March 24 – The debate over the future format of the Champions League has taken a new twist, with clubs reported to be proposing a structure that would guarantee more clashes between the giants of the European game.
Reports in British media outlets including The Times and The Guardian envisage two eight-team mini-leagues, preceding a final.
The proposal bears an uncanny resemblance to a structure first floated by Insideworldfootball’s David Owen in a column – Why rising international TV money may mean it is time to turn the Champions League on its head – published last November.
Owen wrote:
“What a great opportunity for UEFA to exploit this global demand for titanic European football clashes by rejigging the Champions League.
“They could, in essence, stand the present format on its head, beginning with knockout rounds and getting down to an extended group stage involving la crème de la crème by Christmas. A six- or eight-team mini-league in which all played all home and away should ensure that scarcely a week went by without a couple of clashes involving the very biggest names in European football that would be any marketing exec’s dream.
“There is no reason why you could not retain the final, pitting the top two finishers against each other in a winner-takes-all showdown. Or you could stage a play-off between second and third for the right to challenge the mini-league champion.”
The present power vacuum within UEFA appears to have encouraged a certain amount of blue-sky thinking concerning the future of Europe’s premier club competition in a landscape in which elite clubs are earning more and more from non-domestic broadcasting rights. Any changes to the present format are felt unlikely to be introduced before 2018-19, however.
The proposal would also seem to imply a revamp of the Number two European club competition – currently titled the Europa League – since involvement in the Champions League would be confined to just 16 clubs from relatively early in the season.
According to Owen’s November column: “Clubs missing out on the final group stage could have their own post-Christmas competition that would be much less lucrative outside Europe, but still a big draw within.
He went on:
“Those outside the European super-elite would probably dig in their heels and fight any such restructuring. And it seems much more of a stretch to imagine that Champions League rights could be worth more outside Europe than inside. But if we know one thing about elite-level football it is that money talks.”
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