Record earnings despite pandemic – Sport

The European Football Union (Uefa) recorded record income for the EM in the financial year 2020/21 despite the corona pandemic. This emerges from the financial report presented at the congress in Vienna on Wednesday. Accordingly, Uefa took 5.7 billion euros. In the previous financial year it was around three billion euros, in EM year 2016 it was around 4.6 billion euros.

In the near future, the income could even increase again. Because Uefa passed a reform of the Champions League this week, in which there are a total of 64 more games (189 instead of 125) and corresponding additional marketing opportunities. The new model, in which the number of participants is increased from 32 to 36 and the classic group stage is abolished and replaced by a league system, will attack from 2024/25.

“We wanted something more interesting, something better for European football,” said Uefa President Aleksander Ceferin. After much criticism, the Executive Committee had recently modified its plans again. Among other things, the number of group games for each team was reduced from ten to eight and the controversial wildcard rule was changed. The two extra places will now not be awarded on the basis of previous success, but instead go to the countries whose teams performed best in the previous European Cup season.

Fan representatives welcomed these fixes. “Our persistence has paid off and put a brake on the worst excesses of the biggest European clubs,” wrote the English fan association FSA on behalf of them. The idea also found recognition in politics. “Open, merit-based sport – this reflects our understanding of the European sport model,” said Margaritis Schinas, Vice-President of the European Commission.