Uefa has decided to move the Champions League final from its traditional Wednesday night to a Saturday for the 2009-10 season and Wembley is bidding to be one of the first venues to host the new slot.
The stadium faces competition from Berlin's Olympiastadion, the Allianz Arena in Munich, Real Madrid's Bernabéu and the Mestalla in Valencia. The change follows pressure from the Uefa president, Michel Platini, who believed staging the final on a Wednesday night prevented it being an occasion for families.
Uefa also confirmed changes to the format that will allow three Premier League teams to qualify automatically for the group stage of the Champions League. The fourth-placed side, however, are now more likely to play stronger opponents in the qualifying rounds.
Platini's determination to see more champions in the competition sees 22 clubs qualifying automatically, including the Scottish champions. Five more places will go to the 15 leading countries, and the remaining five reserved for the champions of the lowest 40 clubs. Uefa is also revamping the Uefa Cup, whereas the Intertoto Cup will be abolished from the 2009-10 season. The seedings for tomorrow's Euro 2008 draw have thrown up the possibility of Holland, Italy, Germany and France being in the same group.
Uefa has calculated the seedings on results in qualification for the 2006 World Cup and Euro 2008 and have not taken into account performances in the finals in Germany last year.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment