The European football governing body, UEFA, is likely to make a final decision on the proposed Champions League format in April 2021. All football associations in Europe met via conference call on Tuesday, February 9, to discuss the new format and they all agreed to its adoption.
However, the proposed Champions League format will not become official until senior football administrators in Europe meet in April for final deliberation on the proposed plan.
Futballnews reported on Tuesday that the 55 UEFA member associations will meet to deliberate on the new Champions League format which would increase the number of clubs participating in the Champions League from 32 to 36 clubs.
Instead of the usual group stage that the Champions League is known for, the proposed format would be played in form of a 36-team league which will allow the participating clubs to play at least 10 games each.
The proposed Champions League format is aimed at generating more revenues for the participating clubs and subsequently discourage any form of a breakaway league in Europe.
In the online meeting on Tuesday which was chaired by the President of UEFA, Aleksander Ceferin, no association spoke against the proposed plan throughout the meeting which reportedly lasted for two hours.
UEFA takes Manchester United match against Real Sociedad to Turin
The European football governing body, UEFA, has taken the Europa League match between Premier League side Manchester United and Spanish La Liga side Real Sociedad to Turin in Italy.
Initially, the last-32 match was scheduled to hold at Real Sociedad’s stadium but had to be moved to Juventus Stadium due to the coronavirus restriction in Spain against visitors from the United Kingdom.
Recall that UEFA had earlier moved the venues of games involving Premier League clubs to neutral venues due to the new variant of coronavirus in the UK which has forced some European countries to place an embargo on flights from the UK.
Though Manchester United and Real Sociedad will be forced to play away from the original venue, the game will take place on February 18 as earlier planned. While the second leg will take place at Old Trafford in England on February 25.
“UEFA would like to thank Real Sociedad and Manchester United for their close cooperation and assistance in finding a solution to the issue at hand, as well as the Italian Football Federation and Juventus for their support and agreeing to host the match in question”, a statement from UEFA read.
Also, Arsenal’s first leg match against Benfica has been moved to Italy. The last-32 game which will take place on February 18 was supposed to take place in Portugal but the coronavirus restriction in the country has forced the game to be moved to a neutral ground.
