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

[NoPace]

"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.

It should be worse for the broadcasters because it will be worse on TV.

I watched some of that Spanish Copa thing and there was good football but I honestly don't remember who won it or what country (I think Saudi Arabia) it was in because it felt like a really good exhibition tourney.

 

[choccy77]

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

Would be a little odd playing for the European Cup outside of Europe

 

[NoPace]

Tinkering with the Europa league for one more one off games makes sense, and certainly the Conference league should just be a giant March Madness style tournament because it would then be unique and dramatic and get attention (just draw it so if you're home in the round of 32 in the one off you're away in 16 and same for quarters and semis, everyone is equal home and away in the end).

But the CL is good. Leave it alone.

 

[stu_1992]

It would be a big blow to lose a bit champions league semi final night in your home stadium. That stuff is magical. Outside of that, I don't mind the format but it's probably not worth losing that magic.

 

[choccy77]

Should just have a 3 week tournament at end of season for the last 8, split into 2 groups and top 2 play in the final

 

[Charrockero]

"Football is for the fans"

I always thought the almost universal critical contempt against the SuperLeague was partly boycotted. Each time I hear UEFA/FIFA bright ideas it gives me more reasons to believe Perez plans could work.

 

[Lecland07]

How about turn the football pitch into a circle and have all teams play at once? Might as well get it all done in one go. Imagine the sponsorship opportunities for a match involving Liverpool, Real Madrid, Man City, and Villareal.

 

[RoyH1]

Bring on the Super League. There. I said it.

I want to see semifinals to be in Old Trafford, Allianz Arena, Anfield, San Siro and the Bernabéu. I don't want European football's premium spectacle to end up being a plaything for Doha and Abu Dhabi. Feck off Ceferin and his boss Khelafi.

 

[Mr Pigeon]

Stopped reading after this tbh.

You should've kept reading. He explains how the whole thing is great for sponsors and broadcasters.

Doesn't say how it would be great for actual fans of the game, like every decision made nowadays.

 

[2 man midfield]

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.

This. It’s like they’re trying to suck out the stuff that makes the champions league unique. Away goals going was fine by me but at this rate it’ll just be a European Carling cup.

 

[Someone]

I don't hate the idea.

 

[Mr Pigeon]

Holding it in one venue only means one thing for fans; getting fecked over. The average match going fan is going to be severely out of pocket to attend. Imagine that your club, who are a small European minnow, somehow make it to the semi finals. Now, instead of going to the game and drinking in the excitement, you have to watch it on TV whilst the camera pans around a crowd of investment bankers and other corporate cnuts who scored tickets because their company sponsor the competition.

This is the world now. Anything emotional or artistic is gone. It's just about filling rich people's pockets. I'm not naive to the notion that the world was always like this, but not to the level it's at nowadays. feck UEFA.

 

[Monkey bus]

Why doesn’t somebody conduct a survey of season ticket holding fans of the 10 most successful clubs in the Champions league (say over the last 10 years) and ask them what they want the future of the tournament to look like?

It wouldn’t be difficult to do with the cooperation of the clubs and would be cheap to carry out. United certainly found it easy enough to survey me on where I liked to spend my money before and after match days in the past.

I‘d love to see the results and how they compared to the football experts who are making the decisions on our behalf as they clearly know what we want more than we do ourselves.

I wonder why the clubs haven’t thought of this previously ?

 

[Sylar]

Should have brought this in a few years ago after Barcelona won first game 3-0 ...

It's a tough one cos I didn't mind when we were in Europa a few years back during pandemic and it was all in one place.
. But I've enjoyed going to some of our semi finals second leg at home

 

[DJ_21]

Should have brought this in a few years ago after Barcelona won first game 3-0 ...

It's a tough one cos I didn't mind when we were in Europa a few years back during pandemic and it was all in one place.
. But I've enjoyed going to some of our semi finals second leg at home

We’d of been knocked out by psg though when we did the miracle of winning at there ground and going through. I think 2 legs would benefit some teams but also having 1 leg would be good for the likes of city and Liverpool who always win games. We’re unpredictable so can play bad in 1 leg then good in another.

