UEFA president, Aleksander Ceferin has revealed that football’s European governing body would be open to the possibility of staging the Champions League final outside the continent.
Ceferin told the Associated Press news agency that such an idea will be considered when the governing body launches an open bidding process for future editions of the showpiece game. Until now, UEFA have awarded the hosting rights without any tendering process.
“It might be an idea in the future but we have to speak about it,” Ceferin said. “To go from Portugal to Azerbaijan, for example, is almost the same or the same as if you go to New York. For the fans it’s no problem but we should see. It’s a European competition so let’s think about it.”
The report added that UEFA could experiment by staging the Super Cup, the season-opening match between the winners of the Champions League and Europa League, outside Europe.
“The bidding process should be very clear, because if you get the Champions League finals or Europa League finals as a political favour then it’s not okay,” he added. “With a clear bidding procedure I will protect also the administration and myself, because whoever tries to call us, to push us, to ask us for such a favour, we will have a clear answer: ‘Sorry, there are clear rules we cannot do it.’”
However, Ceferin ruled out shifting Champions League kick-off times to tap into audiences in Asia.
“From a financial point of view it’s not ideal,” Ceferin said. “We should think also about other markets, but how to do it exactly I’m not sure yet. China is financially interesting and the US is not just financially interesting, but football is growing there.”
Credit: Sport Business
