Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel has admitted he is unhappy with the imminent Champions League changes, questioning how UEFA feel it is possible to fit more games into an increasingly hectic schedule.
Starting in 2024, the Champions League will operate using the 'Swiss system', in which teams play a total of ten group-stage games against seeded opponents, with the top eight sides qualifying for the knockout stages and the next eight entering into a mini-tournament to battle for a spot in the next round.
The changes haven't been received well, but Tuchel confessed they've been seen as the lesser of two evils amid all the chaos caused by the Super League.
“I’m not happy about these competitions, not at all, but I was not involved,” Tuchel admitted (via The Times). “All these discussions about Super League made us forget that we have a new format of Champions League very soon.
"Did they ask any coach about this? I don’t think so. They didn’t ask me. Did they ask any player about it? I don’t think so.
“I’m not sure if I like it because I can only see more games at the start of it, more games in a schedule that we have.”
While the Champions League changes are bad enough, Tuchel admitted he fears they could be the final straw in a football landscape which has also seen new competitions added in left, right and centre.
“We have so many new formats with the Nations League, the World Championship for clubs coming soon,” Tuchel continued. “There’s so much new stuff, so many more games and more teams in the European Championship in the summer. More, more, more games, not more quality.
"They push you to play more games and [yet] we have three substitutes in the Premier League and domestic competitions.”
UEFA have argued that it is the owners of the Champions League clubs who have pushed for these plans (shock), but president Aleksander Ceferin recently confessed they are open to reconsidering some of their proposals to ensure everyone remains happy.
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Source : 90min