Manchester City star goes hard against the new Champions League

Manchester City was the first club to choose to withdraw from the Super League.

The news was received with great pleasure by UEFA President Alexander Ceferin, who seemed very forgiving to the light blues.

– I am happy to welcome City back to the European football family, said the Slovenian.

– It takes courage to admit a mistake, but I have never doubted that they had the opportunity and common sense to make that decision.

Towards the new format

But not everyone in Manchester City is equally happy with Ceferin and UEFA. Because at the same time as the failed concept Superligaen was launched and shelved, UEFA’s new Champions League format was unanimously adopted.

From the 2024 season, the Champions League will be expanded from 32 to 36 teams and the number of guaranteed matches will go from six to ten. This despite the fact that the football calendar is already bursting with matches.

Read more about all the changes here.

Ilkay Gündoğan is not happy with that.

– With all the Super League board going on … Can we be so kind and talk about the new Champions League format? More and more and more games, no one thinks of us players?

– The new Champions League format is only the smaller of two evils compared to the Super League, the German writes on Twitter.

The City star is supported by TV 2’s football expert Erik Thorstvedt.

– There is a touch of Super League over this here, he said recently about the new changes.

Get support from the experts

Thorstvedt reacts in particular to the fact that there will be even more matches in an already packed football calendar.

– I have always thought that this was a bad proposal. Now there are guaranteed ten matches for everyone who is in the Champions League. They push in more matches in a rather arrogant way to generate more money.

Journalist and author Raphael Honigstein believed the changes were only made to prevent the top clubs from breaking and creating a Superliga. It worked as known poorly.

– It will be exciting to see if UEFA now wants to change the Champions League reform. Too many of the changes that were pushed through were made to accommodate some of the clubs that left, Honigstein told TV 2 on Wednesday.

At least Ilkay Gündoğan would be happy about that. He wants to keep the Champions League exactly as it is now.

– The current Champions League format works excellently and that is why it is the most popular club tournament in the world – for both us players and fans, the midfielder writes.

It remains to be seen whether Ceferin and UEFA are of the same opinion.