September 17 – The new Champions League season kicks off tonight, with a new Adidas ball and defending champions Liverpool taking on Napoli and FC Barcelona traveling to Dortmund.
UEFA and Adidas have unveiled a new ball for the 2019/2020 iteration of Europe’s premier club competition. “Carrying on from the success of last season, the striking design features a new reverse color block, with an updated graphic that takes inspiration from the passion displayed by players and fans from around the world,” wrote UEFA in a press release.
Reigning champions Liverpool will hope that the new ball brings them good fortune as they renew their rivalry with Napoli to kick off the European season. Last season, Liverpool were defeated at the San Paolo Stadium 1-0, but won with the same scoreline in the return leg, enough to secure qualification for the round of 16 en route to their sixth European title. Liverpool’s passage to the knockout phase was complicated by the PSG’s presence in the group, but this time around Belgium’s Genk and Red Bull Salzburg should provide less stern opposition.
In the other standout Tuesday tie Spanish champions Barcelona travel to Dortmund and can count on Lionel Messi, who is returning from injury. In the weekend, the Catalans waltzed past Valencia 5-2 at the Camp Nou with teenager Ansu Fati the star of the show and Uruguayan striker Luis Suarez picking up a brace in his first La Liga minutes of the season. In the other group F fixture, Inter Milan host Slavia Praha.
On Wednesday, Paris Saint-Germain will host Real Madrid in Group A.
This season’s Champions League participants can count on a prize pot of €1,95 billion. UEFA generates €3.25 billion in revenue from broadcasting and commercials sales across its two club competitions.
On May 30, Istanbul’s Ataturk Stadium will stage the final. In 2005, Liverpool won one of the most-dramatic European club finals in history at the venue against AC Milan and whoever triumphs in the Turkish capital should receive at least €100 million in prize money. All 32 participants will get around €15.25 million from playing in the competition.
With the Champion League ready to kick into another gear, the future of the flagship competition remains in doubt. From 2024 onwards the Champions League format is set to be changed, but a proposed 32-team format with 24 guaranteed entries was seemingly binned after a summer of talks, division and discontent among European clubs.
Last week the European Club Association and its chairman Andrea Agnelli admitted that reform talks to restructure European club football might drag on another 18 months or even have a 2022 deadline when UEFA will have to go to the commercial markets with its ‘new’ competition.
Contact the writer of this story, Samindra Kunti, at moc.l1713894343labto1713894343ofdlr1713894343owedi1713894343sni@o1713894343fni1713894343