The final tournament of the Champions League football, in which a single match is decided by the advancing player, thrilled fans and experts alike. Nevertheless, the head of the European Football Union (UEFA) has said he will remain a one-off exception caused by this year’s coronavirus crisis
UEFA President Aleksander Cheferin said that next season, the elite European club competition should return to the traditional format of home-away matches.
This year’s Champions League is currently culminating due to a slippage caused by a pandemic tournament for the top eight teams in Lisbon, where elimination matches are played for only one match.
“It’s a bomb. In two matches, a stronger team usually always succeeds, but in one duel, anything can happen,” said the famous German striker Karl-Heinz Rummenigge. And while there are other voices praising its attractiveness, UEFA does not expect a repeat of “Final Eight”.
“This tournament is attractive, but I don’t think we will hold it in the future. There is no place for that in the calendar,” Ceferin told AFP in Lisbon.
“I don’t know where we could organize such a tournament for one to two weeks in May,” he added.
The Champions League was to culminate this year with the final match at the end of May in Istanbul. Turkey’s largest city has been given the opportunity to host a decisive duel next year, and Ceferin believes that by then, the spread of Covid-19 will be under control.
“I am optimistic by nature. I believe that everything will work better next year and we will have football back – good old football with spectators,” said the head of UEFA, who also counts on spectators for the postponed European Championship, which could not be due to the global health situation. held this year.
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