UEFA closely studying new ‘Final Four’ Champions League format
UEFA are looking at the possibility of a new ‘Week of Football’ format staged in a single city to decide the winner of the UCL via a ‘Final Four’.
The new Champions League format, which was announced last year (also referred to as the ‘Swiss model’) with 36 teams and more matches, will come into operation for the 2024/2025 season and with no groups, teams will play more games in the earlier stages of the competition.
The UK Times also report that UEFA are also closely studying a change to the final part of the competition with the creation of the ‘Week of Football’ where the closing stage of the tournament will be decided with a ‘Final Four’ semi-final and final type format. This would be staged in one single city with a single match between the four semifinalists. The proposal would eliminate the traditional home and away ties currently in place with all games set to take place in the one week. This format that has been successful in many basketball competitions such as the Euroleague and ‘March Madness’ in US college basketball.
Lisbon inspired
Much of the inspiration for the idea comes from the 2020 final stages where the city of Lisbon was used as a ‘bubble’ to stage the last games of the Champions League that year as a neutral venue as he continent suffered from the Covid-19 pandemic. The findings from UEFA were deemed to be positive and the new proposal will be debated at the forthcoming congress which will be staged in Vienna on 11 May.