image: si.com

If you can negotiate your way past all the NASCAR coverage, you'll find a surprisingly good soccer section in Sports Illustrated online. Recently in this hidden gem, the opinionated but sensible Gabriele Marcotti suggested an overhaul for the UEFA Cup, which has become the European equivelant of the Carling Cup. Citing Parma's decision to field a reserve team as the disdain some not particularly big clubs are showing for Europe's second trophy, he suggests UEFA faces up to reality.

With the top 3 or 4 clubs from the big nations now entering the Champions League, the UEFA Cup is filled with second tier clubs, so why not just admit that? Stop being a pale imitation of the Champions League, definitely stop the strange group system where each team only plays each other once at a random home or away location and stop parachuting in the early round Champions League losers (surely the biggest Insult to any competitions integrity is entering the losers from another competition?) Why not make the UEFA Cup exclusively for second tier clubs (like, for example, Middlesbrough and Sevilla) who might actually value some European silverware? To spice things up even more, why not reward the UEFA Cup winners with a place in the Champions League? That would get the likes of Parma motivated.