Uefa will revert to old Champions League format for next season
There are no plans to stage another Champions League finals tournament, despite the drama of the quarter-finals of this year’s version.
Uefa had already decided to revert to the competition’s regular format from the group stage onwards after being forced to ditch two-legged quarter-finals and semi-finals this season due to the coronavirus crisis.
was told yesterday that the outcome of the single-leg quarter-finals in Portugal – defeats for Manchester City, Barcelona and Atletico Madrid, and a thrilling Paris St-germain comeback – would not force a rethink unless Covid-19 intervened again.
Rio Ferdinand hailed the finals format after watching City’s loss to Lyon on BT Sport on Saturday, saying: “It’s added something to it, hasn’t it? I’ve enjoyed it. It’s been brilliant. I think it adds that little bit of excitement. It’s a shoot-out, almost, for the full 90 minutes. It takes away that conservative edge.”
Presenter Gary Lineker compared the format to the knockout stages of the likes of the World Cup and European Championship, adding: “There’s more unpredictability about it, isn’t there?”
That “unpredictability” has resulted in the first Champions League semi-final line-up without a club from England, Spain or Italy – and only the second without a team from one of those countries in the European Cup’s 65-year history.
The only other occasion that happened was in 1991, during English clubs’ five-year European ban following the Heysel disaster.
The finals format has resulted in six fewer fixtures in this season’s competition and Lineker predicted that television revenues meant there was a “high chance” two-legged knockout ties were here to stay.
Uefa’s broadcast deals for its club competitions do not expire until 2024 and it would be forced to repay millions if the format of any of them changed again before then.
Aleksander Ceferin, Uefa president, last week ruled out a repeat of the finals tournament, saying it would be “impossible” to find room in an already packed calendar.
“This might be interesting in the future, but I don’t think we can do it, the calendar is so dense,” he said. “We don’t have a plan to do the same competition next year.”
Next season’s Champions League group stage is due to be squeezed into seven weeks due to the impact of the Covid-19 lockdown. The qualifying rounds are also being staged over one leg instead of two.