Champs League gets expansion makeover
VIENNA » A scaled-back first phase to the expanded Champions League in 2024 was approved by UEFA on Tuesday to quell a backlash around Europe.
The reformatted group stage has been reduced from 10 rounds to eight, and backup places for teams based on historical performance have been removed.
The stage will still grow from 32 to 36 teams based around a single standings rather than eight groups.
Weeks of talks involving domestic leagues and clubs produced the revised format that will see two additional places in the expanded format awarded to the two countries with the highest UEFA ranking based on their teams’ results in European competitions the previous season.
If the system was already in place, it would mean the fifth-place team in England would qualify for the Champions League along with a second automatic place for the Netherlands. The team finishing third in the Dutch league would get a chance to enter the qualifying rounds.
The original plan that sparked criticism, particularly among middle-class clubs and fans, would have awarded the two places to teams with the strongest five-season record in Europe who failed to qualify through their domestic leagues.
The distribution of the other two expansion places will see an additional team qualify from the fifth-ranked country in Europe — regularly France — and a fifth slot for domestic champions who don’t qualify automatically.
FIFA video game to disappear
The FIFA video game will be disappearing after the maker failed to strike a new licensing deal with world soccer’s governing body.
Instead, EA Sports FC will be introduced from 2023 after the company creates the final game in partnership with FIFA later this year.
EA has been producing a FIFA game for around three decades and its fond association with fans worldwide helped the Zurich-based organization’s brand when it was tarnished amid a wave of arrests of soccer officials in 2015.
For many, FIFA means a game rather than a sports politics institution. Now FIFA will have to search for new video gaming opportunities beyond EA.
“We’re thankful for our many years of great partnership with FIFA,” EA CEO Andrew Wilson said. “The future of global football is very bright, and fandom around the world has never been stronger. We have an incredible opportunity to put EA SPORTS FC at the heart of the sport, and to bring even more innovative and authentic experiences to the growing football audience.”