LISBON, Portugal – UEFA President Aleksander Ceferin will discuss the possibility of preserving the knockout format that has been adopted to complement the calendars affected by the coronavirus pandemic in the Champions League and Europa League.
In an interview withAssociated Press On Sunday, Ceferin said people inside and outside of soccer contacted him to say they were “extremely excited” by the format of the quarter-finals and semi-finals, which has abandoned the traditional round-trip series.
“I have to admit that this knockout system is a lot more interesting than the last one, with round-trip playoffs,” Ceferin told theAP, a few hours from the Champions League final between Paris Saint-Germain and Bayern Munich.
Ceferin, however, clarified that he would meet with all stakeholders in the field before advocating for a permanent change to the elimination format.
“This is one of the interesting things that came out of the pandemic,” Ceferin said. We had to change our system. We were supposed to play in this format, but at the end of the day we came up with a very interesting format.
“It is very complicated to freeze part of the calendar for the quarter-finals. But people want to see exciting games, and that is the case with knockout games, because each team can beat another in the Champions League or the Europa League. We will think about it for the future … We will have to look into this file as early as September or October, ”he added.
A four-quarter tournament played in the knockout format would be more practical if it was held in one city, over a week, to create an NFL Super Bowl-like vibe.
“You monopolize the attention for a week on the planet, which would be fantastic, but we will have to see, qualified Ceferin. The schedule is very complicated, players play for almost 365 days a year. We’ll have to take a look at it, to see if we move forward. “
“But, again, I think it’s an attractive format, which we hadn’t thought of before, and now it’s ingrained in our heads. We will discuss it when we meet, ”he reiterated.
UEFA was already considering changing the Champions League playoff format after 2024. The knockout format was used in the Europa League and Champions League to complete their respective schedules earlier this month.
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