UEFA's exclusive club versus God's open arms

The start of the British football season brings excitement and anticipation of what might be achieved over the 38-game marathon between August and May. While the likes of Wimbledon and The Open have provided some welcome refreshment, it is always good when things get back to normal.

However, for those of us who support any of the previous season’s five best-placed Scottish teams, the first few weeks thrust us right into the nervous pressure cooker of the European qualifiers as our teams battle to secure places in the continent’s most high-profile and lucrative competitions.

There is no time to settle into the new campaign as our clubs enter two-legged knockout ties which are arguably the most important matches of our seasons right as the domestic season kicks off, often determining the vast bulk of the prize money on offer to our teams of a level just not on offer domestically.

Celtic and Rangers both had a chance to qualify for the Champions League and the roughly £40 million on offer for participation when gate receipts, sponsorships and the likes are factored in. Aberdeen and Hibernian entered the Europa League qualifiers with League Phase participation securing up to half of that amount, while Dundee United entered the Europa Conference League qualifiers.

For context, the winners of this season’s Scottish Premiership title will receive £4.58 million, which makes the transformational nature of European participation for Scotland’s top clubs clear. However, as history has sometimes exhilaratingly, but more often painfully and hilariously shown, it is so difficult to navigate through these qualifiers.

I won’t bore you with a breakdown of who enters each competition and when, but this annual summer struggle gives many north of the border the impression that UEFA does not want clubs from lesser leagues like Scotland in their most glamorous tournaments, and instead does everything it can to fill them with the wealthiest teams in the continent.

It is hard to argue that UEFA is increasingly making its flagship competitions closed, exclusive events, only open to the leagues they deem worthy of a place at the top table. This is particularly evident when it comes to the Champions League, widely considered club football’s greatest competition.

While Scotland’s best teams face a combined 11 summer qualifiers to reach their respective tournaments in a situation similar to countless other smaller European nations, four or five sides (depending on national ranking) are granted automatic entry from Europe’s top five leagues straight into the league phase of the Champions League.

This means that the top four or five teams from England, France, Germany, Spain and Italy are given automatic places in the Champions League proper every season, bypassing the treachery of the qualifiers while teams below them are also given automatic places in the Europa and Conference Leagues.

While everyone dreams of watching their team on the European stage, the reality nowadays is that UEFA’s European competitions have never been a more exclusive, closed shop; and other than for occasional shocks, only the favoured, richest clubs are allowed to compete at the top level.

How lucky then are we, that in a spiritual sense, God is not so exclusive? He takes the weak and makes them strong by His enabling, and any measure of human strength counts for nothing before Him as we have all fallen short of His perfect glory and need the atoning sacrifice of His Son to make us right with Him.

While European football continues on its journey towards total exclusivity and complete self-promotion centred only on the teams it favours most, let us rejoice in the God who accepts us as we are and glorifies us in His righteousness.

The top table of European football may be luxurious and alluring, and I sincerely hope my team is successful in its participation in the Europa League this season. However, when it comes to matters of eternity, I know whose top table I truly want to be seated around!