Every day, the morning of Europe 1 looks back on one of the sporting events that make the news. This Tuesday, Virginie Phulpin returns the device of "Final 8" of the Champions League which should not be renewed next year for financial reasons.
We will come back to this very special Football Champions League which ended on Sunday. With the health crisis, the eight quarter-finalist teams played in a knockout tournament in Lisbon. Is this the future of competition? For Virginie Phulpin, it is attractive, but it will not happen because it brings in much less money.
The sinews of war, the sinews of football. Initially, when UEFA opted for this knockout tournament, it was an emergency solution. We had to go to the end of the competition so as not to lose too much money. Yes, that was already the motivation. It was just a question of dealing with the most in a hurry.
But then there were the matches, and that changed a lot of things. Matches in two empty stadiums, without spectators. And yet, committed encounters, suspense, breathtaking scenarios.
And there we are many to have said "but it's great this format, we should keep it, when there is the return of the public, it will be much more exhilarating than the two-way matches!". With two French clubs in the semi-finals and one in the final, we had enough to be won over.
Even at UEFA, the rhetoric has changed, the president says to himself that it may be worth thinking about. For the game, frankly, we win. A knockout game, we manage less, and we give ourselves more. Obviously we do not try to preserve a score before the return. So this is a big yes.
But for the supporters? Football is also hosting in your stadium, in front of your fans, even if we have somewhat forgotten what it was. It seems a bit complicated to deprive teams and supporters of their home games. When everything resumes, we will have supped, deprivation of football.
With this formula, the problem is that not everyone can travel to Europe to support their club on neutral ground.
But isn't that the supporters' argument that will weigh the heaviest for the future of the Champions League?
No, finances will count more than passion in this story. Unfortunately, there is little room for romance.
For clubs, if we reproduced this formula, it would mean a significant drop in ticketing revenue with fewer home matches. Virginie Phulpin does not see how it can be welcomed.
And then there are especially TV rights, the real holy grail. Direct elimination matches instead of round trips, that means half the number of matches, so half the number of TV rights.
So no, we won't be seeing this Final 8 format again anytime soon. But since it was attractive and the goal is also to attract a new audience, we could eventually move towards a tournament of this kind only from the semi-finals. A way to spare the goat, the cabbage, and especially the wallet ...