April 28 – European governing body UEFA is contemplating a ‘final four’ for the Champions League to replace the current, classic two-legged semi-finals and flagship final model.
In the 2024-2025 season, 36 teams will participate in Europe’s premier club competition with the Swiss system – where clubs play 10 other teams in the first phase – expected to replace the group phase, but UEFA, reports the Times, is also thinking of scrapping the existing semi-finals and final structure, spread over the last weeks of the season. The governing body instead wants to stage a final four.
Such a finals week would see a bumper seven days of European football in one host city with two single-legged semi-finals and the final.
UEFA have, reportedly, been looking into the option ever since the Covid-19 pandemic forced the governing body to schedule an eight-team tournament in Portugal to complete the 2020 Champions League.
Bayern Munich stormed past FC Barcelona 8-2 in the last eight before beating both Lyon and Paris Saint-Germain to lift the European Cup.
UEFA believes that centralising the finals week will offset the drop in TV revenue that will be inevitable with 180 minutes of less action on the pitch. More clarity is expected in May when UEFA will stage their executive committee meeting as well as their congress in Vienna.
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