 

[Sylar]

We’d of been knocked out by psg though when we did the miracle of winning at there ground and going through. I think 2 legs would benefit some teams but also having 1 leg would be good for the likes of city and Liverpool who always win games. We’re unpredictable so can play bad in 1 leg then good in another.

But that wasn't a semi final

I think being away from Anfield could also affect Liverpool too (but you'd assume theyre fans would travel well like ours)

 

[ilrm]

Aleksander Ceferin said this to The Times back in September:
"... you can get more revenue to compensate. It could be a fantastic event for broadcasters, for sponsors."

I am sick and tired of big business and their addiction to profits ruining the world.

 

[Bogga]

"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.

Yeah women will love that, especially in Saudi Arabia...

 

[DJ_21]

But that wasn't a semi final

I think being away from Anfield could also affect Liverpool too (but you'd assume theyre fans would travel well like ours)

Oh ye didn’t read the thread title properly Ye they do have the fan base like us, bit unfair though whoever gets drawn away… if you get drawn away to Liverpool you automatically class that as a loss, they rarely ever lose at home, especially in the CL.

 

[Sweet Square]

Holding it in one venue only means one thing for fans; getting fecked over. The average match going fan is going to be severely out of pocket to attend. Imagine that your club, who are a small European minnow, somehow make it to the semi finals. Now, instead of going to the game and drinking in the excitement, you have to watch it on TV whilst the camera pans around a crowd of investment bankers and other corporate cnuts who scored tickets because their company sponsor the competition.

This is the world now. Anything emotional or artistic is gone. It's just about filling rich people's pockets. I'm not naive to the notion that the world was always like this, but not to the level it's at nowadays. feck UEFA.

Well said.

 

[Bosnian_fan]

Holding it in one venue only means one thing for fans; getting fecked over. The average match going fan is going to be severely out of pocket to attend. Imagine that your club, who are a small European minnow, somehow make it to the semi finals. Now, instead of going to the game and drinking in the excitement, you have to watch it on TV whilst the camera pans around a crowd of investment bankers and other corporate cnuts who scored tickets because their company sponsor the competition.

This is the world now. Anything emotional or artistic is gone. It's just about filling rich people's pockets. I'm not naive to the notion that the world was always like this, but not to the level it's at nowadays. feck UEFA.

Exactly.

I really feel real football fans will gravitate more and more towards the smaller, local clubs that still have that sense of community, than these financial behemoths.

I for one really feel disgusted by everything artificial and shallow, and there are few things more artificial and shallow than the scenery that you just described with those investment bankers.

People who made football clubs made them out of urge to belong somewhere. I just don't see many real football fans feeling like they belong to that shitshow. Sadly, I do see social opportunists thriving exactly in such scenery, and they vastly outnumber true fans.

Ceferin knows it, Al Khelaifi too, of course. This is their big feck you, with middle finger pointed straight in the fans direction.

 

[Abizzz]

Why are all suggestions to change anything in football always so shite? Last time I was on board with anything was probably the back pass rule.

 

[Red00012]

Would be a little odd playing for the European Cup outside of Europe

Money talks

 

[lefty_jakobz]

The CL will eventually turn into ESL 2.0.

Shouldnt even be called thw Champions League anymore should be renamed to the ‘5 Biggest Leagues Top Four Team Tournament’ the 5BLT4TT

 

[elmo]

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

Nah, the real aim is to have it in the Middle Eastern countries for a 'neutral' ground.

 

[Rightnr]

Not football, more like Dollarball. Anything that's based on being more like the Superbowl circus act should be discarded as the clown idea it is.

More and more the PL is looking like the football to watch for me. The home ties and crowds is a huge feature of any big football SF at continental level, killing it is just another symptom of late capitalism where money is chosen above any other factor.

