CL: Two-legged semi-finals to be scrapped?

[mazhar13]

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• Replace the two-legged semi-final with a "week of football" i.e. the semi-finals and final in the same week in one city.
  • Sporting festival similar to the Nations League finals (the semi-finals & final are played in the same country over 5 days)
  • For the CL, the plan is to host the matches in one city.
• The change can only be applicable from 2024-25 onwards as the current format will last until 2023-24.
• The ECA is willing to support the idea.
  • The European Leagues organistion will also need to agree on this.
• Some UEFA personnel are hesitant about accepting the changes, but Ceferin has favoured the idea in the past.
• Nasser al-Khelaifi (ECA president) also favours the idea.

Aleksander Ceferin said this to The Times back in September:

Personally, I think it would be very good. If you look at the Super Bowl it’s a great event and they do it in a great way, they have concerts and people go there and have fun. Even if you lose those two matches you can get more revenue to compensate. It could be a fantastic event for broadcasters, for sponsors. In the same week you could have the final of the women’s Champions League or youth competitions, you could really have a fantastic week of football. These knockout matches are different and more exciting.

I feel like this change is as radical as the abolition of the away goals rule. If the semi-finals are going to differ to the rest of the knockout stages, then why not make all knockout matches single-legged? I prefer consistency over the overall format rather than changing things up from a certain stage onwards.

Also, only a few cities would be able to handle a week-long event of this scale, no? It's one thing to host one final; it's another to host 3 football matches involving 4 teams in one city. The security will need to beef up for one, and hotels + accommodations is another story altogether.

 

[Idxomer]

Bring back the ESL.

 

[GDaly95]

Honestly I don't hate it. My instinct is to detest all new changes and normally I do, but I could get on board with this.

 

[horsechoker]

Just turn the champions league into a battle royale/Royal rumble

 

[Sweet Square]

If you look at the Super Bowl

Stopped reading after this tbh.

 

[Iker Quesadillas]

If there's something the Champions League needs, it's to be more similar to the Club World Cup, a much better competition.

 

[Pretzels81]

Make a Final4, like basketball.

 

[Red the Bear]

No , half the fun is your team pulling out a comback in the second leg , this sucks and will make most teams play defensive football.

 

[VP89]

Stupid change. Takes more pedigree to win over two legs. At this rate its just a European FA cup.

 

[youngrell]

I’ve said before that they should do the whole competition at the end of the season, with the entrants being from that season so they are more relevant and have the same momentum and squad.

 

[Bobade]

Awful. Its telling how they are mainly mentioning the opportunities for revenue. I don't want concerts and such. I want football. And I want that football to be spread out across a number of weeks so I have something to enjoy and watch.

Not a massive, ad filled super commercial with Ed Sheeran singing at half time.

 

[Nero]

Should just seed the knockouts like the NFL. Highest seeded team gets home field advantage (seeding is determined by your performance in the group stage).

 

[GlasgowCeltic]

Feel like eventually the final will only ever take place in London and Paris

 

[Bobade]

No , come half the fun is your team pulling out a compact in the second leg , this socks and will make most teams play defensive football.

This is another massive factor. The most exciting champions league games are when one team has it all to do in the second leg and it turns into a real nail biter.

 

[Withnail]

Oh fantastic make it like the Superbowl. A bloated ridiculous corporate affair with all the joy sucked out of it.

They really are going to ruin the game so they can line their pockets some more.

Oh and it'll help fixture congestion by removing a couple of games from the knockouts while they're adding a rake of games to the group stages under the new plan. Ffs

 

[dove]

"Even if you lose those two matches you can get more revenue to compensate. It could be a fantastic event for broadcasters, for sponsors.". Straight to the point, not even trying to sugarcoat that it's best for the supporters blah blah blah. The next logical step would be to do that "week of football" in Saudi Arabia or Qatar.

 

[SilentWitness]

I would support making the quarters and onwards stand alone knockouts. They were fun during covid.

 

[SportingCP96]

A lot more emotion in two legged ties.

Anybody can win a one off game. Look at the NBA, their is no doubt which team is better because their is a 7 game series.

Footballs response to that is 2 legs. If you can best your opponent in 2 legs your the better team.

