While talks of the European Super League emerging as a competition to the UEFA Champions League have died down once again, the Champions League itself could be on the verge of decline after the proposed Swiss Model comes into play in 2024.
The group stage is expected to be sized up, with teams playing ten matches in the table format. Plans for the proposed Super League involved clubs breaking away from the UEFA format and having a literal League of their own, with fixed participants receiving an unbelievable amount of money alongside European competition to mint more money.
Even the Champions League that we see now was once as the name truly suggests, the battle of the Champions of Europe’s leagues. But it has now expanded into the race of 32 teams, which has been widely accepted as the norm.
However, history speaks against the expansions of tournaments, with the Euros and the Nations League already being subjected to such expansions. The tournaments have since lost a bit of their lustre with the expansion of pool A of the Nations League into a confusing and elaborate set of fixtures.
The World Cup, the holy grail of football is also expected to undergo an expansion with the number of teams being expanded to 48 from 32. The 2026 edition will be the first to have the 48-team format which will only delay things until the business end of the tournament.
The danger of expanding big tournaments is documented even now, with managers of top clubs all across the continent moaning about the congested fixture schedules placing their squad in fitness hell.
Injuries will no doubt increase with the heightened physical demand on players, and it really does not seem like a good idea for those running around on the pitch. However, it will boost the financial power of the sport massively.
