what about this: 128 teams banded in 4 levels.... 32 from each level. all putted together in groups of 4 (1 team from each level). only 1 game against every team in the groups phase. then the winner of every group enter the top 16 round.
with this format token and non token buyers are not disadvantaged, and more... you can have a great competion from the last 16 towards final.
What's your thoughts??
if the 4 level is a gap too high what about this: 96 teams from 3 levels. all putted together in groups of 3 (1 from each level). Home and away matches and the winner goes to last 16
if you don't like groups stage: 128 teams from 4 levels. 32 from each. first round level higher vs level lower, mid level vs mid level. winner of first rounds enter the last 64. loser came up in a last 64 round too. then you have 2 different trophies. one serie A Cup and one serie B cup... of course with different prizes
another possible format: 110 teams (64 32, 16, 8): banded in 4 levels. only lower level teams play first round. then the 32 winner face the 32 lower mid level. the 16 winners then face the 16 higher mid level. finally the winners enter the last 16 with higher level teams
Again another one: 152 teams from 6 different levels. 96 from three lower levels (32,32,32). 52 from upper levels (28,16,8). first rounds played by only lower levels. the 32 lower face the 32 higher... the 32 mid level face themself. then the 48 winners face themself until they remain 12. this 12 win the intertoto trophy and enter last 64 against higher levels teams
