UEFA Rejects Champions League Format Overhaul Despite Super League Talks

UEFA has denied it has to change the format of the Champions League, after reports of a series of meetings between European football's governing body and the Super League discussing changes to the competition.

On Saturday, the Spanish newspaper Mundo Deportivo reported that in recent months, UEFA had met several times with A22 -- the company behind the Super League project -- and representatives of Real Madrid and Barcelona.

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The meetings had involved discussion of possible reforms to bring the Champions League closer to the Super League model -- including more games between "big" clubs and games being free-to-air -- the newspaper said, although no agreement had been reached.

On Monday, a source close to the Super League project confirmed to ESPN that negotiations had taken place with UEFA.

"We can confirm reports that [UEFA general secretary] Theodore Theodoridis had met with [A22 co-founder] Mr Anas Laghrari on a few occasions," UEFA told ESPN in a statement.

"These meetings occurred in public settings, and any suggestion that they were 'secret' is entirely false. No formal outcomes resulted from these conversations. We categorically reaffirm that there are no plans to change the format of the UEFA Champions League."

The Champions League's current format was introduced for the 2024-25 season, when the old group stage was replaced by a league phase, with 36 teams taking part.

A22 set out its more recent Super League proposal in December 2024, for a three-league, 64-club men's competition, with promotion and relegation between leagues, to be broadcast on a new, free-to-air streaming service it called "Unify."

The move followed a ruling by the European Court of Justice in 2023 which found that UEFA and FIFA had "abused a dominant position" under EU law in their reaction to the Super League's attempted launch two years earlier.

On Saturday, Mundo Deportivo reported that after a series of meetings with UEFA in recent months, the Super League was now proposing a compromise, implementing changes to the Champions League from 2027.

The competition would keep the name "Champions League," the report said, with the 36 participating teams being split into two groups according to their UEFA rankings for the league phase, ensuring more matchups between top teams.