A new-look, revamped Champions League seems almost inevitable following revelations by European Club Association chairman Andrea Agnelli.
Juventus president Agnelli admitted that he has been involved in “arguments and fights” with UEFA over the future of the tournament and its structure.
“Although not present here, I’d like to thank President Ceferin for the arguments and almost the fights we had from October to December,” he told the ECA’s General Assembly. “But they have been very productive arguments and fights.”
Agnelli expressed concern over the current format which often produces a number of ‘dead rubber’ fixtures at the end of group stage.
“We have to put the fans at the centre. The current system is not delivering for modern fans.” he added.
The ECA chief credited Ajax chief executive and former Manchester United star Edwin van Der Sar for coming up with the Swiss model which would see clubs playing more games.
So how would this look? According to the new model, rather than eight groups of four as is currently the case, the total number of qualified teams would increase from 32 to 36.
The additional four places will either be allocated based on UEFA coefficient rankings or, as proposed by the leagues, given to champions of smaller leagues who do not automatically qualify at the moment.
Each team would play 10 matches against opponents of different strengths based on Uefa rankings.
These results would create an overall single table as well as play-offs to determine qualifiers for the knockout stage.
“I would dearly hope that everything will be done in the next couple of weeks, there are details that needs to be addressed,” Agnelli added.
“But I would say that within a couple of weeks everything should be pretty much sorted.”
