Aleksander Ceferin has clarified that it would be “impossible” to play next season’s quarterfinal of the Champions League and Europa League the same way. The 2019/20 UCL last eight, semifinal and final are being held In the same country Lisbon, Portugal as an efficient method to avoid the spread of the coronavirus and was seen as an efficient solution after football was put on lockdown.
The Europe League final, on the other hand, was moved to Germany where the remaining teams are gearing up to play their semifinal fixtures, and the association president has admitted that as attractive as the format is, the same can not be repeated next season, as he can’t picture having a one-leg fixture or a single country hosting all the knockout round of the competition in an ideal football environment in the future.
Ceferin told AFP
“This tournament might be interesting in the future, but I don’t think we can do it,” “The calendar is so dense.”
“I don’t know where I can put a tournament for a week or two in May. I think it’s impossible.”
German clubs RB Leipzig and Bayern Munich, French side Paris Saint-German are through the semifinal of the tournament with English club Man City and French club Lyon to fight for the last slot as the count down to the Champions League final draws closer.
Italian side Inter Milan, Spanish club Sevilla, English club Manchester United and Ukrainian club Shakhter Donetsk are all in the last four as they play for a place in this year’s final in Koln.
Istanbul, Turkey, had earlier been scheduled to host this year’s Champions League final but was changed when the coronavirus pandemic forced a change in the footballing calendar and majority of the knockout phase had to be played in a single location. Estadio da Luz in Portugal has been chosen as the new location for the Champions League final.
While the Europa League last eight is being hosted by Germany in four different stadia, Schalke’s Arena AufSchalke, Koln’s RheinEnergieStadion, Duisburg stadium and Spiel-Arena in Dusseldorf.
Gdansk, Poland was the initial location for this year’s Europa League final but has now been moved to Cologne’s RheinEnergieStadion with the 2021 final now seeded to Gdansk, Poland.
