UEFA Champions League. As the Champions League season ends on May 28 with the final, UEFA has enacted the new reform, the explanations.
UEFA wanted a reform of the Champions League, the latter was enacted this Tuesday, May 10 for the 2024/2025 season. To put it simply, the group stage will be replaced by a mini championship with 36 teams in total against 32 currently . Each club will face eight different teams (four at home, four away) and will therefore play two more matches than with the current format. Thereafter, the eight best teams of this first phase will be directly qualified for the final phases, and the clubs classified between the 9and and the 24and place will face each other in round-trip matches in play-offs to complete the final draw.
Thanks to this reform, France obtains a 3rd direct qualifying place for the group stage of the Champions League since it is currently the 5th European nation. This reform also inflates the number of matches since from 2024, 225 matches will be scheduled instead of the current 125. In the team this Wednesday, May 11, UEFA President Aleksander Ceferin justified this change. “Just because something is working well doesn’t mean you should never change anything again
, he also explained. Always try to improve. […] Believe me, it’s not made for big clubs. […] It will be much more interesting. In the current formula, in the group stage, we know which clubs will qualify after two or three matches.”
Now it’s time for the final, at the Stade de France on Saturday May 28 at 9 p.m.! For this meeting, the people of Madrid will face the Reds of Liverpool and Mohamed Salah, striker of Liverpool, has already launched hostilities after the meeting by tweeting unequivocally for the Merengues: “We have a score to settle”.
Ticket sales for the 2022 UEFA Champions League Final have not been available since April 28 at 2 p.m. A total of 52,000 tickets out of 75,000 (the stadium’s capacity for the final) were available for purchase for fans and the general public. The two teams that reach the final will receive 20,000 tickets each, while 12,000 tickets have been put on sale for fans around the world via UEFA.com.
The group stage of the Football Champions League is played from Tuesday September 14, 2021 to Wednesday December 8, 2021 while the knockout stage will be played from Tuesday February 15, 2022 to Wednesday May 4, 2022. As for the final, it is scheduled for Saturday, May 28, 2021 at Saint Petersburg Stadium, Russia. The calendar was then drawn up as follows by UEFA:
- Group stage
- September 14 and 15
- September 28 and 29
- October 19 and 20
- November 2 and 3
- November 23 and 24
- December 7 and 8
- Knockout stage
- Round of 16
- February 15 and 16 (one way)
- February 22 and 23 (return)
- Quarter-finals
- April 5 and 6 (one way)
- April 12 and 13 (return)
- Semi-finals
- April 26 and 27 (one way)
- May 3 and 4 (return)
- Final
- Saturday May 28, 2022
The TV rights battle continued to rage for this new 2021/2022 season. UEFA has awarded the French TV rights for the “Big Ears Cup” to beIN Sports and Canal+, which thus ensure the broadcasting of the 2021-2022 Champions League. RMC Sport will co-broadcast with Canal the two best Champions League posters until 2024 and beIN SPORTS will offer all the remaining matches. TF1 will broadcast the final scheduled for May 28, 2022.
As the knockout stages of the Champions League begin on Tuesday March 8 and end on March 16, Robert Lewandowski, Bayern’s Polish striker, is currently the competition’s top scorer ahead of Ivorian Sébastien Haller and Egyptian Mohamed Salah. Classification :
- Robert Lewandowski, Bayern Munich12 goals
- Karim Benzema, Real Madrid, 11 goals
- Sebastien Haller, Ajax Amsterdam, 11 goals
- Mohamed Salah, Liverpool, 8 goals
- Christopher Nkunku, Leipzig, 7 goals
- Cristiano Ronaldo, Manchester United, 6 goals
- Riyad Mahrez, Manchester City, 6 goals
- Leroy Sané, Bayern Munich, 6 goals
- Kylian Mbappé, PSG, 6 goals
- Lionel Messi, PSG, 5 goals