Dublin’s out of time as UEFA set to pick venues

UEFA are weighing up venues on mainland Europe as well as England for Dublin’s doomed Euro 2020 games. The four games, including a glamour last-16 tie, will be formally allocated to new cities on Monday by UEFA’s Executive Committee. UEFA have inspected Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, Old Trafford and the Etihad, as well as European stadia as alternative venues. While Covid-19 restrictions look set to ease, the FAI was in no position to twist the arms of the Government and NPHET by Monday’s UEFA deadline to permit 11,000 fans to gather at Aviva Stadium in June. UEFA have received guarantees on fan access from nine of the 12 designated cities, and expect Munich to deliver over the weekend. The political in-fighting in Bilbao means its four games are set to be switched elsewhere in Spain, possibly Sevilla and Valencia, but Dublin has run out of time.

UEFA is set to approve a new 36-team format for the Champions League but will delay making a decision on control of the finances. The top item on an agenda for Monday’s meeting in Montreux is the format of UEFA club competitions taking effect in the 2024-25 season. Broad agreement — adding four teams to the Champions League, each playing 10 games instead of six in a single standings table — has been in place between UEFA and Europe’s top clubs and leagues. A controversial change is allocating two of the four new places to clubs which did not qualify on merit but are ranked highly by UEFA on historical record. The new format will see teams play 10 different opponents in a schedule weighted by seeding, instead of just three opponents in a group.

Once all teams have played their 10 games, the top eight clubs in the 36-team league will progress to the competition’s knockout stage. As a bonus, that eight would also guarantee their qualification for the following season’s competition The teams that finish ninth to 24th would then enter a play-off round to determine the other eight sides progressing to the knockout stage. This Swiss system is an attractive solution in the power struggle between UEFA and Europe’s elite clubs, who want more games in order to cash in on media rights. This system satisfies them as the number of games in the Champions League is set to rise from 125 to 225. The Europa League will expand to eight rounds in the 32-team standings, while the Europa Conference League, launching next season, should have six rounds also in the 32-team standings feeding into playoffs and a last-16 knockout phase.