Plans to radically reform the UEFA Champions League are set to be confirmed in April, regardless of a delay attributable to sure main European golf equipment in search of extra say over industrial rights.
An announcement had been anticipated at an government committee assembly of European soccer’s governing physique on Wednesday, however UEFA mentioned no official determination could be taken earlier than April 19.
An announcement late on Tuesday from the highly effective European Club Association (ECA) revealed it had been behind the setback.
The ECA, whose chairman is Andrea Agnelli, additionally the chairman of Juventus, mentioned it “unanimously agreed that it was not yet in a position to formally endorse key changes… for the period post 2024 in isolation”.
“If European football is to meet the challenges it currently faces,” the assertion added, “the foundations for ECA and UEFA’s future relationship also need to be given due consideration at the same time.”
According to sources near the negotiations, sure main golf equipment need better management of UEFA Club Competitions (UCC), the subsidiary firm which advises UEFA itself on industrial issues.
Half of the board members of UCC are appointed by UEFA. The different half are appointed by the ECA.
The present protocol defining the connection between the ECA and UEFA can be set for renewal in 2024, therefore the sticking level.
However, plans for what the reformed model of European soccer’s elite membership competitors — presupposed to stave off the specter of a breakaway Super League — will appear like are already an open secret.
This is how issues are set to vary:
More golf equipment
The adjustments are basically all about creating a new format for the group stage, changing the present construction in place since 2003.
At the second 32 golf equipment enter the group stage and are break up into eight teams of 4 groups, who play one another dwelling and away with the highest two in every group advancing to the final 16.
It is known the plans will see the variety of groups within the group stage enhance to 36, with discussions ongoing about who the extra berths will go to.
British newspaper The Times reported that two additional spots will go to the golf equipment with the perfect coefficient who fail to qualify by way of home competitions however have certified for the second-tier Europa League.
However European Leagues, a physique representing the pursuits of golf equipment and leagues in 30 international locations, is in opposition to locations being attributed on historic advantage and insists the make-up of European competitions “should reflect the current state of domestic competition”.
France, which is Europe’s fifth-ranked nation however presently solely has two assured locations within the group stage, ought to get an additional spot.
The ‘Swiss system’
The plans will see a full overhaul of how the group stage works.
Teams will all be positioned into one large pool and can every play 10 video games in a so-called ‘Swiss system’ extra generally related to chess.
For the draw golf equipment will probably be break up into 4 pots of 9 based mostly on UEFA coefficients.
Teams will play in opposition to 10 totally different sides, with 5 video games at dwelling and 5 away.
At the tip of this part, the highest eight sides will undergo to the final 16, with the underside 12 eradicated.
Meanwhile the edges ending between ninth and twenty fourth place will play two-legged play-offs, with these between ninth and sixteenth drawn in opposition to a aspect ending from seventeenth to twenty fourth.
The winners of these ties will full the last-16 line-up, with the losers dropping into the Europa League.
Crucially, extra matches
At the center of the reforms is the need to play extra video games, acknowledged explicitly by Agnelli earlier this yr.
“It is our strong view that more European matches are welcome,” the ECA and Juventus supremo has insisted.
This system definitely provides that.
Each workforce will play 10 group video games as an alternative of six, that means an total explosion of the variety of matches, with 180 within the group stage as an alternative of the present 96.
The knockout stage stays untouched, however the addition of a play-off spherical on the finish of the group part means the entire variety of matches within the competitors will sky-rocket from 125 to 225.
A workforce reaching the ultimate must play no less than 17 video games in comparison with the present 13.
