in Oceania, thus getting no real competitive football... thus it made sense to move as now they play teams around their level. Also they've only won the Asian Championships once...
And winning your domestic league means nothing if your domestic league is crap... It's basically the same thing isn't it? Qualifying for the World Cup through a poorer continent equates to qualifying for the Champions League from a poorer national league.
If the whole Lopetegui debacle doesn't tell you what you need to know about the WC's importance in football today, then nothing will
This is a huge overstatement.
I mean lets take Bayern... would they destroy Germany? Considering it's pretty much exactly the same back 5 (minus a left back)
Then you've got a midfield of Toni Kroos, Gundogan, Reus, Ozil and Muller... is that really any worse then Bayerns midfield? (Martinez, Vidal, Robben, Muller, James) ... I wouldn't say so. Certainly not to the point where they'd be "destroyed" anyway....
Then up front its Lewa vs. Werner.... Lewa is obviously better, but Werner is hardly crap.
So yeah, beat? Probably... destroy? No way.
Agreed, but you can usually pick the champions league winner out of 3 teams or so, whereas in the World Cup if you gave me 3 guesses who would win it I would probably ask fro 6-7 guesses. I think the WC is tougher to predict a winner hence is probably a little more exciting in that respect.
I enjoyed the 7-1 game and the highlights of that match is still a great source of entertainment for me. I remember being excited by the match ups but getting disappointed by the quality of football when the mach actually took place.
However, I don't think it is fair to expect NT matches to be equal in quality to club matches. This is a team game and requires, patience, practice and weeks of training and planning with your teammates. Sometimes, it takes more than a year for a set of players to gel together and understand others strengths and weaknesses. A few training camps here and there won't be able to recreate the synergy of club players.
As a sporting spectacle however, I don't think there is anything that matches it, even the Olympics come second. For players too, the WC holds a special place and they will readily swap a CL win for a WC victory. But this being a team game, that feeling of great passion does not quite translate to great football.
Doesn't surprise me that an english paper publishes an article that says the WC isn't the pinnacle. Everyone else seems to think it is, but if I had the ambitions of England and failed to live up to them every single time, I'd be bitter, too.
Yeah, kinda.
But you can also watch the very last CL game. And that keeper is probably worse than most in the whole WC.
I think you were in the minority there to be fair.
Most people regarded it as an incredibly entertaining tournament at the time, and is remembered as such.
That was the last tournament I truly enjoyed. It's just become too monetized and corporate these days. 2006 had some of that but not at the same level we see today. Pretty soon we'll have insane levels of stuff like "this throw-in sponsored by Bud" or "this corner is brought to you by Barclays." Ray Winstone's mug will be projected onto the centre circle asking you to bet how many yards the first kick will travel.
CL is the highest level of football so no the world cup is not the pinnacle of football at least in terms of quality
If you ask me which trophy I would rather win I would rather win the World Cup so depending on quality or prestige the answers are different in my opinion
If you ask me which trophy I would rather win I would rather win the World Cup so depending on quality or prestige the answers are different in my opinion
World Cup is the pinnacle in terms of how you have majority of the nation behind their country, the amount of global interest there is in terms of people watching all over the world, even people who have no clue about football tune in, all the emotions behind the World Cup and the fact that it's only competed every 4 years makes it the most prestigious in my eyes.
Champions League has a higher standard of quality football, especially with all the money involved, the bigger clubs can attract all the best players from different nations to build a world class team. Also look at where all the best managers around the world are... within club football. Clubs also have more time to train with each other in training, which leads to better quality football.
I'm a massive England fan but if I was to be honest, I would most likely be more excited about Man United reaching a Champions League final than England reaching a World Cup final!
Champions League has a higher standard of quality football, especially with all the money involved, the bigger clubs can attract all the best players from different nations to build a world class team. Also look at where all the best managers around the world are... within club football. Clubs also have more time to train with each other in training, which leads to better quality football.
I'm a massive England fan but if I was to be honest, I would most likely be more excited about Man United reaching a Champions League final than England reaching a World Cup final!
The quality of the Champions League is way over rated.
Also I think that international football and by implication the World Cup is a better instrument for judging the exceptional players, as it is basically about adaptability, which is the ultimate measure of skill
Also I think that international football and by implication the World Cup is a better instrument for judging the exceptional players, as it is basically about adaptability, which is the ultimate measure of skill
this
Soon the national teams kits will have sponsors in the middle just like the clubs
I think the French already do don't they?
I was thinking... how many of the countries in the World Cup would actually get beaten by the best club side in their country?
I think this is only really the case for:
England - City would beat England comfortably
Russia - Lokomotiv Moscow beating Russia is a testament to how poor Russia are, as opposed to how good Moscow are
Spain - Barca would probably beat Spain ... but it'd be close. The defences are on par (Spain probably have the edge thanks to a far superior Goalkeeper)... the Spanish midfield three of Busquets, Thiago and Isco, are as good as Barca's for me, but Barca take it clearly up front thanks to Messi, though its not like Spain are that far behind with Silva, Iniesta and Costa.
Other then that? I can't see it being the case anywhere else... I don't think PSG have a better side then France (PSG winning would be a testament of training together year round, as opposed to being of higher quality), and Bayern are about on par with Germany (and again, a Bayern win would be down to regular training together)
Any other nations I'm forgetting?
I think this is only really the case for:
England - City would beat England comfortably
Russia - Lokomotiv Moscow beating Russia is a testament to how poor Russia are, as opposed to how good Moscow are
Spain - Barca would probably beat Spain ... but it'd be close. The defences are on par (Spain probably have the edge thanks to a far superior Goalkeeper)... the Spanish midfield three of Busquets, Thiago and Isco, are as good as Barca's for me, but Barca take it clearly up front thanks to Messi, though its not like Spain are that far behind with Silva, Iniesta and Costa.
Other then that? I can't see it being the case anywhere else... I don't think PSG have a better side then France (PSG winning would be a testament of training together year round, as opposed to being of higher quality), and Bayern are about on par with Germany (and again, a Bayern win would be down to regular training together)
Any other nations I'm forgetting?
Bayern v Germany?
PSG v France?
Dunno what the rules are to this though... Like if the clubs could play their local players (i.e. German or French players) then I suppose the clubs would have the edge