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Frankfurt / Main (dpa) - What conclusions do you draw from an extremely busy schedule with numerous English weeks?
The European Football Union UEFA is expected to answer this question on Wednesday with a reform of the Champions League, which can be summarized as follows: 36 participants instead of 32 and up to ten preliminary round match days instead of six and a maximum of 100 additional games for the premier class, which from of the 2024/25 season are to be accommodated in the increasingly dense schedule.
In this context, more games also mean: more money.
The clubs in Germany, hard hit by the Corona crisis, see the new mode as an acceptable compromise for two reasons.
In times of empty stadiums and reduced sales, UEFA's plans should pay off financially.
In addition, such a closed Super League would initially be off the table for Europe's elite.
"It looks like we were able to prevent that through our strong, amicable position as the Bundesliga," said Leverkusen's club boss Fernando Carro of the German press agency.
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BVB boss Hans-Joachim Watzke also referred to the financial losses in "unbelievable dimensions" and is open to the new model.
"The decisive point, why I stand up for the Swiss model, is that in my eyes it is the only way to prevent a Super League of the top international clubs," Watzke told the Ruhr Nachrichten.
The so-called Swiss model means that the future 36 participants will compete in a kind of league mode and play their ten game days against selected opponents.
Analogous to the major reform with which UEFA increased the European Championship from 16 to 24 participants, there is a risk of confusing arithmetic games.
How is it determined who will compete against whom?
Does every victory bring the same number of points?
How do you prevent one team from playing against Barcelona, Chelsea and Juve while another team can play against Prague, Athens and Rapid Vienna?
These are all questions that the UEFA Executive Committee has yet to answer.
The powerful club association ECA prefers the model with ten preliminary round games per team.
The merger of the European leagues advocates eight group game days, which would mean 64 additional games.
"We have to be honest and say that the clubs have more influence," said Lars-Christer Olsson from the European Leagues Association, which also includes the German Football League.
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The club representatives see the arguments in favor of the reform that the usual access via the national leagues will be retained.
The new model also replaces the group stage, which has been criticized again and again in recent years because the same top teams always progressed and the games on the penultimate and final matchday were often worthless.
The fact that clubs can be rewarded for a European ten-year ranking with the four additional tickets minimizes the risk of not playing the Champions League for the big clubs in bad league years.
For fans, the fact that an impermeable Super League of the super-rich seems to have been averted is nowhere near enough.
The “ProFans” initiative described the intended changes on Monday as “a slap in the face of the fans - across Europe”.
The result will be "that even more games will get fan-unfriendly kick-off times and that there will be more English weeks," wrote the organization.
Previously, other groups had made similar statements.
The “money machine” should “run much more profitably than before”, denounced the fans.
And in fact, the demands of the fans, who are currently banned from the stands due to the corona, for more equal opportunities, fewer games and fewer financial differences are countered with the plans.
In England with no winter break, this could mean for clubs like Man City or Liverpool that, in addition to 38 league games and two cup competitions, they could also have up to 19 Champions League matches - so far, 13 were the maximum.
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Leverkusen's Carro says: “Of course we urgently need to listen to the needs of the fans and take them into account, the Bundesliga lives particularly from its fan and stadium culture.
But we also have to accept that football has become a billion-dollar business, that different countries, leagues and clubs pursue different interests. "
It is about “finding a compromise that is sustainable for all sides”.
After the increase in the EM and World Cup (from 2026 with 48 instead of 32 teams), this step is now also pending for Europe's most important club competition.
According to a report by the ARD “Sportschau”, the new mode should apply until 2033.
© dpa-infocom, dpa: 210330-99-26561 / 2
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