Three Reasons the Champions League Beats the World Cup

Every four years, the World Cup comes around and tries to promote itself as the greatest spectacle in world sports. And it may be that. But when it comes to soccer, not everyone agrees that it's the highest level of play.

For some, that status belongs to the UEFA Champions League, a tournament pitting the highest-ranked teams in Europe against each other. It happens every year, and features well-drilled teams that are accustomed to playing together.

Here's why I consider the play in the Champions League better than the World Cup

The Team Are Used to Playing Together. The teams in the Champions League train and play together week in, week out. Sometimes, they've been together for years under the same manager. The teams in the top leagues are well-matched, routinely facing competition that's their equal. That familiarity yields a better standard of play. The players know and trust each other and their coaching staff. Contrast this with the World Cup - national teams train together infrequently, and play sporadically outside the major tournaments. Depending on the conference, the national teams they face can be a step down from the players' club leagues. For instance, the United States plays in the CONCACAF conference - that means they'll usually play "giants" such as Haiti or Jamaica. Mexico is the only team of equal stature to the U.S. in CONCACAF.

Some Great Players Never Make the World Cup. Some legendary players come from smaller countries that never have a prayer of qualifying for the World Cup finals. Ryan Giggs is a prime example. For nearly 20 years, he's been a pillar of the Manchester United side. Love United or hate them, it's impossible not to respect Giggs for his skills, speed and work ethic. Yet since he's Welsh, he's never appeared in a World Cup. That's also true for Eidur Gudjohnsen, the Tottenham Hotspur player from Iceland. He'll never get a sniff of the World Cup, despite playing for teams like Barcelona and Chelsea. These are just two examples of the players you'll find in the Champions League, but not at the World Cup.

No Minnows Allowed. Getting into the Champions League requires a team to be near the top of its domestic league. Depending on the status of the league, it may have 1 to 4 slots open. Some teams will qualify automatically, while others will have to play a qualifying stage to make the tournament's group stage. For instance, the English Premier League teams finishing in first through third place qualify for the group stage. The fourth place team (this year, Spurs) must play a qualifying round to get into the group stage. That means these teams work hard for qualifying - money and prestige are on the line. The World Cup, by contrast, still allows a lot of minnows into the fish tank. South Africa, as the host nation, gets a spot automatically. It's FIFA rank? 90^th. You won't see a standard that low in the Champions League.

I admit the national pride and cultural sideshow of the World Cup adds some flavor. But when it comes to the quality of the soccer, I'll take the Champions League any day.

Here's a bit more about how the Champions League works:

Teams that survive the Champions League group stage go to a home-and-away knockout stage. The team with the most goals over the two matches advances. Here's a wrinkle, though - away goals count as a tie breaker. For example: Arsenal beats Maccabi Tel Aviv at home 1-0. Then they go to Tel Aviv and lose 2-1, so each side has scored two goals. Arsenal's away goal breaks the tie, and it advances.

The final is a single game. Winner takes all! It's usually played at a neutral site. It's theoretically possible for a team to advance through the tournament and wind up playing for the home crowd, but I don't know that it's ever actually happened.