Paris (AFP)
UEFA President Aleksander Ceferin has judged it "impossible" to renew a final tournament on neutral ground ("Final 8") for the Champions League in the future, although this format launched this week in Lisbon is "interesting" , he said Thursday in an interview with AFP.
"This tournament could be interesting in the future but I don't think we can do it because the calendar is too dense and we have to keep in mind the national leagues", explained the Slovenian in the Portuguese capital, the day after the opening of this "Final 8" of C1, organized in this innovative form because of the coronavirus.
“The calendar is just too full,” he continued. "I don't know when to insert a tournament for a week or two in May. I think that's impossible."
Matches on neutral ground, end of the round-trip format and knockout matches: this is how UEFA chose to close its Champions League, interrupted by the pandemic, with a final scheduled for August 23 at the Estadio da Luz.
But no question for Ceferin of maintaining such a format in the future, nor for that matter next year despite the still worrying presence of the pandemic.
"I am an optimist by nature and I think things will be better next year, that we can get back to normal football, the good old football with spectators (...) We will adapt but I am sure the world will not can not stop forever because of this virus (...) So no, we have no plan to do the same competition next year ", he explained to AFP, promising all the same to start in September to "discuss the future of European football".
© 2020 AFP