Main week in the preparation of the new Champions

Today begins an important week for the definitive adjustment of the new Champions League. UEFA will hold two meetings in the coming days, on Tuesday of the Executive Committee and on Wednesday the annual Congress in Vienna, with the aim of taking important steps in tournament reform from the 2024-2025 season, a proposal that emerged in April 2021 to tackle the failed Super League project.

Expanding competition from 32 to 36 teams and an increase from 6 to 10 games per participant in the group stage that would form a single league were the main new things of the proposal presented last year by UEFA just hours away. after Florentino Pérez, president of Real Madrid, would announce the creation of the Super League.

overload of battles

But both points have provoked criticism and opposition from some sectors, such as European leagues and fan associations, because of the overload of matches that the new Champions League will represent on a saturated calendar and , above all, the criterion for the designation of four. additional areas.

UEFA plans that one place is for the fourth place in the national league which is located in the fourth place in the ranking of the European organization itself (France) and another is reserved for a team from the previous stage.

The other two spots are for two teams that, without achieving classification by their leagues, benefit from the historical coefficient obtained by the results obtained in previous seasons.

That the results of the leagues will prevail

Leagues and fans are strongly opposed to this last standard because they understand that the league’s path must prevail to give moderate clubs a chance and prevent powerful clubs from benefiting. A key principle in football used by UEFA against Super League promoters, a project provided for its 12 founding members to automatically qualify.

UEFA plans to replace the eight groups of four teams that currently make up the competition of a league with 36 participants. Each of them will play 10 games, with a single match against 10 different rivals, and the top eight will go directly to the round of 16, while teams ranked from 9th to 24 spots will play the playoffs to complete the remaining eight spots.

Final Four

For his part, Aleksandar Ceferin, president of UEFA, has proposed to hold a Final Four where the semifinals and the final will be played in a match in the same place.

By extending this first stage of the Champions League, UEFA aims to satisfy both broadcasters, with a total of 225 matches instead of the current 125, and the clubs, which will have higher revenue from sales of the ticket even in case of early removal. . Fans will also have the opportunity to watch more matches between the big teams on television.

Five billion a year for TV rights

In February 2022, UEFA awarded the television rights of European competitions to Swiss Team Marketing and American agencies Relevent Sports Group, for five billion euros per year during 2024-2027, an increase of 40% compared to three year stage. , on the basis of this expansion project for the Champions League.

Last Friday the European Leagues association, which brings together 30 professional leagues on the continent including the Spanish, requested a limit to eight games in this first round, as fan groups gathered under Football Supporters Europe the association wants to keep the six games up to date. .

Statement from Football Supporters Europe

Increasing matches in Europe “will widen the gap between and within leagues, strengthen the dominance of the richest clubs, increase the impact on the football environment and lead to an increasingly predictable sport,” argues Football Supporters Europe today. . it is a statement.

Many big clubs are also opposed to this endless initial stage, although their representative to the head of the European Club Association (ECA), Nasser Al-Khelaïfi, is completely opposed to the interest between his role as president of PSG and the beIN channel, which broadcasts Champions League matches in France.

At the beginning of 2022, television rights for European club competitions will be awarded for five billion euros per year during 2024-2027, a jump of more than 50% compared to the television rights of 2018-2019 , linked to this C1 Development Expansion project.