European football doesn't need a 'super league'. It already has one and it's called the UEFA Champions League.

The prestigious competition may not be directly referred to as a 'super league' and its knockout format may not conform to the conventional structures of a 'league', but as UEFA announces its latest round of tweaks to the entry criteria and a fresh assembly of disgruntled clubs threaten to break away and form their own continental showpiece, it's time to call the competition for what it really is: Europe's best clubs vying for the title of champion. Not Europe's champions vying for the title of 'best'. 

That hasn't happened since 1992 and the days of the European Cup, where 32 actual champions would face off in a knockout format to decide the champion of champions. Sure, in its current guise, there are champions in the mix, but when the entry criteria is to finish fourth or above, as will be the case in Spain, Italy, England and Germany in 2017-2018, the competition has outgrown its 'champions' premise. In fact, in next season's competition, 16 of the 32 teams will come from four leagues - ensuring that the also-rans will outnumber the champions three-to-one. 

For the lesser leagues forced to have their champions undertake an arduous qualification process, it just got harder.  

The UEFA Champions League is a group stage-into-knockout format, giving it a tournament look with a marathon feel. To claim the title last season, Real Madrid had to win 13 matches - four more than AC Milan did in the last season of the Cup format in 1992. But for one of the now-disgruntled lower-league title-winners to actually win the thing, they would potentially have to play a season's worth of games, in addition to their actual season. To make it from the first round of qualifying to the final, you would have to play 21 matches - almost a season's worth in many countries. 

The more UEFA tweaks the jewel in its continental crown, the less it resembles a contest between league champions. 

Consider that within Europe there are 54 associations with professional leagues. At any point during the season, there are 54 defending champions from the previous season. There is no reason why you couldn't have a genuine champion's competition, in which 46 teams play off in a knockout competition for the right to face eight seeded champions in a 16-team format featuring four groups of four.

The preliminary knock-out would give the lower-ranked champions a chance to upset the higher-ranked ones for the right to face off against the winners from Spain, Italy, England, Germany and others. 

That's a reality that may not satisfy modern day commercial demands, but it is the only way to legitimately have a 'champions cup' format. 

While people furiously debate the merits or otherwise of having a break-away 'super league' the reality is that we already have one. In its purest format it is not a champions' league, as such, but it does solve the 'super league' conundrum, while serving up some top quality football, albeit, football that is increasingly being limited to a select elite few.