Uefa to increase games in Champions League despite fans’ protest
Accuse top clubs of ‘indefensible power grab’ 100 matches and four more clubs added from 2024
An 11th-hour plea from fans to abandon Champions League reforms is set to be ignored after the big clubs finally gave Uefa the green light to launch sweeping changes from 2024.
The deal – branded an “indefensible” power grab – will be signed off by European football’s governing body after a breakthrough in negotiations around increased voting powers for the clubs.
Plans to increase Champions League matches from 125 to 225 will be ratified on Monday, despite Arsenal and Manchester United being accused by their own supporters’ groups of “profiteering” and “insatiable greed”. Fans from 14 of the 28 clubs leading negotiations with Uefa had joined a protest, accusing the biggest teams of attempting to “bleed us dry” by creating an extra 100 matches.
However, it appears their pleas fell on deaf ears as the European Club Association instead ironed out concerns around media and sponsorship rights. Under the last offer from Uefa, 51 per cent ownership would remain with the governing body, with the rest controlled by the ECA.
Two sources close to the talks told The Daily Telegraph that final negotiations were still taking place around commercial arrangements, but reforms to the format can be signed off “while the conversation moves in the right direction”.
On Monday, Uefa will proceed with increasing the number of clubs in the Champions League from 32 to 36 from 2024. The number of matches in the group phase will also increase from six to 10 in a so-called Swiss system, with 100 games more overall. Controversially, two of the four extra places will go to clubs based on past performance in Europe, using Uefa rankings.
An open letter from fans’ groups was sent to ECA chairman Andrea Agnelli attacking the plans. “Such a blatant power grab would be indefensible at the best of times, but at the height of a global pandemic, it is nothing more than crisis profiteering,” the coalition of supporters groups say in their letter.
Uefa distributes about £3billion in prize money and television broadcasting deals to clubs participating in its European competitions, and president Aleksander Ceferin wanted his plan approved urgently to kill momentum behind a “Super League” breakaway promoted by some top clubs, such as Real Madrid.
As well as United and Arsenal fan groups, signatories included groups supporting Paris St-germain, Real Madrid, Ajax, Bayern Munich, Anderlecht, Atletico Madrid, Benfica, Borussia Dortmund, FC Copenhagen, Fenerbahce, Young Boys and Lyon.
The letter continues: “You will only make the gap between the rich and the rest bigger, wreck domestic calendars, and expect fans to sacrifice yet more time and money.”
Ed Woodward, executive vicechair at Manchester United, reportedly raised objections last month to the commercial arrangements.