Fourth era of the European Cup

The greatest measure of success in European football has to be winning the European cup or more commonly known as the Champions league, for any football club. When looking at the competition and the winners in more detail it is clear to see that the European cup has gone through three era's and I would argue is about to enter its fourth. We are therefore entering a critical period in club football within Europe where the balance of power is about to be shifted.

1. The competition began in 1956 and up until the late 1960's was dominated by capital cities of Fascist regimes. Eight of the first eleven European Cups where either one by Real Madrid from the capital of Spain or Benfica from the capital of Portugal. This was the first era of the European Cup. As I go through the different era's do not make the assumption that it is only these footballing powers that win the competition during that period time. We can all point to un-likely winners in many sporting competitions and the European cup is no different, all I'm suggesting is as you look back over the competition three era's can be distinguished and we may even be entering a fourth.

2. By the end of the 1960's and early 70's smaller industrial towns began to dominate the landscape of European football. In the 1970's small industrial towns like Rotterdam, Amsterdam  Liverpool and Nottingham all with populations at the time of under 1.5 million all won the European cup. These at the time were incredibly small towns and cities in comparison to capitals like London, Paris and Madrid. This era was aided by the industrial revolution, people from neighbouring towns and villages flocked to these cities in the search for employment and so they rapidly grew. The factories of these towns and cities were and still are linked to football clubs which aided their growth rise in power.

3. The next phase began in 1980's but there where a number of factors that happened over the next three decades. Money entered football like it had never been seen before, TV contracts grew, we had the first "million pound man" and freer movement of players through the "Bosman" rule. This meant the team with the most fans could sell more tickets and merchandising and attract better players. This lead to the diminishing of those small industrial towns because they did not have the population to support the clubs. In some cases Leeds United, Deportivo La Coruna and Fiorentina crippling them economically and competitively  Teams in bigger cities started to expand their stadiums and take advantage of being surrounded by a bigger population. This would lead you to think that the bigger cities in Europe like London, Paris and Istanbul would be the most successful. In fact they were too big. These cities were just too big to generate brand interest and loyalty in fact most were filled with tourist who had no idea about football. In fact you wanted a city of about 2-4 million which could produce the required fan base, filling a large expanded stadium and be the vocal point of that city generating global attention. Hence the rise of Milan, Manchester, Munich, Madrid and Barcelona all of these cities have clubs which have dominated this era of European football.

4. This final phase I believe we are entering and began last year with Chelsea winning the European Cup. This is the rise of money clubs which will probably be linked to European Mega cities. The financial landscape of football is changing we now have mega rich owners who treat football clubs like toys and can spend what ever money they like on them. I'm talking about Chelsea, Manchester City, Paris St Germain and  Anzhi Makhachkala. These clubs are fueled by rich owners who will do anything to win or buy the European Cup. Money has always dictated in some way where the power in European football lies I would be interested to see how many European cups these types of teams win over the next 20 years.