I saw the breakdown of the 2026-27 Champions League format, and I’m not buying the line that it’s still the world’s foremost club football competition. The league phase they rolled out after the 2024/25 overhaul? It’s turning what used to be a tight, elite knockout tournament into something more like a bloated round-robin with too many mismatches. I get expanding access for more clubs, but when you’re filling slots with teams that wouldn’t have made it a few years back, the trophy loses some of its hard-earned luster. This isn’t the competition I grew up staying up late to watch.