As the old saying goes…if it ain’t broke…don’t fix it.

 

[facchiano]

Make it one leg after the group game and remove this stupid ban on teams from the same league not being allowed to face each other. And stop looking over to the United States for "ideas". But we know that won't happen. Money talks. I now understand why people gravitate more towards grassroots football and Sunday league.

 

[fergiewherearethou]

I liked the idea of ditching the away goal rule, but this idea is terrible. Why change something that works just fine ?
Why only the semi-finals ? Why not the quarters or last 16 also ? Why not the whole 32 teams ? Why not a league with the top teams from Europe who get qualified automatically ?...ESL anyone?

 

[TwoSheds]

The atmosphere will be trash. Full of corporate day tripper dickheads instead of normal fans because who can afford to go and watch the 2 biggest games of your club's season in a foreign city for a week+ where they've jacked all the prices up? cnuts, that's who.

 

[One Night Only]

Is this just so city's can bribe uefa with more money to host it?

 

[#07]

Feel like eventually the final will only ever take place in London and Paris

You mean Doha or Abu Dhabi, right? Maybe with the occasional jaunt to Baku or Shanghai.

 

[The holy trinity 68]

Another nail in the coffin.

 

[calodo2003]

Nah.

 

[Sandikan]

Scrap it completely.
Until Pep and Klopp have buggered off, and we're remotely decent again.

 

[Tavern in the town]

The CL semis are consistently the best part of the competition and the 2 legged nature is one of the reasons for it. This is a terrible idea.

 

[Andy_Cole]

Takes away a huge Semi Final home game from fans. I don’t like it.

Also I guess this would bring 3/4 playoffs? 4 sets of fans spending a week in the host city.

 

[Trophy Room]

When’s the super league starting?

 

[giorno]

NO! DON'T YOU FECKING DARE YOU FECKERS!!!

Two legged CL semifinals are the peak of entertainment for the sport as a whole!

 

[Theafonis]

I like the idea. "Week of Football" sounds like something that can draw people from all over the world to a city in Europe for massive festivities.

But can see that many will hate it. Fans of football will hate anything that disrupts the current way.

 

[Eckers99]

Is this just so city's can bribe uefa with more money to host it?

Exactly. One step away from a week of Champions League football in the likes of Dubai or LA. Feck that right off.

 

[sewey89]

I don’t mind it. I enjoyed the CL/EL when we came back after lockdown and it was like a mini tournament

 

[RedDevilQuebecois]

Just get the feck out of here, Ceferin. You have to earn every single bit of the right to be in the final and that goes through 2 legs with more than enough entertainment to chew.

 

[Wayne's World]

About the first idea in the last 10+ years that I actually agree with. The knockout stages that were held in Portugal were great games and anything can happen in a one-off game which gives smaller teams a better then over two legs

 

[Morty_]

I understand that the group stages are dull, maybe even the first knock-out round, but i honestly don't understand all the calls to change the format completely, from quarter final to final i still enjoy it as much as i did in the past.

Nothing still beats a good knock-out round in CL for me, why does "everybody" wants to change it?

 

[Zen]

The idea itself, whatever, but the motivation seems to be based on winning over America - which I'm starting to feel Football in general, is becoming oddly obsessed on trying to convert given a lot of ESL felt similar. It's just.... not gonna happen.

Next up will be killing off the "tie" and that every single game will need a winner.

 

[Zlatan 7]

I’d lean towards thinking fans who attend the matches will hate this idea but fans who only watch on tele will like it.

takes away massive home matches and impossible for most to spend a week away watching two games in a row.

but will be fun to watch on tele

 

[Blackwidow]

The idea itself, whatever, but the motivation seems to be based on winning over America - which I'm starting to feel Football in general, is becoming oddly obsessed on trying to convert given a lot of ESL felt similar. It's just.... not gonna happen.

Next up will be killing off the "tie" and that every single game will need a winner.

I actually the idea came with the final week in Portugal in 2019/20.

It is not a week away as one of the matches will be midweek and the other on the end of the week.

 

[altodevil]

Leave the Champions League alone ffs.

The only change that should be made is to bring back the 2000-2003 balls.