 

[amolbhatia50k]

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

I think will probably happen eventually with fans of the traditional game getting fed up but new fans being attended.

I understood away goals rule being binned. At times it can kill ties too easily with just one goal. But things like two legged knockout matches are part pf the charm of the CL for me

 

[DRJosh]

Welcome change if there are less games overall, from a players fitness perspective. Anyone remember the time when there were 2 group stages in the CL? that was bizarre!

 

[christy87]

Why fix something that isn’t broken.

this also fecks the fans imagine the price of getting to the location no mind the ticket prices and hotels, also the atmosphere of a semi will be tarnished by the lack of a dominant set of fans.

 

[The Corinthian]

What a shit idea.

 

[RoyH1]

The CL will eventually turn into ESL 2.0.

Shouldnt even be called thw Champions League anymore should be renamed to the ‘5 Biggest Leagues Top Four Team Tournament’ the 5BLT4TT

That’s exactly what it is. The only difference is who pockets the most money. In the Super League project it’s the biggest clubs and in UEFA’s plan it’s Ceferin and his football cronies.
Abu Dhabi and Qatar desperately want the latter because in the former, they will rein in their spending and introduce some sort of salary cap.

 

[Pintu]

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

The first Nations League final 4 was held in Portugal (Guimarães and Porto), despite England being among the 4. And the last one was held in Italy, despite France being among the 4. I think it is more about opening it to Dubai, Los Angeles, and Shanghai... Which might not be a horrible idea financially.

 

[lefty_jakobz]

That’s exactly what it is. The only difference is who pockets the most money. In the Super League project it’s the biggest clubs and in UEFA’s plan it’s Ceferin and his football cronies.
Abu Dhabi and Qatar desperately want the latter because in the former, they will rein in their spending and introduce some sort of salary cap.

Yeah It amazes me how they act like they are trying to revolutionise football in some way when the truth is they are just looking to make as much money for themselves

 

[Zen86]

Surprised they're not wanting to increase it to 4 legs instead.

 

[Solius]

There’s been such a strong push for the Americanisation of football in recent years. I’m not a fan.

 

[BayernFan87]

I support this idea.
Aside from the lack of fans I liked this tight "week of football" in the CL knockouts due to Covid in 2020.

 

[Boavista]

How about turn the football pitch into a circle and have all teams play at once? Might as well get it all done in one go. Imagine the sponsorship opportunities for a match involving Liverpool, Real Madrid, Man City, and Villareal.

I support this idea! In fact, add a stage in the centre circle and have the Eurovision Song Contest take place at the same time!! Uefavision songball match

 

[WeePat]

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.

Let's make it a 5 game series then. From the QF and onwards. Let's see who the best teams really are. No more Liverpool 2005 and Chelsea 2012 flukes. Would be fascinating to see the adjustments teams make for each other after each game.

 

[Xanther]

At the moment, there's undue advantage to the home team in the 2nd leg if after 180 minutes there's a draw. They get an extra 30 in their own stadium with their own crowd. The only way to circumvent this is to have one-off games in neutral stadiums, just like in 2020.

Had it been the other way around, we'd all be crying foul (pun intended) about why one of the teams gets potentially 30 minutes more game time in their favour.

Also, people already deciding that because it's getting "americanized" with the super bowl analogy and whatever... I don't see what's wrong with it? All you hear about it is circular logic, "it's bad because it's bad" kind of conversation.

 

[philipos]

From the perspective of travelling fans this is a nightmare idea. Your team gets to the semifinal - what do you do? Book flights and accommodation to stay until the final and hope you don’t get knocked out in the semi? Imagine if the supporters of all four clubs did that. Or do you just book for the semi and then make a separate booking for the final? And what about the process of selling tickets for the final after the semifinals?

It worked with no fans in attendance but won’t work with fans. Although given the total disregard for fans by football bodies, that wouldn’t stop them from implementing this.