In a few years, the group stage of the Champions League will become a league system. But that should obviously not remain the only major change in the competition.
Two-legged semi-finals could be a thing of the past in the Champions League in three years. According to a report in the English daily newspaper “The Times”, there are thoughts about a further modification of the premier class from the 2024/25 season. Accordingly, the winner of the Champions League could in future be determined in a final four tournament of the best four teams, such as in handball or basketball. That was already the case at the end of the first Corona season when FC Bayern prevailed in Portugal’s capital Lisbon in 2020.
The idea is to introduce a so-called “Week of Football” with semi-finals and finals in just one place. These considerations would be supported by the European club association ECA, according to the “Times”. A decision has not yet been made, within Uefa there are also critical voices about the plans, it said.
Uefa President Aleksander Ceferin had already spoken out in favor of introducing a final tournament last year. “That could be great. And efficient in terms of revenue if done right,” said Ceferin 2021 of the French “L’Équipe”. This could be a “fantastic event” with a week of football, Ceferin said of the benefits. However, the clubs would lose home games and the fewer games would mean fewer TV broadcasts.
Most recently, Uefa decided to reform the Champions League from 2024. Then 36 instead of 32 teams will take part in the preliminary round, and there will also be a total of 100 more games.
